“Free Speech, Free Soil, Free Men”, courtesy of the Library of Congress https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.19788/

Youth involvement in politics is nothing new to us. It seems like at this point of time, especially in the context of the 2024 campaign for the presidential election, the amount of political organizations targeted for young people to join are endless. But when did these sorts of groups come about, and what can they tell us about radical groups today?

The earliest form of grassroots movements began during the election of 1860. The ‘Wide Awakes’ were a group of young men who supported Lincoln’s candidacy for president, and weren’t shy about their campaigning. The group used military tactics, including parading with instruments, in an effort to drum up support (pun intended) for Lincoln.

The impact of the Wide Awakes did not go unnoticed, and even inspired others in the opposing Democratic party to form similar organizations. In an attempt to drown out the noise being made by the Wide Awakes, supporters of the democratic candidate Stephen Douglas founded their own sorts of grassroots organization. Some of these included the Douglas Invisibles, the Bell Ringers, and the Chloroformers.

What set the Wide Awakes apart from these other groups though, is that they used a “military motif”. Such presentation of themselves made them a feared group, and one that seemingly advocated for violence.

Ultimately, their presence in the Lincoln-Douglas election was definitely a contributing factor in precipitating the American Civil War. In fact, Lincoln’s victory was directly correlated to the subsequent state secession. States simply could not accept the results of the election, which eventually lead to much violence. Sound familiar?

To this day, militant political organizations seem to thrive whilst carrying their military-grade weapons, this time semi-automatic rifles, to march in the name of a specific candidate. The most notable of these organizations is the Proud Boys. Now, while the Proud Boys are a militaristic organization similar to the Wide Awakes, I want to emphasize that they have evolved past the mere motif of militarism; the Proud Boys actively incite violence. In fact, the Anti-Defamation League labels the Proud Boys as “a right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda”, something they inevitably confirmed in January of 2021. Just recently in September of 2023, the leader of the Proud Boys was legally found responsible for playing a role in the insurrection and was sentenced to over twenty years in prison.

Seemingly similar to the 1860 election that resulted in the civil war, the Proud Boys incitement of violence at the capitol in 2021 was also over the election results. Several members of the group have been found guilty of storming the capitol while the electoral votes were being counted to confirm Joe Biden’s presidency. Regardless of political party affiliation, what happened on January 6, 2021 was a direct attack on the United States’ democracy.

Thinking about the insurrection in January of 2021 within the context of the 2024 election, I wonder how the Proud Boys and other militant organizations will react if Donald Trump loses the election again? How will violent groups become more organized as they have adapted and learned form the capitol riots? But ultimately, after studying the Wide Awakes’ promotion of violence during the 1860 election, I am left with my scariest question of all; are we headed for another civil war?

Sources

Grinspan, J. (2009). “Young Men for War”: The Wide Awakes and Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Campaign. The Journal of American History, 96(2), 357–378. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25622297

U.S. Department of Justice. (2023, September 5). “Proud Boys Leader Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U.S. Capitol Breach”. Office of Public Affairs https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/proud-boys-leader-sentenced-22-years-prison-seditious-conspiracy-and-other-charges-related