The first branch of the Ku Klux Klan was formed in $1865.$ The group began in Pulaski, Tennessee, and by $1870,$ hit ad spread to most of the southern states. When the first branch of the Ku Klux Klan was founded, it was made up of many Confederate veterans and was known as a social club. The first leader of the Ku Klux Klan was named Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general. The creation of the Ku Klux Klan was only the first phase of many. The second phase began post$-$Civil War Reconstruction, where many rejected the new Reconstruction Act that Congress passed. This new Reconstruction Act stated that the South would be divided into five groups and each group was required to approve the $14$th Amendment and the $25$th Amendment, which stated that there needed to be equal protection. This was intended to protect civil rights when it came to free people. Because of this new Reconstruction Act and the fact that people disagreed with it$,$ it brought a lot of intimidation and violence which was led mostly by the Ku Klux Klan. As time went on and throughout the South, the Ku Klux Klan became very violent. It was seen in $1870,$ when South Carolina Joseph Rainey, an African American, to the U$.$S$.$ House of Representatives. The Ku Klux Klan reacted with violence, they drove around and terrorized black voter$$s homes. The Ku Klux Klan$$s tactics included intimidation, violence, murder, lynching, and so much more.

Because of all the violence the Ku Klux Klan was creating, many citizens in the South started to speak out about the Ku Klux Klan and even brought it to Congress. In $1871,$ the Ku Klux Klan Act was passed. The act was made to be a strategy to respond to the Ku Klux Klan$$s violence. This act put an end to the Ku Klux Klan and the violence they were instigating.