The Baltimore riots began as a protest against the publication of a newspaper that opposed the War of 1812 (1812-15) and spread to a series of disturbances revealing sharp social divisions. In spring 1812, Baltimore was stridently Jeffersonian, with most residents generally supporting the movement toward war with Great Britain. However, Alexander Contee Hanson published a newspaper called the Federalist Republican, which expressed opposition to the war and was a mouthpiece for the Federalist Party. On the night of June 22, 1812, a well-organized mob dismantled the Federalist Republican office with little interference from city officials and to the approval of most Baltimoreans. Although the disturbance was limited to the destruction of one building, over the next couple of weeks mobs hounded any would-be opponent of the war and members of the Federalist Party. Crowds also attacked several ships loaded with wheat intended for the British army in Spain (the trade was legal, but considered inappropriate by the Jeffersonian mob). In addition crowds began to attack other targets, revealing ethnic animosity by harassing Irishmen and racial fears by assaulting African Americans who expressed hope that a British invasion would liberate slaves.

Meanwhile, Hanson was not about to be intimidated by the riot of the 22nd. He began printing his paper in Georgetown in the District of Columbia and set up an office to distribute the paper on Charles Street in Baltimore on July 27. A huge crowd surrounded the Charles Street office that evening and began shouting insults and pelting stones. Inside, Hanson had gathered about 30 political friends ready to defend the paper and freedom of the press. The defenders fired shots over the head of the crowd, which only made the mob more bold. The Jeffersonians then charged the building and Hanson's supporters fired at the attackers, killing one and injuring others. After seeing the casualties, the crowd grew angrier. Many now appeared with guns of their own, and some even brought a cannon into view. A small troop of militia arrived but was unwilling to disperse the crowd. Instead, the militia officers negotiated a truce whereby the Federalist Party defenders would surrender to the militia and be escorted to the jail to await legal proceedings.

The next day tempers simmered, and a mob destroyed the Federalist Republican office on Charles Street. As night fell, another huge crowd formed outside the jail. The mayor attempted to disperse the crowd, only to be told he was hired by the people of Baltimore and should be leading the crowd instead of trying to stop it. With that he was swept aside as the mob charged into the jail and began to attack the prisoners. In the dark and during the confused melee that followed, a few prisoners escaped, but several were severely beaten. One victim of the mob, Revolutionary War veteran General James Maccuban Lingan, was killed. Hanson and another veteran revolutionary officer, Light Horse Harry (Henry) Lee, were so severely handled that they never fully recovered from their injuries. The brutality of the assault suggests that more than politics was involved. Most of the mob were artisans and workers--the common folk of Baltimore--who resented the wealth and arrogance of would-be Federalist Party aristocrats from the countryside.

The riots demonstrated how deep political and social divisions had become in the United States on the eve of the War of 1812. Although there was a state investigation of the riot and a few prosecutions of rioters, Baltimore remained a bastion of the Jeffersonian support for the war. The Federalist Party, proclaiming that it was defending the U.S. Constitution and the ideal of freedom of the press, used the riots to gain some victories in the fall elections in other parts of the country.

Bibliography:

Paul A. Gilje, Rioting in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996)

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