The U.S. has a long history of insurrections and rebellions, so the latest iteration of the “sagebrush rebellion” from the deadbeat rancher Bundy boys in Oregon should come as no surprise. Militiamen Occupy Oregon Wildlife Office in Protest of Ranchers’ Prison Terms.
There is a an element of the anti-government far-right fringe that fantasizes about overthrowing the government and replacing it with their fantasies of what they deem is constitutional. Many of them subscribe to the conspiracy subculture of the Sovereign Citizens Movement that does not recognize the legitimacy of the U.S. government. Inside The Backwards Ideology Driving The Right-Wing Militiamen Who Captured A Federal Building.
President George Washington dealt with similar insurrectionists in the Whiskey Rebellion:
Throughout counties in Western Pennsylvania, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax. Resistance came to a climax in July 1794, when a U.S. marshal arrived in western Pennsylvania to serve writs to distillers who had not paid the excise. The alarm was raised, and more than 500 armed men attacked the fortified home of tax inspector General John Neville. Washington responded by sending peace commissioners to western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to enforce the tax. With 13,000 militiamen provided by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, Washington rode at the head of an army to suppress the insurgency. The rebels all went home before the arrival of the army, and there was no confrontation.
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The Whiskey Rebellion demonstrated that the new national government had the will and the ability to suppress violent resistance to its laws.
