Journal of the Senate of the United States of America,
WEDNESDAY, April 5, 1871.

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Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, 1789-1873
MONDAY, December 4, 1871.

“...Mr. Blair submitted the following resolution for consideration; which was ordered to be printed:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, requested to inform the Senate under what provisions of the law of April 20, 1871, if any, and if not under that law, by what authority he has caused the Constitution and laws of the United States and the constitution and laws of the State of South Carolina to be set aside and martial law declared, and the writ of habeas corpus suspended in the counties of Spartanburgh, Marion, York, Newberry, Chester, Laurens, Fairfield, Lancaster, and Chesterfield, in the State of South Carolina, whereby the courts and civil authorities are unable to afford protection to the lives, liberties, and rights of the people therein, and all of them left at the mercy of such military subordinates as he has seen, or may see, fit to place over them. He is especially requested to lay before the Senate all the acts of insurrection, resistance, or opposition to the laws of the United States committed in each of these counties at any time after the 20th day of April, 1871, prior to the date of his proclamation of martial law, giving the character of the offenses, the facts relative thereto, and the names of the offenders, so far as ascertained. He is further requested to lay before the Senate any cases of resistance to the execution of the process of the civil courts, or the officers either of the United States or of the State of South Carolina, by any of the citizens of any of the counties in which the guarantees of constitutional liberty have been annulled by his proclamation aforesaid since the passage of the act of April 20, 1871, aforesaid, and that he give the names of all of said citizens who have been arrested or imprisoned under and by virtue of the authority conferred by his proclamation, with the violations of law with which each is charged and the dates at which it is alleged they committed the offenses for which they were so arrested and imprisoned; and that he give the Senate information as to all the statements of facts on which he acted in issuing his proclamation aforesaid, giving the names of his informants, their statements when made to him in writing, and the substance of them when made verbally, so that Congress can determine what steps are necessary to restore to the citizens of the counties aforesaid, and especially to those who are not guilty of offenses against the United States, the equal protection of the laws with the people of other portions of the country, under the forms prescribed by the Constitution of the United States.

On motion by Mr. Cameron,

The Senate took a recess until 15 minutes after 1 o'clock p. m.

After which,

Mr. Anthony, from the joint committee appointed to wait upon the President of the United States and inform him that a quorum of each House has assembled, and that Congress is ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make, reported that the committee had performed the duty assigned them, and that they had been instructed by the President to say that he would immediately make a communication to each House in writing.

Whereupon

The following message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Porter, his secretary:

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

“...The past year has, under a wise Providence, been one of general prosperity to the nation. It has, however, been attended with more than usual chastisements in the loss of life and property, by storm and fire. These disasters have served to call forth the best elements of human nature in our country, and to develop a friendship for us on the part of foreign nations which goes far toward alleviating the distresses occasioned by these calamities. The benevolent, who have so generously shared their means with the victims of these misfortunes, will reap their reward in the consciousness of having performed a noble act, and in receiving the grateful thanks of men, women, and children whose sufferings they have relieved....”

“...There has been imposed upon the Executive branch of the Government the execution of the act of Congress approved April 20, 1871, and commonly known as the Ku-Klux law, in a portion of the State of South Carolina. The necessity of the course pursued will be demonstrated by the report of the Committee to Investigate Southern Outrages. Under the provisions of the above act, I issued a proclamation calling the attention of the people of the United States to the same, and declaring my reluctance to exercise any of the extraordinary powers thereby conferred upon me, except in case of imperative necessity, but making known my purpose to exercise such powers whenever it should become necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and the laws.”

“After the passage of this law, information was received, from time to time, that combinations of the character referred to in this law existed, and were powerful in many parts of the Southern States, particularly in certain counties in the State of South Carolina.”

“Careful investigation was made, and it was ascertained that, in nine counties of that State, such combinations were active and powerful, embracing a sufficient portion of the citizens to control the local authority, and having, among other things, the object of depriving the emancipated class of the substantial benefits of freedom, and of preventing the free political action of those citizens who did not sympathize with their own views. Among their operations were frequent scourgings and occasional assassinations, generally perpetrated at night by disguised persons, the victims in almost all cases being citizens of different political sentiments from their own, or freed persons who had shown a disposition to claim equal rights with other citizens. Thousands of inoffensive and well-disposed citizens were the sufferers by this lawless violence.”

“Thereupon, on the 12th of October, 1871, a proclamation was issued, in terms of the law, calling upon the members of those combinations to disperse within five days, and to deliver to the marshal or military officers of the United States all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and other means and implements used by them for carrying out their unlawful purposes.”

“This warning not having been heeded, on the 17th of October another proclamation was issued, suspending the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus in nine counties in that State.”

“Direction was given that, within the counties so designated, persons supposed, upon creditable information, to be members of such unlawful combinations should be arrested by the military forces of the United States, and delivered to the marshal, to be dealt with according to law. In two of said counties, York and Spartanburgh, many arrests have been made. At the last account, the number of persons thus arrested was one hundred and sixty-eight. Several hundred, whose criminality was ascertained to be of an inferior degree, were released for the present. These have generally made confessions of their guilt.”

“Great caution has been exercised in making these arrests, and, notwithstanding the large number, it is believed that no innocent person is now in custody. The prisoners will be held for regular trial in the judicial tribunals of the United States.”

“As soon as it appeared that the authorities of the United States were about to take vigorous measures to enforce the law, many persons absconded, and there is good ground for supposing that all of such persons have violated the law. A full report of what has been done under this law will be submitted to Congress by the Attorney General.”

“In Utah there still remains a remnant of barbarism, repugnant to civilization, to decency, and to the laws of the United States. Territorial officers, however, have been found who are willing to perform their duty in a spirit of equity and with a due sense of the necessity of sustaining the majesty of the law. Neither polygamy nor any other violation of existing statutes will be permitted within the territory of the United States. It is not with the religion of the self-styled Saints that we are now dealing, but with their practices. They will be protected in the worship of God according to the dictates of their consciences, but they will not be permitted to violate the laws under the cloak of religion...”.

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Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States,

FRIDAY, April 19, 1872.

A message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Porter, his private secretary; which was handed in at the Speaker's table.

Subsequently,

The Speaker laid the said message before the House, as follows, viz:

To the House of Representatives:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 25th of January last, I have the honor to submit the following, accompanied by the report of the Attorney General, to whom the resolution was referred:

Representations having been made to me that in certain portions of South Carolina a condition of lawlessness and terror existed, I requested the then Attorney General Akerman to visit that State, and after personal examination to report to me the facts in relation to the subject.

On the 16th of October last he addressed me a communication from South Carolina, in which he stated that in the counties of Spartanburgh, York, Chester, Union, Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield, Lancaster, and Chesterfield there were combinations for the purpose of preventing the free political action of citizens who were friendly to the Constitution and the Government of the United States, and of depriving emancipated classes of the equal protection of the laws.

"These combinations embrace at least two-thirds of the active white men of those counties, and have the sympathy and countenance of a majority of the one-third. They are connected with similar combinations in other counties and States, and no doubt are part of a grand system of criminal associations pervading most of the Southern States. The members are bound to obedience and secrecy by oaths which they are taught to regard as of higher obligation than the lawful oaths taken before civil magistrates.

"They are organized and armed. They effect their objects by personal violence, often extending to murder. They terrify witnesses: they control juries in the State courts, and sometimes in the courts of the United States. Systematic perjury is one of the means by which prosecutions of the members are defeated. From information given by officers of the State and of the United States and by credible private citizens, I am justified in affirming that the instances of criminal violence perpetrated by these combinations within the last twelve months in the above-named counties could be reckoned by thousands."

I received information of a similar import from various other sources, among which were the Joint Select Committee of Congress upon Southern Outrages, the officers of the State, the military officers of the United States on duty in South Carolina, the United States attorney and marshal, and other civil officers of the Government, repentant and abjuring members of those unlawful organizations, persons specially employed by the Department of Justice to detect crimes against the United State, and from other credible persons.

Most, if not all, of this information, except what I derived from the Attorney General, came to me orally, and was to the effect that said counties were under the sway of powerful combination, properly known as "Ku-Klux Klan," the objects of which were, by force and terror, to prevent all political action not in accord with the views of the members, to deprive colored citizens of the right to bear arms, and of the right to a free ballot; to suppress schools in which colored children were taught, and to reduce the colored people to a condition closely akin to that of slavery; that these combinations were organized and armed and had rendered the local laws ineffectual to protect the classes whom they desired to oppress; that they had perpetrated many murder, and hundreds of crimes of minor degree, all of which were unpunished; and that witnesses could not safely testify against them unless the more active members were placed under restraint.

U. S. GRANT.

Executive Mansion, April 19, 1872.

The same having been read,

On motion of Mr. Dickey,

Ordered, That it be referred to the Joint Select Committee on the Insurrectionary States and printed.

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Notice the use of the word "citizen", by President Grant. In addition, the term "equal protection of the laws". Previously, in the same sentence, President Grant refers to the United States Constitution. - not the state's constitution. The same distinction as indicated in the Senate Journal of 1871 above. Also, the reference to the "associations" being "organized and armed". Not to mention, that the Federal is charged with securing our rights - NOT infringing upon them, or allowing them to be infringed upon by other American governments.