Final answer:
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 established citizenship and federal protection for African Americans, while the Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, aimed to suppress racial violence. These acts were crucial in the history of the United States' civil rights movement, leading to broader protections in the future, including the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Step-by-step explanation:
Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1871
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a seminal piece of legislation in American history that established the citizenship of African Americans and provided the federal government with the power to intervene in state affairs to protect citizens' rights. This act was passed by Congress over the veto of President Johnson and was a significant step forward in overturning the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision, which had declared that Black people could not be American citizens.
The Civil Rights Act of 1871, sometimes called the Ku Klux Klan Act, was designed to suppress the growing violence against African Americans in the post-Civil War South. Although the Supreme Court did not reverse the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (a distinct and later act intended to guarantee equal treatment in public accommodations) until 1883, it did declare the Enforcement Acts, which included the 1871 Act, unconstitutional in 1876. The 1871 Act allowed the president to suspend habeas corpus to combat the KKK and other groups.
The Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1871 were both important milestones in the struggle for racial equality in the United States, setting legal precedents that the later Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 would build upon to create more comprehensive protection against discrimination for all Americans.