es. Frequently violence was
employed either officially or unofficially by members of the Klan. Tar
and feathers were freely applied; the whip was sometimes laid on
unmercifully, and occasionally a brutal murder was committed. Often the
members were fired upon from bushes or behind trees, and swift
retaliation followed. So alarming did the clashes become that in 1870
Congress forbade interference with electors or going in disguise for the
purpose of obstructing the exercise of the rights enjoyed under federal
law.

In anticipation of such a step on the part of the federal government,
the Ku Klux was officially dissolved by the "Grand Wizard" in 1869.
Nevertheless, the local societies continued their organization and
methods. The spirit survived the national association. "On the whole,"
says a Southern writer, "it is not easy to see what other course was
open to the South.... Armed resistance was out of the question. And yet
there must be some control had of the situation.... If force was denied,
craft was inevitable."

=The Struggle for the Ballot Box.=--The effects of intimidation were
soon seen at elections. The freedman, into whose inexperienced hand the
ballot had been thrust, was ordinarily loath to risk his head by the
exercise of his new rights. He had not attained them by a long and
laborious contest of his own and he saw no urgent reason why he should
battle for the privilege of using them. The mere show of force, the mere
existence of a threat, deterred thousands of ex-slaves from appearing at
the polls. Thus the whites steadily recovered their dominance. Nothing
could prevent it. Congress enacted force bills establishing federal
supervision of elections and the Northern politicians protested against
the return of former Confederates to practical, if not official, power;
but all such opposition was like resistance to the course of nature.

=Amnesty for Southerners.=--The recovery of white supremacy in this way
was quickly felt in national councils. The Democratic party in the North
welcomed it as a sign of its return to power. The more moderate
Republicans, anxious to heal the breach in American unity, sought to
encourage rather than to repress it. So it came about that amnesty for
Confederates was widely advocated. Yet it must be said that the struggle
for the removal of disabilities was stubborn and bitter. Lincoln, with
characteristic generosity, in the midst of the war had issued a general
proclamation o