Vigilantes

Vigilantes in the United States

Vigilantes

Introduction to Vigilantes

Vigilantes, in the U.S., members of volunteer associations known as vigilance committees, organized for the protection of certain common interests, notably life and property. Citizens formed vigilance committees to administer summary justice in the absence of a regular judiciary or when courts were prevented from exercising their accustomed functions. During the American Revolution, vigilance committees were formed in many communities to enforce the nonimportation agreements, which had been employed by the colonists as a means of resistance to British taxation, and to ferret out Tories, those who sympathized with the British crown rather than with colonial independence.

Vigilance groups were also active in frontier areas, where vigilantes would often capture a suspect, hold a trial, pass sentence, and execute the accused without actual legal officers being present. The most notable instance of the use of vigilance committees as a governmental improvisation occurred in California during 1848 and 1849, when thousands of people immigrated to the area following the discovery of gold. Because no legal government yet existed, citizens organized vigilance committees to suppress and punish crime.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Vigilantes

Resources

See Also

Regulators ; Revolutionary Committees ; White League andvol. 9:Constitution of the Committee of Vigilantes of San Francisco .

Further Reading (Books)

Gilje, Paul A. Rioting in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Slotkin, Richard. The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800-1890. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1985.

Stock, Catherine McNicol. Rural Radicals: Righteous Rage in the American Grain. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1996.

White, Richard. “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own”: A New History of the American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

Robert M.Guth

Cynthia R.Poe

Further Reading (Articles)

Lectures on Ethics., The Review of Metaphysics; June 1, 1998; Goodreau, John

Jerome, The Catholic Historical Review; October 1, 2003; Adkin, Neil

Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems, The Catholic Historical Review; July 1, 2001; Shanzer, Danuta

Further Reading (Articles)

Vigilantes Lose out This Time, but What about Next Time They Bully a Witness?, Cape Times (South Africa); May 29, 2014

Vigilantes Rig Evidence with Police Help; an Appeal Judgment Spotlights Problems of Police Complicity and Witness Coercion, The Mercury (South Africa); May 29, 2014

Mexican vigilantes kill 5, demobilization begins, AP Online; April 28, 2014; By GUSTAVO RUIZ and MARK STEVENSON

Mexico gov’t faces vigilante monster it created, AP Worldstream; January 15, 2014; By MARK STEVENSON

Mexico to draw line on vigilantes, AP Online; March 14, 2014; By MARK STEVENSON

Political Violence in Uganda: The Role of Vigilantes and Militias, The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies; December 1, 2010; Omach, Paul

Civilians Aiding Fight Against Rebels;Vigilante Groups, With Homemade Arms, on Rise in Philippines, The Washington Post; April 1, 1987; Gregg Jones

Mexican troops detain 34 ‘self-defense’ vigilantes, AP Online; March 7, 2013; By GUSTAVO RUIZ

Mexican Troops in Deadly Clash with Vigilantes, Times of Oman (Muscat, Oman); January 15, 2014

SLEEK SNOOPER.(Navy’s Vigilantes), Airpower; March 1, 2001; Dean, Jack

Nigerian vigilantes take on Islamic extremists, AP Online; August 14, 2013; By MICHELLE FAUL

Mexican vigilantes seize town, arrest police, AP Online; March 27, 2013; By BERTHA RAMOS

Prosecutor: Mexico vigilantes tied to drug cartel, AP Online; March 8, 2013

Michoacan Vigilante Groups Collaborate With Mexican Government, NPR Morning Edition; January 31, 2014; Carrie Kahn, Steve Inskeep

Mexico to transform anti-cartel vigilante forces, AP Online; May 10, 2014; By ALBERTO ARCE

Mexican vigilante legalization plan carries risks, AP Online; January 28, 2014; By MARK STEVENSON

Mexico Legalizes Vigilantes, Nabs Suspected Cartel Leader, Telegraph – Herald (Dubuque); January 28, 2014; Stevenson, Mark

Mexico legalizes vigilantes, nabs cartel leader, AP Worldstream; January 27, 2014; By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO and MARK STEVENSON

A New Name for an Old Practice: Vigilantes in South-Western Nigeria, Africa; January 1, 2008; Fourchard, Laurent

Mexican Troops Have Detained 34 ‘Self-Defense’ Vigilantes, Telegraph – Herald (Dubuque); March 8, 2013.


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