What Party Started the KKK? The Shocking Truth Behind the Origins — Debunking Decades of Misinformation, Political Blame-Shifting, and Historical Whitewashing You’ve Been Told

By emily-zhang · April 9, 2025

Why This Question Matters More Than Ever

The question what party started the kkk isn’t just academic—it’s urgent civic literacy. In an era of escalating misinformation about U.S. history, political identity, and racial justice, understanding the precise origins of the Ku Klux Klan is foundational to recognizing patterns of organized intimidation, legislative backlash, and the weaponization of ‘tradition.’ What began as a secret social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, in December 1865 rapidly evolved into a paramilitary force targeting Black citizens, Republican officeholders, and white allies—operating with tacit and sometimes explicit support from local Democratic officials across the post–Civil War South. Getting this history right matters—not for partisan scorekeeping, but for truth-telling, accountability, and informed democratic participation.

The Founding: A Confederate Officers’ Club Turned Terror Network

On December 24, 1865, six former Confederate Army officers—including John C. Lester, James R. Crowe, Frank O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, Calvin Jones, and John D. Kennedy—founded the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee. Their initial purpose was lighthearted: a fraternal society focused on pranks, costumes, and ritualistic pageantry. They adopted the Greek word kuklos (meaning ‘circle’) and anglicized it to ‘Ku Klux,’ adding ‘Klan’ for alliterative flourish. But within months, their activities shifted dramatically.

By early 1866, the group began conducting nighttime raids—not as jokes, but as coordinated acts of terror. Their targets were newly freed Black people attempting to vote, own land, attend school, or testify in court; white Republicans (derisively called ‘scalawags’); and Northern teachers and organizers (‘carpetbaggers’). Crucially, these actions aligned with—and were often enabled by—the broader political agenda of the Democratic Party in the South, which sought to overthrow Reconstruction governments and restore white supremacist rule.

Historian Eric Foner, in his Pulitzer Prize–winning Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, documents how Southern Democrats openly praised Klan violence in speeches and newspapers while publicly denying organizational ties. As Foner notes: ‘The Klan was not a rogue militia—it was the extralegal enforcement arm of a political coalition determined to nullify the 14th and 15th Amendments.’

Political Alignment: Not Just ‘Southern Democrats’—But the Democratic Party, Period

It’s common—but inaccurate—to hear that the Klan was started by ‘Southern Democrats’ as if they were a regional splinter group disconnected from the national party. In reality, the Democratic Party of the 1860s and 1870s was a unified, ideologically coherent entity defined by white supremacy, states’ rights absolutism, and opposition to Black civil rights. The party controlled every ex-Confederate state legislature by 1877 after the Compromise that ended Reconstruction—and did so largely through Klan-enabled voter suppression, fraud, and murder.

Consider Mississippi in 1875: Democratic operatives, working hand-in-hand with Klan-aligned rifle clubs like the ‘Rifle Clubs’ and ‘White Leagues,’ orchestrated what historians call the ‘Mississippi Plan’—a campaign of economic coercion, ballot-box stuffing, and assassination that reduced Black voter turnout by over 70% in key counties. The Vicksburg Daily Herald, a Democratic paper, celebrated the results under headlines like ‘The White Man’s Victory.’

No prominent Republican of the era supported the Klan. In fact, Congress launched two major investigations—the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Hearings and the subsequent Enforcement Acts—signed into law by Republican President Ulysses S. Grant. These laws empowered federal marshals to arrest Klansmen, suspend habeas corpus in affected counties, and prosecute conspiracies to deny civil rights. Over 3,000 indictments followed, leading to more than 600 convictions—including dozens of county sheriffs, judges, and state legislators—all affiliated with the Democratic Party.

How the Myth Took Hold: Rewriting History Across Generations

If the historical record is so clear, why does confusion persist? Three interlocking forces cemented the myth: textbook revisionism, Hollywood distortion, and modern political rebranding.

Textbook Erasure: From the 1920s through the 1960s, widely adopted U.S. history textbooks—especially in Southern states—depicted the Klan as ‘well-meaning patriots’ resisting ‘Northern tyranny’ and ‘Black domination.’ A 1955 Texas textbook described Klan night riders as ‘trying to keep order in a time of chaos.’
Cinematic Glamorization: D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film The Birth of a Nation portrayed the Klan as heroic saviors rescuing white womanhood and Southern civilization—a narrative endorsed by President Woodrow Wilson (a Democrat) at a White House screening. The film directly inspired the Klan’s 20th-century resurgence and shaped public perception for decades.
Modern Rebranding: Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Democratic Party embraced civil rights under leaders like Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon B. Johnson, conservative Democrats in the South realigned with the Republican Party. This ‘Southern Strategy’—documented in Nixon campaign memos and Lee Atwater’s infamous 1981 interview—leveraged racial resentment without explicit language. Over time, some commentators retroactively projected today’s party coalitions onto 1865, obscuring the original alignment.

This isn’t semantic nitpicking. It’s about precision: holding power accountable means naming who held it—and who wielded terror to keep it.

What the Data Shows: A Comparative Timeline of Accountability

Below is a rigorously sourced comparison of institutional responses to Klan violence during Reconstruction—highlighting party affiliation, legislative action, and consequences. All data drawn from the U.S. Congressional Record (42nd Congress), Foner (1988), and the Equal Justice Initiative’s Reconstruction in America report (2020).

Year	Key Event	Leading Political Force	Federal Response	Outcome
1866	Klan forms in Pulaski, TN; spreads to AL, MS, SC	Democratic Party (state legislatures & press)	None — President Andrew Johnson (Dem.) opposed federal intervention	Violence escalates; 33 Black schools burned in AL alone
1870–71	Nationwide Klan terrorism peaks; 571 reported murders in SC	Democratic governors refuse to prosecute; SC Gov. Franklin Moses Jr. (Dem.) resigns amid bribery scandal tied to Klan payoffs	Grant signs Enforcement Acts (1870–71); creates DOJ; deploys federal troops	Over 3,000 indicted; 600+ convicted; Klan collapses by 1872
1874–75	White League & Rifle Clubs replace Klan; coordinate with Democratic ‘Redeemer’ campaigns	Democratic Party (state & national committees)	No sustained federal action; Grant declines to intervene in MS/AL elections citing political cost	Democrats seize control of AL, MS, TX; Reconstruction ends de facto
1877	Compromise of 1877 withdraws last federal troops from LA/SC	Bipartisan deal brokered by Democrats & Republicans—but Democrats gain full Southern control	Rutherford B. Hayes (Rep.) fulfills promise to end military occupation	Jim Crow codified; lynching rates surge; Black voting drops >90% in AL/MS by 1900

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the Ku Klux Klan founded by the Democratic Party as an official organization?

No—the Klan was not an official arm of the Democratic Party, nor was it incorporated or funded by it. However, it operated with widespread ideological alignment, active collaboration, and material support from Democratic elected officials, newspapers, and community leaders. Contemporary congressional testimony—including from victims, informants, and even repentant Klansmen—consistently identified Democratic sheriffs, judges, and legislators as co-conspirators, financiers, or active participants. The distinction between ‘official party organ’ and ‘de facto enforcement wing’ is legally narrow in practice when local government refuses to prosecute, celebrates violence, or shares intelligence.

Did Republicans start the KKK to discredit Democrats?

No—this claim has zero historical basis. Every primary source from the era—including Klan membership rolls, letters, newspaper accounts, and congressional hearings—identifies exclusively Southern white men, almost all former Confederates and active Democrats. No Republican politician, publication, or organization advocated for, funded, or participated in Klan activity. In fact, the Republican-led Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 specifically to dismantle the organization—and used it to prosecute Democratic officials.

What happened to the original Klan after 1872?

The first iteration of the Klan effectively dissolved by 1872 due to federal prosecutions, internal fractures, and declining public support—even among sympathetic whites—after revelations of extreme brutality. It was revived in 1915 by William J. Simmons in Atlanta, explicitly inspired by The Birth of a Nation. This ‘second Klan’ expanded nationally, added anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, and nativist ideology, and peaked at 4–6 million members in the 1920s—still overwhelmingly aligned with conservative, white Protestant Democrats and independents, though less formally tied to party machinery.

How did party platforms reflect Klan-aligned goals?

The 1868 Democratic National Platform condemned Reconstruction as ‘a system of robbery and oppression’ and demanded ‘immediate restoration’ of Southern states ‘without regard to the rights of the freedmen.’ The 1876 platform declared ‘the supremacy of the white race’ in the South ‘a self-evident truth.’ These weren’t fringe positions—they were ratified by national conventions and echoed in speeches by presidential nominees Horatio Seymour and Samuel Tilden. Such rhetoric created the ideological cover for Klan violence.

Why do some modern sources blame ‘both parties’?

This false equivalence stems from conflating eras. While both parties have complex, evolving histories on race, the Klan’s founding and Reconstruction-era dominance occurred exclusively within a Democratic political ecosystem. Later 20th-century civil rights realignment—where many segregationist Democrats became Republicans—does not retroactively assign Klan origins to the GOP. Accurate history requires period-specific analysis, not presentist projection.

Common Myths

Myth #1: ‘The KKK was started by disgruntled Confederates—not a political party.’
Reality: While individuals were ex-Confederates, they acted as part of a coordinated political project. The Klan’s stated goals—‘restoring white supremacy,’ ‘crushing Radical Republican rule,’ and ‘defending Southern institutions’—were identical to the Democratic Party platform. Local Democratic committees routinely shared voter lists with Klan units and provided alibis for members arrested by federal agents.

Myth #2: ‘Party affiliations back then don’t matter—they weren’t like today’s parties.’
Reality: The 1860s Democratic Party was ideologically consistent and nationally unified on white supremacy. Its platform, leadership, press, and electoral strategy centered on opposing Black citizenship. Modern party evolution doesn’t erase that historical coherence—it underscores why studying origins matters for understanding systemic continuity.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Answering what party started the kkk accurately isn’t about assigning blame—it’s about honoring victims whose stories were erased, correcting narratives weaponized to distort democracy, and grounding today’s racial justice work in unvarnished truth. The evidence is overwhelming: the Ku Klux Klan emerged from, operated alongside, and advanced the political objectives of the Democratic Party of the Reconstruction era. That doesn’t define today’s Democratic Party—but it does demand historical honesty. Your next step? Read the firsthand testimony from the 1871 Congressional Hearings (freely available via the Library of Congress), visit the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, or support local efforts to install contextual historical markers where Klan violence occurred. Knowledge isn’t neutral. How you use it is.