Scott here with another episode of the History Unplugged Podcast.

At the start of the 1860 Presidential Campaign, a small protest movement supporting abolitionism appeared and in the beginning it just consisted of a few friends from Connecticut

But then it took on a life of its own and started to grow very rapidly across the United States

Went Supernova and was considered by some to be the biggest

political force that had ever emerged in American history, and then almost completely disappeared

a year later.

This group was called the White Awakes that consisted of young northerners who first appeared as

bodyguards to defend abolition of stump speakers from their frequent attacks and then

started forming brigades of their own.

They went on marches through cities and small towns throughout the north, typically at night bearing torches.

The sympathizers, it demonstrated the power of a rising majority to push back against slavery,

and it seemed like for the first time the abolitionist movement was getting popular support when for decades it had lost every

single political cause it had fought for, but to others it looked like a paramilitary force training

to invade the South in an attempt to trigger a Haitian-style race war.

Today's guest, John Grinspan, author of White Awake, The Forgotten Force that elected Lincoln

and spurred the Civil War, looks at this forgotten political movement, how influential it was, how it arguably pushed Lincoln

over the finish line to win the presidency, how many of the people in this movement became the

first massive wave of Union Soldier and Listies, why it was almost completely forgotten and what the line is

between a mass populist movement and an extrajudicial paramilitary force that leads a lawlessness

and social breakdown.

Hope you enjoy this discussion with John Grinspan.

And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from

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