Winner of the 2020 Baltimore History Prize, this is a gripping account of how a Federalist editor risked his life to defend his anti-war views. With a bitterly divided nation plunged into the War of 1812, Alexander Hanson penned an anti-war editorial that provoked a violent standoff that crippled the city of Baltimore and left Hanson beaten within an inch of his life. This little-known episode in American history—complete with a midnight jailbreak, bloodthirsty mobs and unspeakable acts of torture—helped shape the course of war, the Federalist Party and the nation’s very notion of the freedom of the press. Josh Cutler’s history of the Mobtown Massacre offers a lesson in liberty that reverberates today. “A compelling story that’s as timely today as it was two centuries ago.” —Congressman William R. Keating “A remarkably vivid, engaging and very readable account of a brief but major event in Baltimore history . . . which reflected the sharp political divisiveness of the time at the start of the War of 1812, and had important implications for freedom of the press and the war itself.”—Charles Markell, board member, Baltimore City Historical Society “A timely and scholarly examination of one man’s struggle for freedom of the press.”—Fred Dorsey, Howard County, MD historian “Cutler’s book tells not only of politics of that era and the controversy of a war that ultimately led to the burning of the White House and the writing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ by Francis Scott Key, but also how it challenged America’s devotion to a free press.” —The Baltimore Sun
Violent mobs, racial unrest, attacks on the press--it's the fall of 1835 and the streets of Boston are filled with bankers, merchants and other "gentlemen of property and standing" angered by an emergent antislavery movement. They break up a women's abolitionist meeting and seize newspaper publisher William Lloyd Garrison. While city leaders stand by silently, a small group of women had the courage to speak out. Author Josh Cutler tells the story of the Gentlemen's Mob through the eyes of four key participants: antislavery reformer Maria Chapman; pioneering schoolteacher Susan Paul; the city's establishment mayor, Theodore Lyman; and Wendell Phillips, a young attorney who wanders out of his office to watch the spectacle. The day's events forever changed the course of the abolitionist movement.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.