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Facsimile of Page 2 of the Original
Prescript of Ku Klux Klan.

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Facsimile of Page from Ritual of the
Knights of the White Camelia.

Only whites[1925] over eighteen were admitted to membership, after election by the order in which no adverse vote was cast. Each council acted as a court when charges were brought against its members. Punishment was by removal or suspension from office; there was no expulsion from the order; punishment was simply a reducing to ranks. The candidate for membership into the order was required first to take the oath of secrecy, which was administered by a subordinate official, who then announced him to the next higher official.[1926] By the latter the candidate was presented to the commander of the Council, and in answer to his interrogations made solemn declaration that he had not married and would never marry a woman not of the white race, and that he believed in the superiority of the white race. He promised never to vote for any except a white man, and never to refrain from voting at any election in which a negro candidate should oppose a white. He further declared that he would devote his intelligence, energy, and influence to prevent political affairs from falling into the hands of the African race, and that he would protect persons of the white race in their lives, rights, and property against encroachments from any inferior race, especially the African. After the candidate had made the proper declarations the final oath was administered,[1927] after which he was pronounced a “Knight of the ——.”

The Commander next instructed the new members in the principles of the order, which he declared was destined to regenerate the unfortunate country, and to relieve the white race from its humiliating condition. Its fundamental object was the “Maintenance of the Supremacy of the White Race.”[1928] History and physiology were called upon to show that the Caucasian race had always been superior to, and had always exercised dominion over, inferior races. No human laws could permanently change the great laws of nature. The white race alone had achieved enduring civilization, and of all subordinate races, the most imperfect was the African. The government of the Republic was established by white men for white men. It was never intended by its founders that it should fall into the hands of an inferior race. Consequently, any attempt to transfer the government to the blacks was an invasion of the sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution, as well as a violation of the laws established by God himself, and no member of the white race could submit, without humiliation and shame, to the subversion of the established institutions of the Republic. It was the duty of white men to resist attempts against their natural and legal rights in order to maintain the supremacy of the Caucasian race and restrain the “African race to that condition of social and political inferiority for which God has destined it.” There was to be no infringement of laws, no violations of right, no force employed, except for purposes of legitimate and necessary defence.

As an essential condition of success, the Order proscribed absolutely any social equality between the races. If any degree of social equality should be granted, there would be no end to it; political equality was necessarily involved. Social equality meant finally intermarriage and a degraded and ignoble population. The white blood must be kept pure to preserve the natural superiority of the race. The obligation was therefore taken “To Observe a Marked Distinction between the two Races,”[1929] in public and in private life.

One of the most important duties of the members was to respect the rights of the negroes, and in every instance give them their lawful dues. It was only simple justice to deny them none of their legitimate privileges. There was no better way to show the inherent superiority of the white race, than by dealing with the blacks in that spirit of firmness, liberality, and impartiality which characterizes all superior organizations. It would be ungenerous to restrict them in the exercise of certain privileges, without conceding to them at the same time the fullest measure of their legitimate rights. A fair construction of the white man’s duty to the black would be, not only to respect and observe their acknowledged rights, but also to see that they were respected and observed by others.