The Supreme Court declares the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional in an 8-1 decision, ruling that the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments do not empower Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals—thereby legitimizing the Jim Crow system of racial segregation that will …
U.S. Supreme CourtJoseph P. BradleyJohn Marshall Harlanjudicial-capturecivil-rights-destructionreconstruction-sabotageinstitutional-racismwhite-supremacy
President Rutherford B. Hayes signs the Posse Comitatus Act into law on June 18, 1878, restricting the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic law. Passed as an amendment to an army appropriations bill following the end of Reconstruction, the Act prohibits using the Army, Navy, Marine …
Rutherford B. HayesU.S. Congressreconstruction-sabotagemilitary-policycivil-rights-destructioninstitutional-capture
Over 100 armed white men—members of paramilitary “rifle clubs” called the Red Shirts—attack approximately 30 Black National Guard servicemen at the Hamburg, South Carolina armory on July 8, 1876, killing seven men (six of them Black) in what becomes the first of a series of planned civil …
Red ShirtsBenjamin TillmanWade Hampton IIIMatthew ButlerBlack National Guard Militiaracial-terrorismreconstruction-sabotagewhite-supremacydemocratic-erosionelite-impunity
The Supreme Court unanimously overturns the federal convictions of Colfax Massacre perpetrators in United States v. Cruikshank, ruling that the Bill of Rights does not limit private actors or state governments despite the Fourteenth Amendment—effectively destroying federal power to protect Black …
U.S. Supreme CourtJoseph P. BradleyColfax Massacre Perpetratorsjudicial-capturereconstruction-sabotagecivil-rights-destructionwhite-supremacyinstitutional-capture
An estimated 150-300 Black citizens and two white citizens are killed during the Vicksburg massacre, a coordinated campaign of white supremacist violence that begins on December 7, 1874, and continues until around January 5, 1875, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The massacre follows the forced …
White LeaguePeter CrosbyAndrew J. GilmerUlysses S. Grantwhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-racismelite-impunity
The White League stages an armed insurrection against Louisiana’s Reconstruction government on September 14, 1874, in New Orleans. Five thousand White League members—Confederate veterans organized as “the military arm of the Democratic Party”—overwhelm 3,500 state police and …
White LeagueJames LongstreetWilliam Pitt KelloggUlysses S. GrantJohn McEnerywhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-captureelite-impunity
On August 30, 1874, the White League—a paramilitary organization of Confederate veterans described as “the military arm of the Democratic Party”—completes a weeklong campaign of terror in Red River Parish, Louisiana, by assassinating six white Republican officeholders and five to twenty …
White LeagueDick ColemanThomas FloydMarshall TwitchellLouisiana Board of Tradewhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-captureelite-impunity
On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, a mob of approximately 300 armed white men—including members of the Ku Klux Klan and Knights of White Camellia—attacks the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana, murdering an estimated 150 Black Americans in what becomes the deadliest single incident of …
White Supremacist MilitiaKu Klux KlanKnights of White CamelliaGrant Parish Black Militiaracial-terrorismreconstruction-sabotagewhite-supremacymass-violencedemocratic-erosion
The House of Representatives votes 126-47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson on February 24, 1868—the first presidential impeachment in American history. The precipitating event is Johnson’s February 21 attempt to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and replace him with Lorenzo Thomas in …
Andrew JohnsonEdwin StantonU.S. House of RepresentativesRadical RepublicansLorenzo Thomas+1 morereconstruction-sabotagepresidential-corruptioninstitutional-capturedemocratic-erosion
President Andrew Johnson vetoes legislation to extend and expand the Freedmen’s Bureau, shocking Republican supporters and demonstrating his commitment to sabotaging Reconstruction. Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull introduced the bill on January 5, 1866, to expand the Bureau’s power to …
Andrew JohnsonLyman TrumbullRepublican CongressFreedmen's Bureaureconstruction-sabotagepresidential-corruptioninstitutional-captureracial-injustice
Six Confederate veterans found the Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee—creating what historians characterize as America’s first terrorist organization. The founders—Calvin E. Jones, John B. Kennedy, Frank O. McCord, John C. Lester, Richard P. Reed, and James R. …
Nathan Bedford ForrestConfederate VeteransCalvin E. JonesJohn B. KennedyFrank O. McCord+3 moreracial-terrorismreconstruction-sabotagewhite-supremacypolitical-violenceinstitutional-capture
President Andrew Johnson issues his first amnesty proclamation on May 29, 1865, beginning a systematic campaign to pardon Confederate leaders and restore their political power—directly undermining Reconstruction and enabling the restoration of white supremacist control in the South. Johnson’s …
Andrew JohnsonConfederate LeadersRepublican Congressreconstruction-sabotageinstitutional-capturepresidential-corruptionracial-injustice