Question

The 1871 Civil Rights Act gave the US president the power to

Answer 1

The correct answer is this one: suspend habeas corpus.

Habeas corpus was a protection from unlawfull imprisonment, but it can be suspended in some special times, and that's what the Act was about. 

Answer 2

Answer: suspend habeas corpus.

The 1871 Civil Rights Act (also Third Enforcement Act or Ku Klux Klan Act) was an Act of Congress which allowed the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to combat the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacy groups. The act was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 20, 1871. The Act was the third one of a series of acts designed to combat attacks on the rights of African Americans.