On March 26th, 1884, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio was on edge, waiting for a jury to convict a defendant who was accused of murdering a man in December of the year before. That verdict did come down guilty, but not for murder. Instead, the man was convicted of manslaughter. That wasn’t good enough for the people of Cincinnati, and over the next few days one of the most destructive riots in American history rocked the city.
Three classic episodes of The History Guy about how the Christmas season survives even tragedy.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.