Proclamation 200: Law and Order in the State of South Carolina

What it is

This is a presidential proclamation issued in 1871 by Ulysses S. Grant, signed as President of the United States. It declared that in several named counties of South Carolina, armed groups were violently preventing the enforcement of federal law and denying citizens their constitutional rights.

Why it matters

The proclamation shows the federal government directly confronting Ku Klux Klan violence during Reconstruction. It reveals Grant's willingness to use presidential power to try to protect newly freed Black citizens and enforce the Fourteenth Amendment, at a time when state authority was failing to do so.

Look closer

• Why does the proclamation list specific counties by name?
• What does the language used to describe the violence tell you about how the government viewed the threat?
• What does this document not tell us about the people suffering the violence?