jan 1, 1849 - Enforcement Acts

Description:

Criminal codes that protected African-Americans' right to vote, to hold office, to serve on juries, and receive equal protection of laws.

• Enforcement Act of 1870: prohibited groups of people from banding together "or to go in disguise upon the public highways, or upon the premises of another" with the intention of violating citizens’ constitutional rights.

• Enforcement Act of 1871: placed administration of national elections under the control of the federal government and empowered federal judges and United States marshals to supervise local polling places.

• Ku Klux Klan Act: empowered the president to use the armed forces to combat those who conspired to deny equal protection of the laws and to suspend habeas corpus, if necessary, to enforce the act.

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