The Trump Capitol Hill Riot in Historical Context
The War of 1812, the 1849 Montreal Parliament Building fire, and right wing extremism in the United States
Watching Donald Trump supporters, armed with MAGA hats and Confederate flags, break down the door of the Capitol Building and giddily storming into the building, standing at the speaker’s podium, and sitting in House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, I was reminded of two things.
First, the attack on Canada’s Parliament Hill in Ottawa in October 2014, when a lone Islamic extremist killed a Canadian soldier at the National War Memorial and engaged in a gun fight with Parliament Hill security at the main entrance to Centre Block. Like in Washington, members of parliament were in the building and were forced to barricade themselves in their caucus rooms. At one point, Conservative MPs hid Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a closet and prepared to defend themselves with flagpoles.
Second, the Black Lives Matter protests that swept across the United States and the world last spring, and particularly the scenes from Washington on June 1, 2020, when riot police violently cleared Lafayette Square, using tear gas and rubber bullets, just so Trump could take a photo in front of a church. I’m not the first commentator to point out the disparate police response to the Trump rioters, but the contrast was clear.
In the hours and days since, many have sought historical comparisons to the violent attack on the Capitol.
The War of 1812 is the most cited example. A British expedition invaded the American capital in August 1814, looted the Capitol Building, set fires in the north and south wings, and burned down the Whitehorse before being stopped by American soldiers at Baltimore.
This CBC News piece highlights four lesser known incidents, including three bombings that resulted in damage but no casualties and a shootout from the gallery of the House of Representatives that injured five congressmen.
For another example of largescale looting in a seat of government, we have to look to a Canadian example - or rather the former Province of Canada.
On the night of April 25, 1849, a group of rioters smashed the gas mains inside the Canadian Parliament building in Montreal and set it on fire. The incident was part of two days of riots that followed the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill, which compensated people who lost property during the 1837-1838 rebellion in Canada East, including those who took part in the rebellion.
The incident actually has some surprising parallels to what happened in Washington. The 1837-1838 Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada were what we might think of today as pro-democracy protests. The republican rebels wanted their colonies to adopt responsible government, where the colonial governors would be accountable to the legislative branch. In Lower Canada, tensions between French and English speakers also contributed to the conflict.
In response, the British government commissioned the Durham Report in 1840, which recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be merged to create the Province of Canada - divided into Canada West and Canada East - and responsible government be granted to the legislative assembly.
When responsible government was granted in 1848, the Rebellion Losses Bill was one of the first acts brought forward in the legislature. The bill was supported by Reform Party members, who were supportive of responsible government and sympathetic to the rebellions, but opposed by Tories and many English Canadians, who viewed the rebels as traitors. Despite calls for Governor General Lord Elgin to refuse to give assent to the bill, he signed it into law, in keeping with the principles of responsible government.
That night, Tory and English Canadian rioters stormed the Parliament building. Mobs pelted Lord Eglin’s carriage with stones and rotten eggs and ransacked Premier of Canada East Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine’s house. Unrest carried on into May and it was eventually decided to relocate the legislative assembly to Toronto.
Tories continued to oppose the Rebellion Losses Bill, advocating for Queen Victoria to veto the act and even proposing that British North America join the United States. The return of economic prosperity in the 1850s was enough to quell much of the anger.
While past attacks on the Capitol Building occurred during wars or as part of a protest movement, the Trump riot seems different. There are certainly parallels to the burning of the Montreal Parliament building, with rioters opposing legislation passed by majority rule. But there was something about the way Trump supporters giddily stormed into Capitol, taking selfies with guards, livestreaming to their followers, putting a MAGA hat on a statue of Jimmy Carter, that struck me as odd.
The riot has been described by many as a domestic terrorist attack, with comparisons drawn to the Oklahoma City bombing and the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017, to name two. It also occurred in the context of increasing far-right extremism in the United States. A 2020 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that the number of terrorist incidents in the United States by far-right extremists has been increasing over the last 25 years. But I don’t think that accurately describes what happened.
I don’t know that the Trumpists came to Capitol Hill with intent to hurt or kill anyone, although they certainly did and there is evidence that some rioters planned to kidnap and even execute members of Congress or Vice President Mike Pence. I’m not sure that they wanted to stage a coup or insurrection or install a new government. I’m not even sure if they care if Trump gets to stay in power. They just seem to have wanted to live out some kind of right-wing fantasy to take over the government and “own the libs.”
And that, interestingly enough, is why they supported Trump in the first place, because he did and said the things that they always wanted to do and say. Trump wasn’t governed by the normal rules of political decorum. He was willing to “tell it like it is,” to give voice to the racism, sexism, and violence that, they assume, we’re all too afraid to say out loud.
Trump gave them an excuse to celebrate their racism and bigotry, their deepest fears and desires, and he ultimately gave them permission to take to the streets and live out their fantasies.
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