Section 1983

Enforcement Act of 1871

Long title	An Act to enforce the Provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and for other Purposes
Nicknames	Civil Rights Act of 1871, Force Act of 1871, Ku Klux Force Act, Ku Klux Klan Act, Third Enforcement Act, and Third Ku Klux Klan Act
Enacted by	the 42nd United States Congress
Citations
Public law	42−22
Statutes at Large	ch. 31, 17 Stat. 13
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 320 by Samuel Shellabarger (R-OH) on March 28, 1871 Committee consideration by House Select Committee on the President's Message, Senate Judiciary Passed the House on April 7, 1871 (118–91) Passed the Senate on April 14, 1871 (45–19) Reported by the joint conference committee on April 19, 1871; agreed to by the House on April 19, 1871 (93–74) and by the Senate on April 19, 1871 (36–13) Signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 20, 1871
United States Supreme Court cases
United States v. Harris (1883)

The Enforcement Act of 1871 (17 Stat. 13), also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Force Act of 1871, Ku Klux Klan Act, Third Enforcement Act, or Third Ku Klux Klan Act, is an Act of the United States Congress which empowered the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to combat the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacy organizations. The act was passed by the 42nd United States Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 20, 1871. The act was the last of three Enforcement Acts passed by the United States Congress from 1870 to 1871 during the Reconstruction Era to combat attacks upon the suffrage rights of African Americans. The statute has been subject to only minor changes since then, but has been the subject of voluminous interpretation by courts.

This legislation was asked for by President Grant and passed within one month of the president's request for it to Congress. Grant's request was a result of the reports he was receiving of widespread racial threats in the Deep South, particularly in South Carolina. He felt that he needed to have his authority broadened before he could effectively intervene. After the act's passage, the president had the power for the first time to both suppress state disorders on his own initiative and to suspend the right of habeas corpus. Grant did not hesitate to use this authority on numerous occasions during his presidency, and as a result the first era KKK was completely dismantled and did not resurface in any meaningful way until the first part of the 20th century. Several of its provisions still exist today as codified statutes. The most important of these is 42 U.S.C. § 1983: Civil action for deprivation of rights.

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