The Posse Comitatus (Latin, " force of the county") is a loosely organized American far-right

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

social movement which began in the late 1960s. Its members spread a conspiracy-minded, anti-government and anti-Semitic message linked to

White supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

aiming to counter what they believe is an attack on their social and political rights as white Christians. Many Posse members practiced

survivalism Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, as well as other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, civil disor ...

and played a role in the formation of armed citizens' militias in the 1990s. The Posse Comitatus pioneered the use of false liens and other types of "

paper terrorism Paper terrorism is a neologism to refer to the use of false liens, frivolous lawsuits, bogus letters of credit, and other legal documents lacking sound factual basis as a method of harassment. These methods are popular among some American anti-g ...

" in order to

harass Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...

their opponents by mounting frivolous legal actions against them. As the Posse Comitatus began their decline in popularity at the turn of the 21st century, their tactics and ideology evolved into those of the

Christian Patriot movement The Christian Patriot movement is a subset within the broader American Patriot movement that promotes and emphasizes Christian nationalism as their core goal and philosophy. Like the larger movement, it promotes a Historical revisionism, revisio ...

and the

sovereign citizen movement The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits) is a loose grouping of litigants, activists, tax protesters, financial scheme promoters and conspiracy theorists, who claim to be answerable only to their particular interpret ...

Historical background

Due to the strong ties which they forged with the

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

Christian Identity Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood, ...

movement, members of the Posse Comitatus believe that they are the true

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

, the people who were chosen by

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

. They state that the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

seek to help Satan destroy

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...

, and undermine white citizens' rights by means of the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

and the Internal Revenue Service. Posse charters were first issued in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

in 1969, by Henry Lamont Beach, "a retired dry cleaner and a one-time member of the

Silver Shirts The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an underground American fascist and Nazi sympathizer organization founded by William Dudley Pelley and headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. History Pelley was a form ...

, a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

-inspired and

clerical fascist Clerical fascism (also clero-fascism or clerico-fascism) is an ideology that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with clericalism. The term has been used to describe organizations and movements that combine religious elements ...

organization which was established in America after Hitler took power in Germany." One expert has considered William Potter Gale the founder of the movement. Posse members believe that there is no legitimate form of government above that of the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

level and no higher law authority than the county sheriff. If the sheriff refuses to carry out the will of the county's citizens: "he shall be removed by the Posse to the most populated intersection of streets in the township and at high noon be hung by the neck, the body remaining until sundown as an example to those who would subvert the law."

Christian Identity

Some Posse members embraced the anti-Semitic and white supremacist beliefs of Christian Identity. Some believe that the U.S. federal government is illegitimate and in the hands of a Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG), the supposed international Jewish conspiracy. In 1985, a member of the Posse Comitatus announced: "Our nation is now completely under the control of the International Invisible government of the World Jewry."

Federal taxes

Members of the Posse Comitatus frequently refuse to pay

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

es, obtain

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...

s, or comply with regulatory authorities. They deny the validity of United States

fiat money Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometim ...

because it is not backed by gold, which they claim the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

requires. They draw up unusual legal documents and attempt to record them, they declare their independence from the United States, or they claim to file "

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the per ...

s against their perceived enemies such as Internal Revenue Service employees or judges. They are frequently involved in various tax protests, and they have invoked arguments which have been popularized by tax protesters.

Criminal activities

The Posse Comitatus made national news when, on February 13, 1983, Posse member Gordon Kahl killed two federal marshals who had come to arrest him in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

and became a fugitive. Another shootout ensued on June 3, 1983, in which Kahl and

Lawrence County, Arkansas Lawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,415. The county seat is Walnut Ridge. Lawrence County is Arkansas's second county, formed on January 15, 1815, and named for Capta ...

, Sheriff Gene Matthews were killed. Other members of the group have also been convicted of crimes ranging from

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

and counterfeiting to threatening the lives of

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

agents and judges. The organization also demonstrated to support its members over other issues. On September 2, 1975, Francis Earl Gillings, the founder of a

San Joaquin County San Joaquin County (; Spanish: ''San Joaquín'', meaning " St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 779,233. The county seat is Stockton. San ...

Posse group, led a group of armed Posse members to prevent

United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

organizers from attempting to organize non-union tomato pickers. As sheriff's deputies attempted to arrest Gillings on a traffic warrant, one got into a scuffle with Gillings and a shot was fired. On August 15, 2012, five suspects were arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of two sheriff's deputies and wounding two others in

St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana St. John the Baptist Parish (SJBP, french: Paroisse de Saint-Jean-Baptiste) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 42,477. The parish seat is Edgard, an unincorporated area, and the largest c ...

. Terry Smith, 44; Brian Smith, 24; Derrick Smith, 22; Teniecha Bright, 21; and Kyle David Joekel, 28, were identified, with Brian Smith and Joekel identified as the shooters in the incident. The men are rumored to be affiliated with a Posse Comitatus group. On August 17, 2012, two more suspects—Chanel Skains, 37, and Britney Keith, 23—were charged with accessory after the fact.

Legacy

Christian Patriot movement

The direct ideological descendants of the Posse Comitatus movement were found in the "Christian Patriot" branch of the Patriot movement. Most Christian Patriot groups adhere to Christian Identity's white supremacist views as well as the Posse Comitatus' view that the American government had deprived citizens of their natural "common law" rights. They have notably espoused Gale's concept of "individual sovereignty", which developed into the broader sovereign citizen movement.

Sovereign citizens

The legal theories of Posse Comitatus have been further developed by the sovereign citizen movement, which claims that a U.S. citizen can become a "sovereign citizen" and thereby be subject only to common law or "constitutional law," not to

statutory law Statutory law or statute law is written law passed by a body of legislature. This is opposed to oral or customary law; or regulatory law promulgated by the executive or common law of the judiciary. Statutes may originate with national, stat ...

(including most taxes). The

Uniform Commercial Code The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through U ...

plays a part in these legal theories. Some within the movement see African Americans, who only gained legal citizenship after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and passage of the 14th Amendment, as "14th Amendment citizens" with fewer rights than whites. However,

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

groups have adopted sovereign citizen ideology and developed their own version of the movement's beliefs. The sovereign citizen movement in turn gave rise to the " redemption movement," which claims that the U.S. government has enslaved its citizens by using them as collateral against foreign debt. Redemption scheme promoters sell instructions explaining how citizens can "free" themselves by filing particular government forms in a particular order using particular wording. The movement "has earned its promoters untold profits, buried courts and other agencies under tons of worthless paper, and led to scores of arrests and convictions." The United States

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) classifies some sovereign citizens ("extreme sovereign citizen extremists") as a

domestic terrorist Domestic terrorism or homegrown terrorism is a form of terrorism in which victims "within a country are targeted by a perpetrator with the same citizenship" as the victims.Gary M. Jackson, ''Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques ...

movement. In 2010 the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...

(SPLC) estimated that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core sovereign believers" with another 200,000 "just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges."

Alpine County, California

In the late 1970s, the Posse Comitatus attempted to take over

Alpine County, California , other_name = , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Alpine County, California.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = Seal of Alpine Co ...

, by settling there and fielding candidates in local elections. Alpine County is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains east of Stockton on the west and east slope of Ebbetts Pass on State Highway 4. The 2010 population is 1,175 people. The Posse thought winning local elections in Alpine County was their best opportunity to take control of a single county. The group fielded a candidate for sheriff and registered fictitious voters using post office boxes and vacant lots as their addresses. Six people were prosecuted for voter fraud, the false registration thrown out, and the incumbent sheriff was re-elected.

Tigerton, Wisconsin

The posse had a presence in Tigerton, Wisconsin, until a crackdown by government prosecutors in the early 1980s left many of the group's leaders imprisoned.

References

External links

* * (A brief overview of the origins and development of the group.) * * {{cite journal , url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0805.carey.html , title=Too Weird for The Wire , first=Kevin , last=Carey , journal=

Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...

, issue=Spring 2008 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304014929/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0805.carey.html , archive-date=March 4, 2016 (Describing the use of Posse Comitatus theories by

drug dealers in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

.) Antisemitism in the United States Christian Identity Organizations established in 1969 Religiously motivated violence in the United States Terrorism in the United States Posse Comitatus Sovereign citizen movement Right-wing militia organizations in the United States 1969 establishments in Oregon