Violence,Police and Riots in New Orleans Political Culture: 1854–18741

Abstract Through an analysis of four major riots in New Orleans between 1854 and 1874, this paper examines the central role of local police forces in the violent New Orleans political culture. Through this analysis, the paper questions the extent to which not just exclusion, but political violence, is embedded in American republicanism. From the re-integration of the city in 1852 well into the Jim Crow era, police forces served as party operatives in New Orleans, insuring through violence that their party won majority on the city council or losing their positions, en masse, if they did not. These patterns of mob violence highlight the remarkable extent to which majority approval figured over rule of law in mid-nineteenth century republicanism.