Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871
Federal Efforts to Enforce the Fourteenth Amendment
Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code was originally enacted by Congress as Section 1 of the Ku Klux Klan Act of April 20, 1871. Its purpose was to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Act is also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Section 1983 states in part: Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within…
