The 1871 Enforcement Acts consisted of several important Civil Rights Acts passed by Congress during the Reconstruction Era. The purpose of the Enforcement Acts was to implement and extend the fundamental guarantees of the Constitution to all citizens and protect African Americans from violence perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The Enforcement Acts are therefore also referred to as the 1871 Civil Rights Act or the Ku Klux Klan Act.