Amos T . Akerman Amos Tappan Akerman ( February 23 , 1821 – December 21 , 1880 ) served as United States Attorney General under President Ulysses S . Grant from 1870 to 1871 . A native of New Hampshire , Akerman graduated from Dartmouth College in 1842 . Upon graduation Akerman worked with young boys as Headmaster in North Carolina and as a tutor in Georgia . Having become interested in law Akerman studied and passed the bar in Georgia in 1850 ; where he and an associate practiced law . In a dual role as an attorney and a farmer making a living ; Akerman owned eleven slaves . When the Civil War started in 1861 , Akerman joined the Confederate Army and achieved the rank of Colonel . After the Civil War ended in 1865 , Akerman joined the Republican Party during Reconstruction and became an outspoken attorney advocate for African American civil rights in Georgia . Akerman , upon President Grant ' s appointment as his U . S . Attorney General , vigorously prosecuted the Klan in the South under the Enforcement Acts . Akerman was assisted by Sol . Gen . Benjamin Bristow in the newly established U . S . Department of Justice . Att . Gen . Akerman decided important land grant cases that concerned railroads in a rapidly expanding West . Akerman also ruled on the United States first federal Civil Service Reform law implemented by President Grant and the U . S . Congress . After he resigned office , Akerman continued in his thriving law practice in Georgia and was highly popular in the state . Early years . Akerman was born on February 23 , 1821 in Portsmouth , New Hampshire as the ninth of Benjamin Akerman ’ s twelve children . < ref name = " Parker ( 9 / 12 / 2002 ) " > Parker ( 9 / 12 / 2002 ) , " Amos T . Akerman ( 1821 - 1880 ) " < / ref > He attended Phillips Exeter Academy high school , and then attended Dartmouth College located in Hanover , graduating as a member of the class of 1842 with Phi Beta Kappa honors . Headmaster , farmer , and law practice . Upon graduation , Akerman moved south and got a job as a headmaster instructor of a boy ’ s academy in Murfreesboro , North Carolina , at that time part of Richmond county . Akerman was known as a strict teacher . In 1846 , Akerman was hired as a tutor for John M . Berrien ' s , children in Savannah , Georgia . Berrien had been President Andrew Jackson ' s Attorney General and was a prominent Whig . Akerman took advantage of Berrien ' s extensive law library and became fascinated with the field . Akerman passed the Georgia Bar in 1850 , moved to Peoria , Illinois where his sister resided , and briefly practiced law . Akerman returned to Georgia and practiced law in Clarksville . Eventually , Akerman opened a law practice in Elberton , Georgia with Robert Heston . In addition to practicing law , Akerman also started a farm and owned eleven slaves . In terms of politics Akerman was a Whig . Civil War . Although he was against secession as a solution to the North - South conflicts , Akerman stayed loyal to his adopted state and joined the Confederate States Army in the spring of 1864 . Akerman first served in General Robert Toombs ’ brigade and later in the quartermaster ’ s department where it was his job to procure and dispense uniforms , weapons and other supplies to the soldiers . Reconstruction . Akerman joined the Republican Party in the campaign for black - American citizenship and suffrage , and was an outspoken proponent of Reconstruction as a member of Georgia ' s 1868 state constitutional convention and as U . S . district attorney for Georgia ( 1869 ) . Amos Akerman also strongly advocated Georgia ’ s readmission into the Union and therefore fought for stability and federal compliance in the South . U . S . Presidential election 1868 . During the 1868 Presidential election there was concern that Akerman supported presidential candidate Horatio Seymour over Grant . To stop the rumor , in a letter from Elberton , Akerman published his full endorsement for Ulysses S . Grant and would serve as the Republican presidential state elector from Georgia . Akerman believed Grant would restore order and peace to the violence - plagued South . Akerman believed Grant would respect the " rights of the laborer as a freeman , citizen and voter . " Akerman wrote that violence in the South against blacks was motivated by revenge after being defeated by the North , slaves having been taken away , and were dissenfranchised politically . Akerman believed that Congressional Reconstruction had been the better plan for the Southern states , opposed to President Andrew Johnson ' s Reconstruction plan . Akerman believed that freedmen deserved federal protection from the law and that he endorsed their enfranchisement at the ballot . Akerman admitted he was initially strongly opposed to blacks voting , however , his opinion changed as he viewed the only way blacks could gain protection was through suffrage . U . S . Attorney Georgia 1869 . In 1869 President Grant appointed Akerman as U . S . Attorney in Georgia . President Grant , initially , attempted to protect African American voters by the use of State courts . White vs . Clement . In June 1869 , Akerman argued in defense of Richard W . White , a mullato who had won the state election for Superior Court county clerk . White ' s opponent , William James Clement , represented by Sol . Gen . Alfred B . Smith of the Eastern Georgia Circuit court , stated White was ineligible to hold office since White was a black man . A lower court had ruled that if the Clement could prove White was a black man , he could not hold office . The case went to the Georgia ' s Supreme Court where Akerman defended White ' s election and his color did not deny him the right to hold office . Akerman argued that the old laws originating from slavery in the South did not apply anymore since the Reconstruction Act of 1867 stated that Georgia had no civilian government . Akerman argued that since blacks had a right to vote in Georgia , that they had the right to hold public office . Akerman argued that blacks had participated in the Georgia ' s new constitutional government in 1868 without distinction of color . Akerman argued that both President Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S . Grant had appointed black men to public office and that the current U . S . Constitution did not recognize a person ' s color . The Supreme Court reversed the lower courts decision and stated that White had the right to hold public office regardless of his race . U . S . Attorney General . On June 23 , 1870 , he was appointed as Attorney General by President Ulysses S . Grant . Interestingly , Akerman was the “ only person from the Confederacy to reach cabinet rank during Reconstruction . ” Having become attorney general shortly after the creation of the new Justice Department , Akerman dealt with legal issues from the Department of the Interior , such as the question of whether competing railroad companies deserved more land in the West in return for expanding the country ’ s transportation system . He also dealt with the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal and led massive campaigns against the Ku Klux Klan ( KKK ) , whose violence he had experienced first - hand . Akerman resigned in 1871 because of the beginning of corruption that plagued Grant ' s administration . His opposition to the Klan and unpartisaned interpretation of the United States Constitution , such as in the case of the railroad magnates , led advisors to pressure President Grant into asking for Akerman ' s resignation . Ruled against Union Pacific . On July 1 , 1862 President Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act that in addition to promoting the transcontinental railroad allowed the Union Pacific Railroad to make subsidiary railroad branch lines , including one through Kansas . One of these subsidiaries was financially unable to complete the railroad through Kansas , as a result , the Union Pacific applied for federal assistance in the form of land grants and bonds . On June 1 , 1871 Att . Gen . Akerman denied land grants and bonds to the Union Pacific and upheld previous rulings against federal assistance . Company attorneys lobbied Akerman to change his mind , however , he refused to change his ruling . This upset Collis P . Huntington and Jay Gould , who were connected to the Union Pacific Railroad and demanded Akerman ' s removal from office . Ruled on Civil Service Law . On September 7 , 1871 Att . Gen . Akerman ruled on the newly formed Civil Service Commission passed by Congress on March 3 , 1871 and signed into law by President Grant on March 4 . In the United States first ever Civil Service Reform legislation a commission was set up to establish rules , testing , and regulations , authorized by the President , for the best possible candidates to be appointed civil service positions . The funding for the Commission only lasted for one year until June 30 , 1872 . Akerman ruled that the Commission , run by a chairman appointed by the President , was legal , since Congress and the President had every right in their constitutional power to put in the best candidates to serve in the United States Government . Akerman believed this was the original intent of the framers of the U . S . Constitution . Akerman , however , ruled that the Commission did not constitutionally have the power to forbid an appointment ; only to aid the President and Congress to put in the best person qualified for the job . Akerman also ruled that the competitive testing need not be overly restrictive as to take away the appointment powers given to the President and Congress under the U . S . Constitution . Prosecuted Klan . Having lived in Georgia , Att . Gen . Akerman was well aware of the wide spread violent tactics known as " outrages " of the Ku Klux Klan primarily against African American voters . Upon his assumption to office , his primary duty was to stop the violence against blacks in the South and prosecute the perpetrators . His appointment by Grant in November 1870 was well timed ; having had the strong enforcement powers of the newly created U . S . Department of Justice and the assistance of the newly created office of the U . S . Solicitor General . Having the Department of Justice and the first Sol . Gen . Benjamin Bristow , Att . Gen . Akerman was ready to federally prosecute the Klan . Akerman , expanding the powers of the Department of Justice , started an investigating division that looked into the organization of the Klan in the South . Akerman also had the legal authority to prosecute under the Ku Klux Klan Act , passed by Congress and signed into law by President Grant on April 20 , 1871 . Akerman and Bristow acted quickly and efficiently . After Grant had suspended habeas corpus in nine South Carolina counties on October 17 , 1871 Akerman , who was in the state , personally led U . S . Marshals and the U . S . Army into the country side and made hundreds of arrests , while 2000 Klansmen fled the state . With the assistance of Sol . Gen . Benjamin Bristow there were 3000 indictments of Klansmen throughout the South , and there were 600 convictions . Sixty - five percent of the Klansmen convicted were put in federal prison for five years . The result of Akerman and Bristows prosecutions and President Grant ' s willingness to enforce the law to stop the Klan , led to massive African American voting turnouts in 1872 . Resignation controversy . During December , while Akerman was busy prosecuting the Klan he was unexpectantly asked to resign by President Grant . Rumor was that Presidient Grant was pressured by Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano , who sympathized with Collis P . Huntington and Jay Gould , had demanded Akerman ' s resignation . Akerman ruled against giving federal land grants and government bonds to the Union Pacific Railroad . Akerman denied that Delano was the reason for his departure from office . Grant , uneasy concerning Akerman ' s prosecution zeal against the Klan , did not want to appear as a military dictator grinding the South into submission . Grant ' s replacement , George H . Williams , however , continued to prosecute the Klan in the South . After Akerman resigned he did not have any hard feelings towards President Grant . According to historian William S . McFeely , with Akerman ' s resignation " went any hope that the Republican party would develop as a national party of true racial equality . " Akerman supported Grant ' s renomination in 1872 and believed that Grant would continue to enforce anti - terrorist laws . Return to Georgia and death . Although he was offered another government job , he returned to Georgia , where he continued to practice law until his death in Cartersville , on December 21 , 1880 . Family . Days before he entered active Confederate Army service in 1864 during the Civil War , Akerman married Martha Rebecca Galloway . The couple had eight children ; one child had died . His son was Alexander Akerman .