As protests, riots, and looting have become an everyday norm in the United States since the end of May due to the continued senseless killing of unarmed black people prior to and during the coronavirus pandemic, the president has proclaimed that he will implement military force if state governments don’t take measures to quell the violence, thereby using the Insurrection Act of 1807. 

First, what is an insurrection?

1. a violent uprising against an authority or government
2. an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government

Let’s travel back in time to the origins of the Insurrection Act of 1807. The Militia Act of 1792 was an act passed to allow the president to use military force “whenever the laws of the United States should be opposed or the execution thereof obstructed, in any state, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by the act”. This was in essence the first occurrence of a martial law where the federal government could use its forces to keep its citizens safe. There were several Militia Acts created that followed. 

 In 1807 the Militia Acts were replaced with the Insurrection Act of 1807. Here are the three sections of the Insurrection Act that call out when the act can be used:

• when requested by a state’s legislature, or governor if the legislature cannot be convened, to address an insurrection against that state (§ 251),
• to address an insurrection, in any state, which makes it impracticable to enforce the law (§ 252),
• to address an insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, in any state, which results in the deprivation of Constitutionally-secured rights, and where the state is unable, fails, or refuses to protect said rights (§ 253).

The Insurrection Act which was signed into law by president Thomas Jefferson, empowered the U.S. president to call into service the armed forces and the National Guard for any disruption caused by an insurgence that could not be controlled and it required the president to first proclaim a warning to insurgents that military force would be enforced if action wasn’t taken at a lower state level. The Militia Acts and the Insurrection Act of 1807, during the 18th and 19th century were mostly used to quell the civil disturbances caused by Native Americans trying to win back their stolen lands and taxes imposed on domestic products. In the late 19th century, the Insurrection Act was used to handle labor uprisings. 

As the imminent civil war was about to commence, the Insurrection Act became a tool to quell the civil unrest in the country and in 1861, a new section was added to the Insurrection Act that allowed the federal government to use the National Guard and armed forces against the will of the state government in the case of “rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States. In 1871 after the Civil War was won by the union there were three Enforcement Acts created to enforce the freedoms of black americans who had finally received emancipation. Out of the three Enforcement Acts, the Third Enforcement Act was written to utilize the Insurrection Act to control the civil unrest caused by multiple white supremacist groups, like the Klu Klux Klan, who continued to endanger the black people of the nation. The language added allowed the federal government to use the act to enforce the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. During the Reconstruction Era, president Ulysses S. Grant used the Insurrection Act via the third enforcement act to deploy federal troops rather than state militias to enforce the law, and Klansmen were prosecuted in federal court, where juries were often predominantly black. Hundreds of Klan members were fined or imprisoned. These efforts were so successful that the Klan was decimated throughout the rest of the former Confederacy. The first era of the Klu Klux Klan was over.

Unfortunately, as American History prescribes, these much needed improvements during reconstruction were later reversed. When president Rutherford B. Hayes came into the presidency he reversed all of the changes made during reconstruction, which unequally represented the nation to keep whites in power and take back the opportunities that were promised to blacks in the nation. The Insurrection Act was no longer enforced after Hayes took office. For around 100 years, the act was barely used, sometimes for labor conflicts. During this time, the second era of the KKK was born and continued for years thereafter. Racism and segregation continued to flourish in a nation that was built on the equal rights of all (except black) men. 

The Insurrection Act got its resurgence again during the Civil Rights Era. The Act was enforced eight times in total during the Civil Rights Era starting with World War II which sparked the great migration of blacks to the north to support factories during the war until the late 1960s with the modifications in law by president Lyndon Johnson after the killing of Martin Luther King which incited riots across the nation. Modifications in law also required that states desegregate. This led to civil unrest and the Act was used to enforce the right for all people to exist in one space regardless of race. For years after the civil rights movement, the Act was not used. But became relevant again to quell the unrest caused by Hurricane Hugo in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 80s. Of course, racism continued to be a norm in the country. The ruling of the Rodney King case of 1992 incited riots that ensued in LA and other cities across the U.S. Riots were so bad in LA that the Insurrection Act was enforced again.

Now fast forward to 2020 and we are back here again with the same issues of the civil rights era. The only difference is that we now have social media which has been a great equalizing tool that visualizes injustices. Social media has in essence given a voice to the unheard. The senseless killing of black human beings has now been showcased on camera and shared throughout the world. As a result, there have been several protests and riots that have ensued. The president has threatened the nation that he will release federal troops if the states are unable to take care of the issue themselves. In essence, he wants to use the Insurrection Act incorrectly, by commencing a martial law to stop the inroads that protesters are making in bringing the killers to justice. The Insurrection Act historically has always been used as a way of protecting its citizens from undue harm, but now the current president wants to use the Act to initiate a martial law that will more than likely worsen the issue, maybe even creating a war of some sort. The president wants to use it opposite to its original intention. It’s like the Klu Klux Klan that was initially disbanded by the Insurrection Act is now using the same tool that weakened them to get back at the race of people they were initially trying to get rid of. I am only saying this because we know who the president’s electoral base was and continues to be today. People are tired and feed up. The Act should not be used to stop a frustrated people, it should be used to protect its citizens from harm, not for the use as a type of martial law where the government controls everything. It would be the complete opposite of what the constitution dictates – a nation not controlled by one central power. The black people of the United States have too long allowed the powers that be to disrupt their success and continue to kill the black population with no repercussions. 

History always repeats itself, but we can stop it repeating if we use history to guide us into the future, so that we can get a different result. The Insurrection Act was used to help unify the nation, not divide it. Trump, I hope you are taking notes.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Acts_of_1792

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act_of_1807

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Enforcement_Act