When a society or community feels its government or a higher power has failed them, they take action itself. This resulted in the term vigilantism, in which law enforcement is undertaken without legal authority by a self-appointed group of people. Historically, there are cultures that don't trust their governments at baseline, such as most of Africa, including South Africa, which has shown its distrust for government numerous times. Vigilantism is not a foreign concept to the domestic USA either, as, many individuals have taken it upon themselves to take action against the government within the US throughout the years. Exploring the history of vigilantism and its reproduction in today’s pop culture and everyday life can help to understand the fine lines that vigilantes walk on when carrying out their actions. No matter what is black and white, instead of filled with gray areas that many people struggle to understand, one thing can be certain, Vigilantes believe they are doing what is right, and what is just.
Vigilantes are those who take enforcement of the law or moral code into their own hands. The term developed in ancient Rome, and today it applies to citizens carrying out frontier justice when they perceive established authorities as weak, corrupt, and/or insufficient. The word vigilante originated in Spain. When no established law exists, private citizens may find it necessary to impose the values of their group. Lawyers call vigilantism “extra-judicial self-help,” and many often equate it with vengeance. However, vigilantism becomes vilified when it leads to such criminal behavior as lynching. That is the most extreme case, yet murder is not vague in this category and has often been committed for the sake of one cause.
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Vigalitism is not new, it has been around since the beginning of the government, as it can be seen in the United States as early as the beginning of the American Revolution. There were many groups formed as militias for the defense of their colony when they felt threatened by Great Britain and its tyrannical government. Those who were a part of this movement weren’t army soldiers, but instead local townspeople who took it upon themselves to take action as they feared for their liberties and believed Britain to be impeding on their rights. In American history, one of the first examples of vigilantism comes about due to a simple tax, but one that held a much bigger meaning of British power over American colonies. On December 16, 1773, the most memorable and most crucial vigilante movement in possibly in American history was carried out. Several American colonists, tired of British direct taxation, took part in what came to be known as the Boston Tea Party. Britain had imposed many tax acts, referred to as the Townshend Acts on the American colonies. Many of the colonists spoke out against these taxes and many of them were eventually repealed. All of them except for the tax on imported tea. This was kept in place to demonstrate power over the colonies, and show that Britain still held authority and could take money in whichever ways it pleased. Many colonists began to boycott tea in resistance. Most famously, as part of the resistance, a group of colonists, who by definition would be referred to as vigilantes, but to their community were considered heroes, threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party was responsible for initiating many other vigilante revolts, including the burning of the ship the “Peggy Stewart”, and eventually the American revolution.
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