In the United States, the issue of race and ethnicity is of crucial importance because, historically, the country mainly consisted of immigrants from different parts of the world. Hence, the main challenge of American democracy was to create such a legal system that would allow equal representation not only by class but by race and ethnicity as well. Throughout history, the law has played an important role in racial and ethnic experiences.
For example, the Enforcement Laws of 1870 and 1871 were aimed to protect the voting rights of African Americans’ as the federal government was allowed to intervene in the state, which failed to provide those rights. Because of these laws, the first tactics to fight Ku Klux Klan on the federal level were implied. This also resulted in the Reconstruction period, where 1510 African Americans were elected to governmental offices.