![]() Indeed, completely innocent random black men were routinely butchered alive in front of picnicking white crowds, a gruesome ritual that (as intended) instilled bone-deep fear in the Southern black community. They faced not just the threat of overwhelming violence for any perceived slight, but the reality that any uprising would create a psychotic, murderous backlash against the entire black community. What arms blacks had were mostly taken easily, and a racial caste system was reimposed. Those paramilitaries and terrorists became the state government, "elected" through violence and fraud. Some 150 were massacred, including many after they surrendered.Īfter Northern Republicans abandoned their black voters to the KKK in 1876, though, blacks stood no chance of resisting what was essentially state-endorsed white terrorism by force. As but one example: In Colfax, Louisiana, in 1873, black Republicans and state militia members were defeated by white paramilitaries (including many ex-Confederates) armed with a cannon. But when no-holds-barred confrontation broke out, blacks almost always lost horribly against wealthier and hence better-armed whites. This did serve as some moderate protection while Reconstruction lasted. Many quite understandably armed themselves, especially the hundreds of thousands of black Union veterans. Throughout this time black Americans faced constant terrorism from whites. These were harsh tactics indeed - but it was a brilliant success. Akerman brought in federal ones, and even temporarily suspended habeas corpus on occasion. Where local juries would not convict due to threats and acts of terrorism, Grant's Attorneys General Ebenezer Hoar and Amos T. President Grant directed occupying troops to preserve order and supervise fair elections, and used the newly established Department of Justice and the Enforcement Acts to suppress the KKK, which at the time was basically coextensive with the Democratic Party in the South. Grant used federal government power to enforce democratic institutions on the defeated Confederate states. Those 12 years constitute Reconstruction, when the Republican Party under men like Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Ulysses S. First there was 250 years of chattel slavery, followed by about 12 years of genuine multi-racial democracy, followed by 90 years of Jim Crow tyranny - a racial caste system whose political foundation was white supremacist terrorism. ![]() The results are not encouraging for Second Amendment absolutists.Ĭonsider the American South, which was a brutal tyranny for most of its existence. ![]() ![]() Indeed, history provides us many examples of times when people might have had an opportunity to use small arms against a tyrannical state. But let's actually engage with this conservative argument on its merits. ![]()
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