olved as a vigilante group whose purpose above all was to help white Southerners regain control of the South. As this goal became dominant, the original "fun-loving" purposes of the Klan became secondary. "Its emblems, its paraphernalia, its name, principles, purposes, people, and indeed, its very birthplace were the antithesis of everything the Klan was to become" (Lowe 9). The creed of the Klan included a pledge to uphold all laws. Ironically, they hoped to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
The strategy and tactics of the Klan became more militant. When warnings and threats were insufficient to drive out carpetbaggers and keep negroes in their "proper places," acts of violence including "floggings, tar and featherings, mutilations and murders" took place (Lowe 11). With the emergence of this violence, original members of the Klan began to leave the organization. They were replaced by poor, illiterate whites who feared the economic competition of the blacks. As a result, less than two years after its founding, Nathan Forret, the Grand Wizard, officially disbanded the Klan. He lamented that the organization had become "perverted from its original purposes . . . the Klan had fallen into low and violent hands" (Lowe 11).
In 1915, William Simmons revived the Klan in Atlanta, Georgia observing that this restoration was a "sign from God." With this act, Simmons is credited with forming the largest most powerful vigilante organization in American history. Simmons was assisted in his efforts by the writer, Thomas Dixon, who glorified the South in his books The Clansman and The Leopards' Spot. In these works, he depicted the North as villainous and blacks as beasts. Southern men and women, by contrast, were treated as exemplary figures. He portrayed the Klan, of course, as the embodiment of Southern virtues. Dixon's major contribution to the resurgence of the Klan was to serve as producer of the film, "The Birt...