Anarchy in Colonial America: Prince Edward Island Experience

[chlamor]

Anarchy in Colonial America: The Prince Edward Island Experience

Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province, located in the Gulf of Saint Laurence. It was originally claimed by the French and some Acadians attempted to colonise the the island in the early eighteenth century. However, it was still largely uninhabited when it was ceded to Great Britian as war booty in 1763.

Next would come a saga of a hundred years of repeated revolts against the English Crown.

Upon aquiring the Island, the King ordered it surveyed with a view to creating a feudal form of government. In 1767, exactly one hundred years to the day before the founding of the Dominion of Canada, the Island was divided into 67 parcels of land which were numbered and doled out to supporters of King George III in a lottery. The King himself took part but was not to be counted among the lucky ones. The name of the present-day township of Lot 67 reflects the manner in which the colony was founded.

According to the terms of the lottery, the winners were supposed to organise expeditions to colonise the Island. A few did. Most did not however and their lands were soon taken over by homesteaders in the early 19th century. Much friction soon developed between the absentee landlords and the people who had actually developed the land. Repeated clashes took place between the henchmen located in the colonial capital of Charlottetown and farmers who by then had settled most of the Island.

The homesteaders repeatedly attempted to get the terms of the contract enforced. However, the landlords were all powerful and well-connected men. The grumblings of peasants 2000 miles away were, of course, completely ignored.

Eventually the farmers decided to take matters into their own hands. Between 1828 and 1835, a revolt against the system spread through the the eastern third of the Island (roughly modern-day Kings County). Farmers refused to pay any rents or, indeed, to have any dealings with the colonial government at all. From time to time the Governor would send out sheriffs and bailiffs from Charlottetown in an attempt to collect the rents. Each time the man or men was summarily disarmed by the farmers and shipped back unceremoniously. Interestingly no one was ever hurt.

This situation persisted for decades. Somehow the farmers managed to get along with each other even as the government hunkered down in the capital and refused to go near the boonies. Perhaps not by coincidence, the 1850s were generally to have been PEI's Golden Age.

Then in late 1863, the revolt spread. In December, the Tenants League was formed and by the following August nearly every tenant farmer on the Island joined. That month the League met in Charlottetown and adopted a constitution wherein the members refused to pay any rent until the landlords agreed to sell their lands. All refused to pay up and the entire colony was in revolt.

Interestingly, in that self-same month of August 1864, representatives of all the British North American colonies got together in Charlottetown to discuss a possible union - a conference which would lead to the founding of Canada three years later. The delegates from Ontario and Quebec were kept aboard their ship in the harbour for days. Part of the Canadian national myth is that this is because the Island government did not care about the project. Perhaps a more likely explanation is that they had other things on their hands! This may also explain why PEI did not attend when a second conference was held in Quebec that October. Consequently it was not one of Canada's founding four provinces.

Because back home things were getting worse.

On Saint Paddy's Day 1865, both Catholic and Protestant members of the League attended the parade in Charlottetown. An attempt by the authorities to arrest League President Samuel Fletcher was thwarted by the crowds. Governor George Dundas reacted by declaring the Tenant League a seditious movement, and banned it.

However, farmers refused to disband the League or to pay their rents. There were several clashes between farmers and the bailiffs who were sent out to collect rents. Naturally these have come to known as the Tenant League Riots. Still unable to "restore order", the governor requested a contingent of British troops be sent to the Island to in order to put down the insurrection. The troops were obliged to remain for more than a year but eventually succeeded in restoring "The Rule of Law".

Denouement

As mentioned earlier, PEI was not one of the founding provinces of the Dominion of Canada when it was formed in 1867. In fact, barely 10% of the current country was. With the active cooperation of the British government, this situation was quickly rectified the situation and the new country took over almost all of the rest of British North America. The following year, the Hudson's Bay Co. was forced to give over the vast territory of Rupert's Land. When the inhabitants objected to this, the Canadian government acted as states always do. In another act of repression every bit as severe as that inflicted on the people of PEI, the Reel Rebellion was put down forcibly by troops from the new country and the province of Manitoba was carved out of the territory.

Then in 1870, the 10,000 people of the colony of British Columbia were offered an incredible bribe to get them to join the country. Money would be stolen from the people of Canada in order to build a railway across the empty continent to the tiny colony.

Finally, in 1873, the suitably-cowed people of Prince Edward Island were offered their own bribe in an attempt to get them to sign up for the program. The government of Canada would steal more money in order to buy out the absentee landlords and give the land over to the farmers. Having little choice, the Island people agreed to give up their independence. Thus ended more than one hundred years of constant rebellion, including an forty-year experiment in anarchic order.

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.ph ... t294452951 (http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=RealLiberty&Number=294452951#Post294452951)

I am not familiar with this. I believe the above link is from a Libertarian website. Nevertheless an interesting starting point perhaps for further discussion.

[Kid of the Black Hole]

Farmers refused to pay any rents or, indeed, to have any dealings with the colonial government at all. From time to time the Governor would send out sheriffs and bailiffs from Charlottetown in an attempt to collect the rents. Each time the man or men was summarily disarmed by the farmers and shipped back unceremoniously. Interestingly no one was ever hurt.

I've heard people say that cops were much less "aggressive, assertive" back when there was the draft and everybody was in the service. That seems counter to other stuff I've heard, but it could be true, too..

[blindpig]

Farmers refused to pay any rents or, indeed, to have any dealings with the colonial government at all. From time to time the Governor would send out sheriffs and bailiffs from Charlottetown in an attempt to collect the rents. Each time the man or men was summarily disarmed by the farmers and shipped back unceremoniously. Interestingly no one was ever hurt.

I've heard people say that cops were much less "aggressive, assertive" back when there was the draft and everybody was in the service. That seems counter to other stuff I've heard, but it could be true, too..

I dunno, seems like it's been pretty consistantly who's on the recieving end of the billy club. Money talks, poor people get the shit beat out of them. If it weren't for the fact that most of the kids on the streets of Chicago were the children of the well off and there were media people there getting their asses kicked too the police riots would have been a back page item in days.

[Kid of the Black Hole]

Farmers refused to pay any rents or, indeed, to have any dealings with the colonial government at all. From time to time the Governor would send out sheriffs and bailiffs from Charlottetown in an attempt to collect the rents. Each time the man or men was summarily disarmed by the farmers and shipped back unceremoniously. Interestingly no one was ever hurt.

I've heard people say that cops were much less "aggressive, assertive" back when there was the draft and everybody was in the service. That seems counter to other stuff I've heard, but it could be true, too..

I dunno, seems like it's been pretty consistantly who's on the recieving end of the billy club. Money talks, poor people get the shit beat out of them. If it weren't for the fact that most of the kids on the streets of Chicago were the children of the well off and there were media people there getting their asses kicked too the police riots would have been a back page item in days.

This is awesome..Grandpa fucking Munster


SHADOW: In the demonstrations back in those days were there ever problems with the police? Did they try to attack people?

LEWIS: Did you just come to this country? (Laughs) What are you talking about? The police are here to protect property. They're not here to protect the public! So, what the fuck are you asking me? Of course! Name me a period when the police...(laughs)

SHADOW: So these demonstrations for Tom Mooney, and labor demonstrations...

LEWIS: Warren K. Billings, organizing the CIO, and District 65, and the UE, and NMU. All that was going on and the police were there to see that you didn't do it. And if they could get away with it, they'd beat the shit out of you.

SHADOW: And people would resist?

LEWIS: Well obviously. And unions were created. We used to have a saying: "If you don't get the asses of the masses out in the street, forget it." And you get enough of them out there, the ruling class gets scared. That's the only thing they're afraid of, is numbers. Numbers! See, one thing you have to understand. There's very few people understand, especially people who deal in outlaw newspapers and magazines. The ruling class is smarter than you, and they're more creative. And if you forget that lesson, you go down the drain. Because if they weren't, they wouldn't be around as long as they have been and as strong as they have been. It's not an accident. Not an accident. Never underestimate your opponent. They'll tell you that if you're a fighter. Never underestimate. You can poke fun at 'em, you can do satire, but they work 24 hours a day. It's like Lord Acton said: "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." I say that power works 24 hours to remain in power. Throughout history. Go back to kings, feudal times. The same thing. While you and I, here we're bullshitting, and then we go out: "Tompkins Square, blah, blah, blah..." Their fucking machine works 24 hours a day, man. It grinds, it grinds. Otherwise they don't stay in power, they topple.

http://mediafilter.org/shadow/S43/S43grand.html

[Two Americas]

Kid, the more I think about it your I hate cops platform has much merit.

I was listening to a tape of some US soldiers in Iraq going through a village last night. Rousting people, searching homes. They were asking poor detainees "are there any bad guys around here?' - it wasn't much more sophisticated than that. Aside from the complete idiocy of that - no translators, no one knows who the bad guys are supposed to be, no one would tell if they did - there was something in the tone of voice of the American soldiers that got me to thinking. Finally it came to me - cops. They sounded like cops. American cops. The "more in sadness than anger" tone of voice, the absurd implication that they are doing you a favor by not shooting you, their impatience with low lifes interfering with them and not cooperating so they can "get the job done" - there is something that really bothers me about all of that. Something paternalistic - but with a hint of cruelty and torture just under the surface - the "only doing my job" and "I really care about these people" and all of the rest of the shit. As though we are supposed to have sympathy with the guy holding the gun, controlling the situation, who doesn't have a fucking clue, who is giving vague and weird instructions, who acts like you should be grateful that he even bothers being soooo patient and so long suffering when dealing with people of your ilk.

There is something weird about this, and it is pervasive - those with the guns acting as though YOU caused THEM trouble by your unmitigated gall in allowing them to stop you. "How dare you step in front of my gun and put me in the position where I might have to shoot you? What are you trying to do, make me into the bad guy by forcing me to shoot you?"

Here is the set up they are doing - you are guilty because of their acts. You are causing their acts. Weird. That monotone detached tone of voice the guys were using to describe what had happened later to the reporter was creepy, too. "We are here to help these people and they are making our job difficult" - as though that had a fucking thing to do with what just went down.

[Kid of the Black Hole]

Kid, the more I think about it your I hate cops platform has much merit.

I was listening to a tape of some US soldiers in Iraq going through a village last night. Rousting people, searching homes. They were asking poor detainees "are there any bad guys around here?' - it wasn't much more sophisticated than that. Aside from the complete idiocy of that - no translators, no one knows who the bad guys are supposed to be, no one would tell if they did - there was something in the tone of voice of the American soldiers that got me to thinking. Finally it came to me - cops. They sounded like cops. American cops. The "more in sadness than anger" tone of voice, the absurd implication that they are doing you a favor by not shooting you, their impatience with low lifes interfering with them and not cooperating so they can "get the job done" - there is something that really bothers me about all of that. Something paternalistic - but with a hint of cruelty and torture just under the surface - the "only doing my job" and "I really care about these people" and all of the rest of the shit. As though we are supposed to have sympathy with the guy holding the gun, controlling the situation, who doesn't have a fucking clue, who is giving vague and weird instructions, who acts like you should be grateful that he even bothers being soooo patient and so long suffering when dealing with people of your ilk.

There is something weird about this, and it is pervasive - those with the guns acting as though YOU caused THEM trouble by your unmitigated gall in allowing them to stop you. "How dare you step in front of my gun and put me in the position where I might have to shoot you? What are you trying to do, make me into the bad guy by forcing me to shoot you?"

Here is the set up they are doing - you are guilty because of their acts. You are causing their acts. Weird. That monotone detached tone of voice the guys were using to describe what had happened later to the reporter was creepy, too. "We are here to help these people and they are making our job difficult" - as though that had a fucking thing to do with what just went down.

I'd been thinking about that some more too, and I've been trying to incorporate some of what you've said many times into my thinking. Because I'll be honest I fucking hate cops and I am fucking sick of idealizing the goddamn troops. I know they are alot of everyday kids and people who've been thrown into the maelstrom and have no possible recourse but to do what they're told. I get they they aren't the real "perpetrators". I even accept the desperation and absolute isolation of their position (once you land in Iraq - how the fuck do you get home)

I've been fortunate to avoid any real police conflicts but my Dad once had a cop tell him "I'm going to blow your goddamn head off". You know the result? My Dad got lucky and beat whatever rap they threw at him..lucky. Nothing happened to the fuckface cop.

You know what they tell you when you complain that they are unnecessarily putting themelves and others in danger? Hey you should be grateful my guys are out there watching out for you. Eat shit and die, please.

[Two Americas]

Here is what is happening here - unreported. Paramilitary teams descend en masse with drawn guns in the middle of a work day. Everyone is lined up. Brown are sorted from white. Brown are handcuffed and thrown in buses and disappear. Women, children, citizen or not, it doesn't matter. They are taken to undisclosed locations were they are detained, for indefinite periods of time. No phone calls, no attorney, no habeas corpus, no charges, no trial, no explanation. This is routine. Children. Orange jump suits and dirty cells. Separated from their parents. Threatened. Intimidated. Anyone trying to defend them is threatened and intimidated.

OK what the fuck is the matter with me? What else do people need to know? Is it that people don't believe that? Or it isn't happening too much? Or, or, or? What? WTF? What am I missing here? Why am I treated weird by people when I merely trying to describe this? Why can I not post this on the Internet without getting the "other side of the issue?" What the fuck is "the other side of the issue?" Why is this an unpleasant topic to bring up with people and why it is met with averted eyes and dead silence? I mean really, WTF??

Beyond the fundamental human rights aspects, the clear and present threat this represents to all of us, the chilling effect it is having on everyone as the fear ripples through the community - no matter how much people try to deny that it is affecting them, why else do they feign so little interest and avoid the subject if it is not fear? - aside from all of that, this issue is an unprecedented political opportunity.

At a meeting this morning of local farmers they discussed this issue. After, one Dem farmer said to me "Did you see what I saw? The most right wing, selfish, narrow-minded, successful, Republican-voting people in the industry are turning into flaming socialists right in front of our eyes. When their 7 year old kids started asking them where their Hispanic playmates and classmates were, it hit home. When they saw the feds in action, their eyes were opened. "

It isn't "the sheeple" who are being "good Germans" it isn't the fundies, it isn't the Republicans, it isn't the rednecks, it isn't the gun nuts. It is the fucking Democrats and liberals, including the so-called progressives and many self-described socialists.

[blindpig]

Kid, the more I think about it your I hate cops platform has much merit.

I was listening to a tape of some US soldiers in Iraq going through a village last night. Rousting people, searching homes. They were asking poor detainees "are there any bad guys around here?' - it wasn't much more sophisticated than that. Aside from the complete idiocy of that - no translators, no one knows who the bad guys are supposed to be, no one would tell if they did - there was something in the tone of voice of the American soldiers that got me to thinking. Finally it came to me - cops. They sounded like cops. American cops. The "more in sadness than anger" tone of voice, the absurd implication that they are doing you a favor by not shooting you, their impatience with low lifes interfering with them and not cooperating so they can "get the job done" - there is something that really bothers me about all of that. Something paternalistic - but with a hint of cruelty and torture just under the surface - the "only doing my job" and "I really care about these people" and all of the rest of the shit. As though we are supposed to have sympathy with the guy holding the gun, controlling the situation, who doesn't have a fucking clue, who is giving vague and weird instructions, who acts like you should be grateful that he even bothers being soooo patient and so long suffering when dealing with people of your ilk.

There is something weird about this, and it is pervasive - those with the guns acting as though YOU caused THEM trouble by your unmitigated gall in allowing them to stop you. "How dare you step in front of my gun and put me in the position where I might have to shoot you? What are you trying to do, make me into the bad guy by forcing me to shoot you?"

Here is the set up they are doing - you are guilty because of their acts. You are causing their acts. Weird. That monotone detached tone of voice the guys were using to describe what had happened later to the reporter was creepy, too. "We are here to help these people and they are making our job difficult" - as though that had a fucking thing to do with what just went down.

And when they come home they are recruited into the police force .Our new sheriff is making a practice of hiring former Marines, and not surprisingly I'm hearing more stories of police arrogance and violence, two unarmed citizens murdered by police who "thought they were in danger" in the past two years. Down the memory hole, they were trash anyway. That he prefers Marines is especially disturbing, the Corps turns out good fighters but lousy citizens, a generalization for sure but the authoritarian streak in those guys is marked, imo.

[Kid of the Black Hole]

Here is what is happening here - unreported. Paramilitary teams descend en masse with drawn guns in the middle of a work day. Everyone is lined up. Brown are sorted from white. Brown are handcuffed and thrown in buses and disappear. Women, children, citizen or not, it doesn't matter. They are taken to undisclosed locations were they are detained, for indefinite periods of time. No phone calls, no attorney, no habeas corpus, no charges, no trial, no explanation. This is routine. Children. Orange jump suits and dirty cells. Separated from their parents. Threatened. Intimidated. Anyone trying to defend them is threatened and intimidated.

OK what the fuck is the matter with me? What else do people need to know? Is it that people don't believe that? Or it isn't happening too much? Or, or, or? What? WTF? What am I missing here? Why am I treated weird by people when I merely trying to describe this? Why can I not post this on the Internet without getting the "other side of the issue?" What the fuck is "the other side of the issue?" Why is this an unpleasant topic to bring up with people and why it is met with averted eyes and dead silence? I mean really, WTF??

Beyond the fundamental human rights aspects, the clear and present threat this represents to all of us, the chilling effect it is having on everyone as the fear ripples through the community - no matter how much people try to deny that it is affecting them, why else do they feign so little interest and avoid the subject if it is not fear? - aside from all of that, this issue is an unprecedented political opportunity.

At a meeting this morning of local farmers they discussed this issue. After, one Dem farmer said to me "Did you see what I saw? The most right wing, selfish, narrow-minded, successful, Republican-voting people in the industry are turning into flaming socialists right in front of our eyes. When their 7 year old kids started asking them where their Hispanic playmates and classmates were, it hit home. When they saw the feds in action, their eyes were opened. "

It isn't "the sheeple" who are being "good Germans" it isn't the fundies, it isn't the Republicans, it isn't the rednecks, it isn't the gun nuts. It is the fucking Democrats and liberals, including the so-called progressives and many self-described socialists.

I have a problem with the "self-styled socialist" types or the "radical leftists". What the fuck does that shit mean? Could you show me some proof of your "radicalness"? I don't want to pick on any one but take DB Cooper as an example. He was prone to saying stuff EXACTLY like that (wont to start sentences with "As a radical Leftist..". Then all the sudden leaping into these erudite segues that always came across to me as faux intellectualism. "Which political philosophy are you closest to? Then a whole bunch of groked up choices that no one but a serious academician (and maybe anax) could even decipher let alone distinguish between.

I don't really question DBs commitment or sincerity or even his knowledge, but I do think he is a case study in our need to play at having some kind of cultured sophistication. I have no idea what that is other than some sort of feeling the waters move that we can file away in case we ever need to one-up each other.

Lets talk about Keynesian economics..in the abstract. Sure, or we could talk about the artistic merit of a mural made solely out of fecal matter. Wolf actually hit the nail on the head when he praised anax's ability to connect this stuff to its historical and economic and philosophical roots. That's a rare talent and insight..without you end up with detached prenetious mumblings that mean zilch. (IMO)

PS I'll admit that alot of these historical allusions, especially by anax, go right past me and I get frustrated with it, but I'm hanging in there :)

[Kid of the Black Hole]

Kid, the more I think about it your I hate cops platform has much merit.

I was listening to a tape of some US soldiers in Iraq going through a village last night. Rousting people, searching homes. They were asking poor detainees "are there any bad guys around here?' - it wasn't much more sophisticated than that. Aside from the complete idiocy of that - no translators, no one knows who the bad guys are supposed to be, no one would tell if they did - there was something in the tone of voice of the American soldiers that got me to thinking. Finally it came to me - cops. They sounded like cops. American cops. The "more in sadness than anger" tone of voice, the absurd implication that they are doing you a favor by not shooting you, their impatience with low lifes interfering with them and not cooperating so they can "get the job done" - there is something that really bothers me about all of that. Something paternalistic - but with a hint of cruelty and torture just under the surface - the "only doing my job" and "I really care about these people" and all of the rest of the shit. As though we are supposed to have sympathy with the guy holding the gun, controlling the situation, who doesn't have a fucking clue, who is giving vague and weird instructions, who acts like you should be grateful that he even bothers being soooo patient and so long suffering when dealing with people of your ilk.

There is something weird about this, and it is pervasive - those with the guns acting as though YOU caused THEM trouble by your unmitigated gall in allowing them to stop you. "How dare you step in front of my gun and put me in the position where I might have to shoot you? What are you trying to do, make me into the bad guy by forcing me to shoot you?"

Here is the set up they are doing - you are guilty because of their acts. You are causing their acts. Weird. That monotone detached tone of voice the guys were using to describe what had happened later to the reporter was creepy, too. "We are here to help these people and they are making our job difficult" - as though that had a fucking thing to do with what just went down.

And when they come home they are recruited into the police force .Our new sheriff is making a practice of hiring former Marines, and not surprisingly I'm hearing more stories of police arrogance and violence, two unarmed citizens murdered by police who "thought they were in danger" in the past two years. Down the memory hole, they were trash anyway. That he prefers Marines is especially disturbing, the Corps turns out good fighters but lousy citizens, a generalization for sure but the authoritarian streak in those guys is marked, imo.

This is some where between "irreverent" and "being an asshole" but every time I see a Mall Security officer I have to quip "Shouldn't you be in Eye-Rack?".