Third Enforcement Act

The Enforcement Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, Third Enforcement Act, or Civil Rights Act of 1871, was intended to combat the paramilitary vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan. The act made certain acts committed by private persons federal offenses, including conspiring to deprive citizens of their rights to hold office, serve on juries, or enjoy equal protection of law. It authorized the President to deploy federal troops to counter the Klan and to suspend habeas corpus. Passed by the 42nd Congress and signed by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 20, 1871, it was the last of three Enforcement Acts of the Reconstruction era, and its use by Grant dismantled the first Ku Klux Klan.