The secrecy of its methods appealed to the imagination and caused its rapid expansion, and this secrecy was inevitable because opposition to reconstruction was not lawful.

As the reconstruction policies were put into operation, the movement became political and used violence when appeals to superstitious fears ceased to be effective.

The Ku Klux Klan centered, directed, and crystallized public opinion, and united the whites upon a platform of white supremacy.

The Southern politicians stood aloof from the movement but accepted the results of its work.
It frightened the Negroes and bad whites into better conduct, and it encouraged the conservatives and aided them to regain control of society, for without the operations of the Klan the black districts would never have come again under white control.

Towards the end, however, its methods frequently became unnecessarily violent and did great harm to Southern society.