North, both pro-slavery riots attacking abolitionists and anti-slavery riots in support of fugitive slaves provoked reluctant but often effective riot suppression. Hundreds died in riots in both regions, but in
the North, most deaths were caused by authorities, while in the South more than 90 percent of deaths were caused by the mobs themselves. These two divergent systems of violence led to two distinct public responses. In the South, widespread rioting quelled public and private questioning of slavery; in the North, the milder, more controlled riots generally encouraged sympathy for the anti-slavery movement. Grimsted demonstrates that in these two distinct reactions to mob violence, we
can see major origins of the social split that infiltrated politics and political rioting and that ultimately led to the Civil War.
Share This Book: