The Ku Klux Klan started after the Civil War with a group of white Southerners who were very angry when the war ended. They were angry because the Blacks had won their freedom from slavery and they had lost their slaves. No more slavery meant their lives had changed and they felt threatened.

This elite group believed that the responsibility of self-government and the full liberties and civil rights gained from independence belonged only to them.

To punish (a person) without legal process or authority, especially by hanging, for a perceived offense or as an act of bigotry.