Commentaries by Vania M. Smith

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

On December 24, 1814, the "Treaty of Ghent" was signed by the United States and Great Britain, ending hostilities in the War of 1812. Review the articles of the Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America.

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.