A vigilance committee, in the 19th century United States, was a group of private citizens who organized themselves for self-protection. The committees were established in areas where there was no local law enforcement, or where the local government was ineffectual, corrupt, or unpopular. The groups, despite generally held opinions, were not mobs of unorganized individuals bent on revenge of the moment, but usually well-organized, with charters defining their purposes and official membership lists. Some were public, but many were secret. Secrecy prevented retaliation by lawless or corrupt organizations and also made it difficult for government officials to pursue criminal charges in areas where the government held jurisdiction. Vigilance committees are not unique to the United States and existed into the 20th century. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Establishment

Vigilance committees were set up for a number of reasons. Because of population differences (politics and settlement patterns), the purposes generally fell into certain geographical areas.

In the North

Before the Civil War, Fugitive Slave Laws authorized slave hunters to pursue run-away slaves into non-slave states. All through the North, vigilance committees opposed to slavery provided fugitive slaves food, clothing, temporary shelter, etc. They also assisted run-aways in making their way toward Canada, which did not recognize the Fugitive Slave Act. The American Civil War (1861–1865) was fought in North America within the United States of America, between twenty-four mostly northern states of the Union and the Confederate States of America, a coalition of eleven southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the... The Fugitive Slave Law of the United States may refer to one of two laws of the same name: Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Wiktionary has a definition of: Slavery Slavery can mean one or more related conditions which involve control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or... The Northern states. ... Map of some Underground Railroad routes This page is about the slave escape route. ...

In the South

In the South, before the Civil War, vigilance committees harassed local abolitionists. After the Civil War, they resisted and intimidated the unpopular and sometimes criminal government officials appointed under Reconstruction and attempted to enforce local moral codes (see Jim Crow). The U.S. Southern states or the South, also known colloquially as Dixie, constitute a distinctive region covering a large portion of the United States, with its own unique heritage, historical perspective, customs, musical styles, and cuisine. ... This article is about the abolition of slavery. ... A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch carpetbaggers, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, 1868. ... In United States history, reconstruction was the period after the American Civil War when the states of the breakaway Confederacy were reintegrated into the United States of America. ... In the United States, the Jim Crow laws were made to enforce racial segregation, and included laws that would prevent black people from doing things that a white person could do, and vice-versa. ...

In the West

In the western United States, both before and after the Civil War, the primary purpose of these committees was to maintain law and order and administer summary justice where law enforcement was inadequate. In the newly settled areas vigilance committees provided security and mediated land disputes. In ranching areas they ruled on ranch boundaries, registered brands, and protected cattle and horses. In the mining districts, perhaps the most lawless areas of all, they protected claims, settled claim disputes, and attempted to protect miners and other citizens. In California they were organized to take control from corrupt and criminal government officials. The Western United States, also referred to as the American West or simply The West, traditionally refers to the region constituting the westernmost states of the United States (see geographical terminology section for further discussion of these terms). ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ...

Disbandment

Vigilance committees were generally abandoned when the conditions favoring their creation ceased to exist. The northern antislavery committees disbanded when slavery was abolished. The southern groups also dissolved when the Federal government returned the state governments to the control of their citizens at the end of Reconstruction. In the west, as governmental jurisdiction achieved the degree that courts could dispense justice, the citizens abandonded the committees.

Nature

Vigilance committees, by their nature, lacked an outside set of checks and balances leaving them open for excesses and abuse. Lynchings and murder of law-abiding citizens were common in the South. In the West, swiftness of justice sometimes led to the innocent being hanged or to them just disappearing. A few committees were taken over by fraudulent individuals seeking profit or political office. The doctrine and practice of dispersing political power and creating mutual accountability between political entities such as the courts, the president or prime minister, the legislature, and the citizens. ... Lynching is violence, usually murder, conceived by its perpetrators as extra-legal execution, or used as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination. ...

Vigilance Committees

• Anti Horse Thief Association; 1860s, organized in Missouri
• Atchison County Protective Association; 1880s, Atchison County, Kansas
• Biddulph Peace Society; 1876, Biddulph, Ontario, Canada
• Bodie 601; 1881, Bodie, California
• Boston Vigilance Committee; 1842, Boston, Massachusetts
• Colored Vigilance Committee; 1840s, Detroit, Michigan
• Citizens' Safety Committee; 1864, Aurora, Nevada Territory
• Female Vigilant Association; 1837, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Free State Vigilance Committee; 1850s, Lawrence, Kansas
• General Vigilance Committee; 1852, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Invisible Empire of the South, 1870s, Southern United States
• Knights of the White Camilia, 1870s, Southern United States
• Ku Klux Klan, 1865-1869, Southern United States (not the current reconstituted Ku Klux Klan)
• Los Angeles Vigilance Committee; 1850, Los Angeles, California
• Mexico Vigilance Committee; 1850s, Mexico, New York
• Neutral City Vigilance Committee, 1880s, No Man's Land, Oklahoma
• New York Committee of Vigilance; 1850s, New York
• New York State Vigilance Committee; 1850s, New York
• Philadelphia Vigilance Committee; 1837, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Committee of Vigilance; 1851 & 1856, San Francisco, California
• Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia; 1840s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 3-7-77 Vigilance Committee; 1860s, Virginia City, Montana
• "601" Vigilance Committee; 1880s, Virginia City, Nevada
• "601" Vigilance Committee; 1880s, Eureka, Nevada
• "601" Vigilance Committee; 1880s, Hiko, Nevada
• Vigilance Committee; 1830s, Bytown (Ottawa), Ontario, Canada
• Vigilance Committee; 1850s, Salt Creek, Leavenworth, Kansas
• Vigilance Committee; 1860s, Cheyenne, Wyoming
• Vigilance Committee; 1860s, Virginia City, Montana

(This list needs work. It needs expanding as well as paring. Not all of the several hundred vigilance committees that existed in the 19th century were of historic significance. Some lasted no more than a few days and others accomplished nothing of note. Some were not peaceful committees concerned with eliminating crime, but had malevolent political or racial motives.) Black Donnellys was the common nickname of the Donnelly family, a family that immigrated from County Tipperary, Ireland, to Canada about 1845-1846, and who participated in a notorious feud in Biddulph Township, Ontario. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Charles Cora and James Casey are lynched by the Committee of Vigilance, San Francisco, 1856. ... 3-7-77 was the infamous symbol of the Vigilance Committee in Montana during the old west. ...

In film and media

The Ox-Bow Incident is a 1943 movie directed by William A. Wellman for Twentieth Century Fox. The story tells of a group of men pursuing cattle rustlers. It was based the novel of the same name written by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. DVD cover for The Ox-Bow Incident The Ox-Bow Incident is a 1940 Western novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, in which two drifters are drawn into a posse formed to find the murderer of a local man. ... William A. Wellman (February 29, 1896 - December 9, 1975) was a movie director. ... Related articles FOX Television Network Fox Searchlight Pictures Fox Entertainment Group List of Hollywood movie studios List of movies Variant of current 20th Century Fox logo External links 20th Century Fox Movies official site Twentieth Century Fox is also the punning title of a song by The Doors on their... Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1909—1971) was a writer of short stories, poetry and novels, best known for his first novel, The Ox-Bow Incident. ...

Other uses of the term

• Vigilance Committee is also currently used by some self-interest groups to monitor the actions of others.
• Vigilance Committee is also used by history buffs for certain of their groups.

See also

• Vigilante

This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Reading references

Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes, by Roger D. McGrath. University of California Press, 1984. ISBN 0-520-06026-1