Dissertation
Here once the embattled farmers stood: The rise and fall of the Montana Freemen
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
08/2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005849
Abstract
This study explores the Montana Freemen movement through the lens ofthe agricultural crisis of the 1980s. The resulting shake-out in Jordan Country in the east-central part ofthe Big Sky state was a key link in the set of events that gave rise to the Montana Freemen and to the longest stand-off in U.S. history. Among the last regions to be homesteaded, Montana's Jordan Country benefited throughout its century-long association with an interventionist, supportive federal government and capitalistic economic system. The agricultural crisis that began in the late 1970s struck hard at families, like that of Ralph Clark, which had recently expanded their operations. Struggling to weather the crisis, the Clarks won a temporary reprieve through the 1983 Coleman v. Block decision that placed a moratorium on farm foreclosures. When the moratorium ended in 1992, the Clarks, lacking finances and legal options, turned to an emerging nexus of anti-government activists who engaged the community on the issue of local sovereignty; it was in this context that the group termed the Montana Freemen emerged. Led by LeRoy Schweitzer, the Montana Freemen-drawing their ideology and organizational style from earlier radical-right groups including the John Birch Society, Posse Comitatus, and Sagebrush Rebellion-proposed to establish a parallel government with common law justices' courts and extralegal financial instruments. These tactics led to confrontations between the Freemen and local and federal authorities, and the arrest ofthree Freemen leaders six months after relocating to the Clark ranch in September 1995 sparked an eighty-one day standoff with federal authorities, which ended non-violently, due in large part to the Clarks. This study relies on interviews with several members ofthe Clark Family and others directly connected with the Freemen; on legal papers in the U.S. District Court in Billings, Montana, the location of the Freemen trials; on county prosecutors' files in Roundup and Jordan, Montana; on files in the Montana Historical Society and Montana Human Rights Network, both in Helena, Montana; and on secondary works.
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Details
- Title
- Here once the embattled farmers stood
- Creators
- Steven E. Shay
- Contributors
- David L. Coon (Chair)Orlan J Svingen (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of HistoryJeffrey C Sanders (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of History
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of History
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 264
- Identifiers
- 99901055038001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation