The 1871 civil rights act gave the us president the power to

The Civil Rights Act of 1871 gave the US President the power to temporarily get rid of the writ of habeas corpus.

The write of habeas corpus is usually used as a means to stop the government from unlawfully detaining a person. However, in this case, the president agrees to suspend this for a certain amount of time in order to more effectively stop the actions of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations. At this time, the KKK and other groups were terrorizing newly freed African-American citizens. This was especially true in southern states where slavery used to exist.