Amos Tappan Akerman

AKERMAN, AMOS TAPPAN

Amos Tappan Akerman, born in 1819 in New Hampshire, served as attorney general of the United States from 1870 to 1872 under President ULYSSES S. GRANT.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Akermanwas admitted to the bar in 1841. He opened hisfirst practice at Elberton, Georgia, in 1850. Hewas a well-established attorney by the outbreakof the Civil War. Akerman supported Georgia’s decision to secede from the Union in 1861, and he served the Confederate government in the quartermaster’s department during the war. (Aquartermaster is charged with procuring anddispensing uniforms, weapons, and other suppliesfor the troops.) After the war, Akermand eveloped ties with the REPUBLICAN PARTY andthe Reconstructionists. He was appointed district attorney for Georgia in 1866. Four yearslater, he was named attorney general of theUnited States.Akerman’s tenure as attorney general coincided with the Grant administration’s earlyattempts to enforce CIVIL RIGHTS laws in theSouth during RECONSTRUCTION. Initially, Akerman believed prosecutions for violations ofcriminal CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS should be left tostate and local authorities. However, he soon changed his mind and advocated a more aggressive federal role in the prosecution of crimes related to civil rights.His change of mind can be attributed to the growth of the KU KLUX KLAN in the South, and the results of a congressional investigation.

Investigators found that state and local legal systemsin the South were inadequate to protect therights of free blacks or to prosecute the increasinglyviolent actions of the Klan.Akerman agreed that the federal governmentshould step in, and he wrote extensively onthe subject. In his opinion, some Southernerswould never acknowledge the rights of freeblacks and government attempts to “conciliateby kindness”were a waste of time.He noted thatSouthern klansmen and other malcontents “takeall kindness . . . as evidence of timidity, andhence are emboldened to lawlessness by it.” Heconcluded that the federal government should“command their respect by the exercise of itspowers.”With Akerman’s leadership—and his successfuleffort to obtain a financial commitmentfrom Congress—attorneys from the newly createdDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE worked with localU.S. attorneys to bring hundreds of indictmentsunder the Enforcement Act of 1870 (16 Stat. 140[codified as amended at 42 U.S.C.A. § 1981 etseq.]) and the KU KLUX KLAN ACT of 1871 (§ 2,17 Stat. 13 [current version at 42 U.S.C.A. §1985(3) (Supp. V 1976)]).Together, these government officials prosecuted,convicted, and imprisoned hundreds ofKlan members from 1870 to 1872, and, for ashort time, criminal civil rights acts were successfullyenforced in the South. Though he “rejoiced”at the suppression of the Klan, Akerman wrote, “Ifeel greatly saddened by this business. It hasrevealed a perversion of moral sentiment amongthe Southern whites, which bodes ill to that partof the country for this generation.”Akerman was also saddened—and frustrated—by fiscal circumstances that combinedto slow his efforts. Concerned by the growingfinancial burden of the actions, and pressured toallocate funds for other priorities, Congress andthe Grant administration eventually broughtAkerman’s prosecutions to a standstill. The violenceresumed, and Akerman resigned.Akerman’s resignation as attorney generalcan also be attributed to his discouragementwith the pace of federal civil rights enforcement,and to political issues as well. Akerman hadangered President Grant by refusing to execute adeed conveying western lands to the railroads,and he had antagonized many congressionalRepublicans with his lack of support for otherbusiness and railroad projects.After his resignation, Akerman returned toprivate life and the PRACTICE OF LAW.He died in1880.

FURTHER READINGSBaker, Nancy V. 1992. Conflicting Loyalties: Law and Politicsin the Attorney General’s Office, 1789–1990. Lawrence:Univ. Press of Kansas.

CROSS-REFERENCESCivil Rights Acts; Grant, Ulysses Simpson; Ku Klux Klan Act;Railroad.