The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders 1789-1878: History of Controversial Events, Posse Comitatus, Mormon Conflict, Whiskey Rebellion, Racial Strife, KKK, Slave Law

This is a fascinating and comprehensive history of the use of federal troops during instances of domestic disorder from the U.S. Army. Domestic disorders were very much on the minds of the Constitution's framers when they met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In fact, as students of the period point out, the rebellion led by Daniel Shays in western Massachusetts the previous tall and winter must be counted as a proximate cause of the Constitutional Convention. Concern over the proper application of military force in domestic situations, especially in a new nation dedicated to personal liberty, is clearly reflected in the debate and in the Constitution as finally drafted.

The quest for domestic tranquility produced many troublesome and controversial incidents during the first century of our nation's history. In the account that follows the reader will Find the essential elements of those incidents from the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 to the Reconstruction that followed the Civil War and the ways in which federal military force was applied in each. The volume also clearly documents how the twin hallmarks of federal intervention in domestic affairs—the subordination of the military to civil authority and the use of minimum force—evolved according to principles enunciated in the Constitution and out of traditions established by the first commander in chief.

1. CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE FOUNDATIONS * The Specter of Shays' Rebellion * The Constitutional Provisions * The Ratification Debates * The First Enabling Act * 2. THE FIRST PRECEDENTS: NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION AND WHISKEY REBELLION * Enforcing Neutrality * Origins and Outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion * The Federal Government Reacts * 3. THE WHISKEY REBELLION: THE MILITARY EXPEDITION * Raising the Militia * Organizing the Militia as a National Force * The Final Orders and the March * Military Actions in the Insurgent Country * The Windup * The Results * 4. FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS * The Fries Rebellion * The Burr Conspiracy and the Law of 1807 * The Embargo Troubles * 5. THE JACKSONIAN ERA * Slave Rebellions, 1830-1831 * The Nullification Crisis, 1832-1833 * Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Riots, 1834 * An Election Riot, Mormons, and the "Buckshot War" * 6. PATRIOT WAR AND DORR REBELLION * The Patriot War, 1837-1841 * The Dorr Rebellion, 1842 * 7. FUGITIVE SLAVES AND VIGILANTES: THE ARMY AS POSSE COMITATUS * Enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law * The Case of the San Francisco Vigilantes * 8. TROUBLE IN KANSAS: FIRST PHASE * The Path to Military Intervention. Shannon, Sumner, and the Sack of Lawrence * Sumner Polices the Territory * General Smith and the August War * Geary's Pacification of Kansas * 9. THE LAST PHASE IN KANSAS AND ITS SEQUEL * New Storm Clouds * Robert J. Walker arid the Elections of October 1857 * Southeast Kansas - The Residue of the Pacification Mission * The Sequel - John Brown's Raid * 10. THE UTAH EXPEDITION * Mounting the Expedition * The Winter Debacle * Resolution Without Bloodshed * Provo - The Last Incident * 11. THE CIVIL WAR: BEGINNINGS OF DRAFT RESISTANCE * Establishing the Framework * Enforcing the Militia Act of 1862 * The Draft Law of 1863 * 12. THE CIVIL WAR: DRAFT RIOTS * New York's Bloodiest Week * Spread of the New York Riots * Meeting Other Threats in 1863 * 1864 - An End to Resistance * The Draft Riots: An Assessment * 13. RECONSTRUCTION: FIRST PHASE - 1865-1868 * Background of the 1866 Disturbances * Norfolk - April 1866' * Memphis - May 1866 * New Orleans - July 1866 * Military Rule During Congressional Reconstruction * A Change of Scene - The Fenians * 14. KEEPING ORDER IN THE READMITTED STATES: 1867-1872 * Early Troubles in Tennessee and Georgia * The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan * Battling the Klan in Tennessee: 1868-1869 * Louisiana: July-November 1868 * The Enforcement Acts * Enforcing the Ku Klux Act