Changes

===First Klan===

===First Klan===

[[File:Leaders of the Democratic Party.jpg|right|300px|thumb| Leaders of the Democratic Party. The Butcher Forrest is [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], founder of the [[Ku Klux Klan]].<br>''Library of Congress''<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661705/ Leaders of the Democratic Party : The rioter Seymour ... The butcher Forrest ... The pirate Semmes ... The hangman Hampton ...], Thomas Nast, 1868. Library of Congress.</ref>]]

[[File:Leaders of the Democratic Party.jpg|right|300px|thumb| Leaders of the Democratic Party. The Butcher Forrest is [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], founder of the Ku Klux Klan.<br>''Library of Congress''<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661705/ Leaders of the Democratic Party : The rioter Seymour ... The butcher Forrest ... The pirate Semmes ... The hangman Hampton ...], Thomas Nast, 1868. Library of Congress.</ref>]]

{{See also|Insurrection Act#Posse Comitatus Act}}

{{See also|Insurrection Act#Posse Comitatus Act}}

The first KKK was a movement of Democrats who opposed [[Reconstruction]]. It was founded in 1865 by members of the [[Democrat Party]] to inflicting violence against black leaders and white Republicans.<ref>http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan</ref>  Its purpose was to take control and return Democrats to power. One of the founders, and the first "Grand Wizard," was former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Attempts were made to break up the Klan by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).  

The first KKK was a movement of Democrats who opposed [[Reconstruction]]. It was founded in 1865 by members of the [[Democrat Party]] to inflicting violence against black leaders and white Republicans.<ref>http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan</ref>  Its purpose was to take control and return Democrats to power. One of the founders, and the first "Grand Wizard," was former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Attempts were made to break up the Klan by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).  

==Critical external links==

==Critical external links==

* [http://reactor-core.org/original-kkk.html The History of the Original Ku Klux Klan] - by an anonymous author sympathetic to the original Klan {{dead link}}

* [http://reactor-core.org/original-kkk.html The History of the Original Ku Klux Klan] - by an anonymous author sympathetic to the original Klan {{dead link}}

* W. S. Simkins, "Why the Ku Klux," 4 ''The Alcalde'' (June 1916): 735–748. [http://www.law.du.edu/russell/lh/alh/docs/simkins.html online]; Simkins (1842-1929) was an organizer of the KKK in Florida in 1868, and a law professor when he wrote this memoir.  

* W. S. Simkins, "Why the Ku Klux," 4 ''The Alcalde'' (June 1916): 735–748. [http://www.law.du.edu/russell/lh/alh/docs/simkins.html online]; Simkins (1842–1929) was an organizer of the KKK in Florida in 1868, and a law professor when he wrote this memoir.  

* [http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/AppendixA.htm Full text of the Klan Act of 1871]  

* [http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/AppendixA.htm Full text of the Klan Act of 1871]  

**[http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/AppendixB.htm simplified version]

**[http://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/AppendixB.htm simplified version]