Three Decades of Civil War in the United States: “Don’t Tread on Me”

Abstract

On January 13, 2022, news arrived from Washington, DC, about the contents of a U.S. Justice Department indictment. It accused Stewart Rhodes and ten other associates of “seditious conspiracy” for illegal actions before, and then during, the January 6, 2021, larger riotous assault on the U.S. Capitol, which disrupted the joint session of Congress convened ceremoniously to count the presidential ballots of the Electoral College certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory for the White House. Rhodes is the founder and current leader of the Oath Keepers, a large right-wing militia group popular among citizens with law enforcement, military, and security experience, whose name derives from their solemn oaths of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.