Well-Regulated Militias: A History Of Armed Protest

BackStory

Education, History

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2016

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earlier this year, tensions between federal officials and anti-government militia occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon came to a somewhat violent end. Federal agents shot one of the protesters, while the rest surrendered to the FBI. It’s hardly the first time in our history that American citizens have staged armed protests. In this episode of BackStory, the Guys will consider different groups who have taken up arms - from Revolutionary War veterans protesting taxes, to the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and violent labor protests in the 20th century.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is backstory. I'm Ed Ayers. In 1787, more than 2,000 armed farmers marched toward Boston to protest taxes.
0:10.0	Despite their muskets, they weren't aiming for a shootout.
0:13.0	Ironically, yeah, you could say that threatening the use of a musket is a way to not have to approach somebody in the nose.
0:19.0	Fast forward to 1921, Blair Mountain West Virginia. Some 10,000 coal miners armed with hunting rifles and shotguns
0:27.0	staged the largest labor uprising in US history. Their leaders battle cry?
0:32.0	You can only win your political rights with a high-powered rifle.
0:36.0	Today on backstory, we'll explore an American tradition that spans the political spectrum.
0:42.0	From the origins of the Ku Klux Klan to Latino nightriders fighting US expansion in the southwest,
0:48.0	a history of armed resistance coming up on backstory.
0:57.0	Major funding for backstory is provided by the Shia Khan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities,
1:07.0	the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.
1:13.0	From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is backstory with the American History Guys.
1:25.0	Welcome to backstory. I'm Ed Ayers, here with Brian Ballot.
1:28.0	Hey there Ed, and this week we're joined by historian Nathan Connelly, Philly Infrapeda Renov.
1:33.0	Hi, good to be here.
1:34.0	We're going to begin today in a remote part of the Pacific Northwest.
1:38.0	There's about close to about a dozen men.
1:41.0	This is historian Steve Beda, and these men are blockading a state highway outside of Waireka, near the California Oregon border.
1:49.0	They are holding hunting rifles, and it looks like something out of a western film.
1:55.0	They're lever action rifles like John Wayne would carry.
1:58.0	They are wearing cowboy boots, and they are wearing steps and hats.
2:02.0	They're ranchers, and they're angry at the government.
	...

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