Rebellion

A rebellion is an opposition to authority that involves a large and violent attack by the civilian population and often results in changes in government. Under US federal law, engaging in, inciting, or assisting in a rebellion is a crime called insurrection. The terms used to describe such actions are often determined by historians or, more immediately, one’s point of view.

Rebellions generally take place to overturn a government or change some of its positions and are often related to resistance movements. Successful rebellions lead to drastic changes in government and society. When this occurs, rebellions become revolutions. Examples in world history include the American Revolution (1765–1783), the French Revolution (1789-1799), and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Others that did not result in overthrowing the federal government but did challenge the federal authority of the young United States include Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 and the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791. Rebellions often fail, as did the 1745 Jacobite challenge to the British throne, known in Scotland as the Forty-Five Rebellion.

Unlike wars between nations, rebellions are challenges to one’s own leadership. They may be sparked by heavy-handed governments, religious beliefs, foreign influences, or other reasons. How such actions are viewed often depends on the perspective one takes. For example, the American Civil War (1861–1865) was viewed as a rebellion of the South against the nation; however, the Confederates viewed secession as a choice to form their own country to preserve slavery. The US government’s official history recorded it as the War of the Rebellion. The personal cost of rebellions is often heavy in terms of life, property, and goodwill.

Background

Rebellions and uprisings have occurred throughout history. Many have occurred when one group is oppressed by another, such as when the wealthy or specific classes, such as landowners, hold all the power. For example, ancient Rome's civilizations faced many challenges during the Roman Republic from 509 to 27 BCE and the Roman Empire that followed, which lasted until 476 CE.

The Roman Republic was founded with the removal of the last Etruscan king in 509 BCE. The new republican government was a representative democracy that reserved power for the rich. Only the patricians, or the wealthy families, could hold political or religious offices and have seats in the Senate. While this body did not make laws, it advised Rome’s governing bodies and therefore had considerable influence. All other people of Rome were known as plebeians, or commoners. These powerless members of the state repeatedly challenged Roman authority through strikes and rebellions. A strike in 494 BCE led to the creation of the Council of the Plebs (Concilium Plebis), which represented commoners in government. The plebeians had finally gained some power in the government. This opened the door to making new legislative bodies, including tribal assemblies (Comitia Tributa) that were open to all free, adult males. The heads of state were two consuls who were elected to one-year terms by the legislative bodies.

The Roman Republic withstood many civil wars and attempted coups, or takeovers by the military. Wealthy and powerful families jostled for power for centuries. General Julius Caesar amassed enough power to march his army into Rome and, after a civil war against his rival, Pompey, become dictator for life. Caesar was later assassinated by a group of senators. A subsequent civil war created a power vacuum during which Caesar’s nephew, Augustus, became the first emperor of Rome. He had the power to introduce and veto laws and command the army, which weakened the influence of the assemblies. The Roman Republic came to an end, but the Senate continued to hold a great deal of power for some time.

Among the many challenges to leadership of Rome were several uprisings that remain famous in modern times. The Slave Rebellion took place when an enslaved gladiator named Spartacus led an army of enslaved people against the Roman Republic from 73 to 71 BCE. In CE 60 and 61, a widowed British queen named Boudicca led forces against legions of the Roman Empire. Boudicca destroyed London and two other cities before the rebellion that she led was quelled. The Jewish Revolt of 66 to 70 CE was the first of three unsuccessful Jewish rebellions against Rome.

Over a thousand years later, another global empire, the British Empire, faced repeated rebellions and challenges to its authority, both domestically and in its far-flung colonies. The United Kingdom of Great Britain was formed in 1707 with the Acts of Union passed by the English and Scottish Parliaments. While the landowners in Scotland supported the union because it offered economic advantages, commoners were not as enthusiastic. Queen Anne had no heir, and the line of succession was to pass to the House of Hanover upon her death. Many people in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland instead supported the bloodline of an exiled family, the Stuarts. Members of this movement, which operated roughly from 1688 to the 1750s, called themselves Jacobites after the Latin form of King James II’s name. The Jacobites rebelled five times between 1689 and 1745. The fifth and final uprising, the Forty-five Rebellion, saw Prince Charles Edward Stuart lead a force of Scottish Highlanders to several early victories. The rebellion, and the influence of the Jacobites, ended at the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, however. Many survivors were hunted down and executed; Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped to France and spent the remainder of his life in exile in Europe.

The American Colonies also rebelled against the United Kingdom (UK) in the eighteenth century during the American Revolution. The rebellion began as a demand for representation in Great Britain. The colonists were being taxed heavily to pay off England’s debts from fighting France. They bore the brunt of taxation because citizens in England were angry about government spending, and taxing citizens on a faraway continent was less confrontational. While not all colonists wanted separation from England, enough wanted freedom to rebel against representatives of the British government. The Boston Tea Party, when American patriots emptied tea from ships into the Boston Harbor to avoid paying the tax to England in 1773, was just such an event. King George III was outraged at this rebellious action and closed the port. Parliament suspended the local government and put the colony of Massachusetts under military rule. The American Revolutionary War began in 1775. British troops and colonists were battling on several fronts in what was initially a civil war, until France lent its support to the Americans. The war ended in 1783, when the Treaty of Paris formally recognized the sovereignty of the newly independent United States of America. As in other conflicts, the definition of the war varied based on perspective. King George believed his subjects in the Americas were rebelling against his authority. However, the colonists no longer wanted representation in England; they wanted their own government. From their perspective, the war was a revolution to replace the existing government with one of their own choosing. Many scholars, such as writer and political organizer George Ciccariello-Maher, say that rebellion is often one step on the road to revolution.

Taxes sparked further rebellions in the United States. Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 was fueled by the state of Massachusetts insisting that taxes be paid in cash rather than in goods. Tax on distilled spirits prompted the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791. In neither case did the rebels defeat the state or federal governments whose authority they challenged; in fact, both events cemented the government’s authority.

Overview

Rebellions in modern times are often described as riots, uprisings, and protests. The term used is determined by an individual’s or a group’s point of view and actions. For example, a series of uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa was prompted by a street vendor setting himself on fire in Tunisia in December 2010. The so-called Arab Spring movement, which was largely prompted by demands for human rights, involved protests and armed rebellions. When the movement ultimately led to changes in government, it advanced from a rebellion to a revolution. While some people’s lives improved, untold others were killed or left to survive even worse repression. Only Tunisia saw a lasting improvement in government, and its new democracy remained in place a decade later. The actions during the Arab Spring movement have been variously described as uprisings, rebellions, and protests. By most measures, including freedom of the press and unemployment, citizens of Arab Spring countries lost ground. Millions of people became refugees or were displaced within their countries when the events—uprisings, rebellions, or protest demonstrations—escalated into civil wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen. A decade after the Arab Spring movement, historians continued to analyze and define the events and repercussions.

Nomenclature can bedevil onlookers and participants of events. The actions that unfolded at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC, were still evolving while the media, lawmakers, and government officials tried to define them. The House and the Senate opened a joint session at 1:00 p.m. presided over by Vice President Mike Pence. The purpose of the session was to open the certified results of the 2020 presidential election from the states. After opening the sealed certificates, Pence completed his largely ceremonial role and handed them to tellers who read the results aloud. The Electoral College results were already known because each state had certified and announced them. However, incumbent President Donald Trump refused to concede to President-elect Joseph Biden, and made false claims about widespread voter fraud. For weeks after the November 3 presidential election, Trump’s team filed more than sixty lawsuits to try to overturn the results. Trump was recorded asking the Georgia secretary of state to find the votes to push him ahead of Biden and used social media and public appearances to continue to repeat the claim that the election was stolen. Prior to January 6, he said that the vice president had the power to reject electors that he believed were fraudulently chosen. Trump’s campaign organized a rally near the White House on the morning of January 6. Trump and many of his backers, including his personal attorney, spoke to the crowd of supporters. Trump told them that they were going to walk to the US Capitol Building.

A number of Republican lawmakers also refused to acknowledge that Biden was the president-elect. They announced that they would object to the results of several states’ elections on January 6, delaying but not preventing the certification of the results. The vice president had stated that he had no authority to stop the count.

While the joint session was underway, crowds of Trump supporters, many of whom had just listened to President Trump speak outside the White House, gathered outside the Capitol. Security and police at the Capitol were vastly outnumbered, and the mob pushed through barricades. They attacked the building, breaking windows to gain entry. Capitol law enforcement swiftly removed lawmakers and Pence from the chambers just moments before the mob broke into the room. During the siege, Trump Tweeted criticism of the vice president. Rioters damaged furniture, removed items from offices, and scuffled with law enforcement. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, were killed, and dozens were injured. In the aftermath, members of the mob were steadily identified and arrested.

Questions about how to define the attack and the participants continued to swirl for weeks. Some rioters described themselves as protesters. Cellphone recordings of the mob, which were later played at the start of Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, recorded rioters saying that they were looking for Pence.

When interviewed by CBS several days later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the mob was looking for her and intent on taking prisoners. Photos showed that rioters had brought zip-tie style handcuffs known as soft restraints. Pipe bombs were found near the Republican and Democratic Party headquarters even before the siege on the Capitol.

President-elect Biden referred to the mob as “terrorists.” Senator Mitt Romney called the breaching of the Capitol an insurrection. In a New Yorker commentary, history professor and author Jill Lepore mused whether the world had witnessed a failed revolution, a race riot, or treason.

Eventually, Congress chose the term insurrection. On January 13, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors, making Trump the first president to be impeached twice. He was charged with incitement of insurrection. Under US federal law, he was charged with encouraging a rebellion. His trial in the Senate began on February 9, 2021, and ended in acquittal for Trump, with fifty-seven senators, including seven Republicans, finding Trump guilty, which fell short of the required two-thirds majority to land a conviction.

Bibliography

Andrews, Evan. “6 Violent Uprisings in the United States.” History, 4 Oct. 2023, www.history.com/news/6-violent-uprisings-in-the-united-states. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

“Boxer Rebellion.” History, 26 June 2023, www.history.com/topics/asian-history/boxer-rebellion. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Ciccariello-Maher, George. Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela. Verso Books, 2016.

Diavolo, Lucy. “Resistance, Rebellion, Revolution: What They Are and How They Intersect.” Teen Vogue, 21 Jan. 2019, www.teenvogue.com/story/resistance-rebellion-revolution-explainer-interviews. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Hager, Eli, et al. “A Civilian’s Guide to Insurrection Legalese.” The Marshall Project, 8 Jan. 2021, www.themarshallproject.org/2021/01/08/a-civilian-s-guide-to-insurrection-legalese. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Lepore, Jill. “What Should We Call the Sixth of January?” New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2021, www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-should-we-call-the-sixth-of-january. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

“Rebels: The Boxer Rebellion.” Facing History and Ourselves, 1 Sept. 2022, www.facinghistory.org/nanjing-atrocities/nation-building/rebels-boxer-rebellion. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Robinson, Kali, and Will Merrow. “The Arab Spring at Ten Years: What’s the Legacy of the Uprisings?” Council on Foreign Relations, 3 Dec. 2020, www.cfr.org/article/arab-spring-ten-years-whats-legacy-uprisings. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Strauss, Barry. “Ancient Uprisings That Changed the World.” HistoryNet, www.historynet.com/ancient-uprisings-that-changed-the-world.htm. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Weinstein, Jeremy M. Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence. Cambridge UP, 2007.