The six-shooter state : the dual face of public and private violence in American politics

American Violence Is Schizophrenic. On The One Hand, Many Americans Support The Creation Of A Powerful Bureaucracy Of Coercion Made Up Of Police And Military Forces In Order To Provide Public Security. At The Same Time, Many Of Those Citizens Also Demand The Private Right To Protect Their Own Families, Home, And Property. This Book Diagnoses This Schizophrenia As A Product Of A Distinctive Institutional History, In Which Private Forms Of Violence - Vigilantes, Private Detectives, Mercenary Gunfighters - Emerged In Concert With The Creation Of New Public And State Forms Of Violence Such As Police Departments Or The National Guard. This Dual Public And Private Face Of American Violence Resulted From The Upending Of A Tradition Of Republican Governance, In Which Public Security Had Been Indistinguishable From Private Effort, By The Nineteenth Century Social Transformations Of The Civil War And The Market Revolution-- 1. Introduction -- 2. Jurisdictional Decoupling As Institutional Change -- 3. Bandits, Elites, And Vigilantes In Antebellum Illinois -- 4. Pinkertons And Police In Antebellum Chicago -- 5. Racist Vigilantism As Reform In Reconstruction Louisiana -- 6. The Violent Careers Of American Gunfighters -- 7. Conclusion. Jonathan Obert. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "American violence is schizophrenic. On the one hand, many Americans support the creation of a powerful bureaucracy of coercion made up of police and military forces in order to provide public security. At the same time, many of those citizens also demand the private right to protect their own families, home, and property. This book diagnoses this schizophrenia as a product of a distinctive institutional history, in which private forms of violence - vigilantes, private detectives, mercenary gunfighters - emerged in concert with the creation of new public and state forms of violence such as police departments or the National Guard. This dual public and private face of American violence resulted from the upending of a tradition of republican governance, in which public security had been indistinguishable from private effort, by the nineteenth century social transformations of the Civil War and the Market Revolution"-- Provided by publisher 01.0_pp_i_iv_Frontmatter 2 02.0_pp_v_vi_Dedication 6 03.0_pp_vii_viii_Contents 8 04.0_pp_ix_x_Figures 10 05.0_pp_xi_xii_Tables 12 06.0_pp_xiii_xvi_Acknowledgments 14 07.0_pp_xvii_xviii_Abbreviations 18 introduction (8) 20 jurisdictional-decoupling-as-institutional-change 42 bandits-elites-and-vigilantes-in-antebellum-illinois 82 pinkertons-and-police-in-antebellum-chicago 118 racist-vigilantism-as-reform-in-reconstruction-louisiana 157 the-violent-careers-of-american-gunfighters 216 conclusion (1) 257 index 280 Vigilantes and private security firms have not traditionally competed with police departments and other governmental forms of providing protection within the US; instead, using a series of historical cases, this book shows that a wide variety of public and private kinds of violence have instead developed together since the mid-nineteenth century.