The name Niagara Falls is derived from a native American word that means “a thundering noise.” You can imagine the surprise of area residents, therefore, when, just after midnight on March 30, 1848, the thunder suddenly stopped.
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.