The local organizations, called .
Klaverns, became so uncontrollable abd violent the Grand Wizard, former Confederate general .
Nathan B. Forrest, officially dibanded the Klan in 1869. Klaverns continued to operate on their .
own. In 1871, Congress passed the Force Bill to Implement the 14th Amendment to the U.S. .
Constitution guaranteeing the rights of all citizens. In the same year Ulysses S. Grant issued a .
proclamation calling on members of illegal organizations to disarm and disband: thereafter .
hundreds of Klansmen were arrested. With those that were left they adopted a new fraternal .
organization incorporated in Georgia in 1915. the official name of the society, Invisible Empire, .
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Membership was open to native-born, white, Protestant males, .
16 years or older: blacks Roman Catholics and Jews were excluded and were increasingly male .
targets of defamation and persecution by the Klan. After WWI the Klan expanded rapidly in .
urban areas and became active in many states like, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, .
Alabama, Georgia, Illinois,Indiana,Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Even though the Klan .
preached white supremacy, it focused its attacks on what it considered to be alien outsiders, .
particularly the Roman Catholic Church, which it believed was threatening traditional American .
ways and values. All non-Protestants, aliens,liberals,trade unionists,abd striking workers were .
denouned and subversives. .
After 1921, it experienced a rapid growth of membership and became politically.
influential throughout the nation. One estimate of its membership, made in 1924, when the Klan .
was at the peak of its strength, was as high as 3 million. In that year a resolution denouncing the .
klan, introduced at the national convention of the Democratic party, precipitated a bitter.
contraversy and was defeated. In 1944 it dibanded formally when it was unable to pay back .
axes wed to the federal government.
