The KKK was founded on the belief of the superiority of Anglo society over newly freed African American slaves after the Civil War. The organization hoped to surprise and intimidate African Americans politically socially and economically. It would be revived in the early twentieth century based on a dislike for foreigners, catholics, and other large groups migrating into the US. At this point the KKK’s ideas were more bolstered by ideas of superiority that resulted from Social Darwinism.
