Category: American History

• The "Underground Railroad" for Criminals

  This theory held that abolitionists did not merely assist fugitives from slavery, but also maintained a shadow network for moving “Northern criminals,” agitators, and paid troublemakers into the South to incite slave rebellion, theft, and disorder. In pro-slavery rhetoric, the same secrecy that made the Underground Railroad real for freedom seekers could be reimagined as evidence of a broader system of subversion. The documentary basis for this exact “criminal railroad” idea is thin, but it fits a very well-documented Southern tendency to portray abolitionists as outside incendiaries, felons, and enemies of social peace. What remains unsupported is the claim that a formal reverse criminal network actually existed.

• The Pullman Strike Sabotage

  This theory held that during the Pullman Strike of 1894, railroad owners and their allies deliberately arranged acts of arson and destruction against rail property in order to blame the unions, discredit Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union, and justify federal military intervention. In its strongest form, the theory claims that company agents, detectives, or provocateurs burned cars and yards on purpose so the strike could be redefined from a labor dispute into a national emergency. The documented record clearly shows that violence and fires did erupt after federal troops entered Chicago, and that the General Managers’ Association was coordinating an aggressive anti-union response. What remains unproven is the central sabotage allegation itself.

• The Great Chicago Fire (1871)

  This theory held that the Great Chicago Fire was not an accident but the work of a coordinated radical conspiracy—often described in later retellings as the “Communist International,” though contemporaries more commonly blamed “communists” or “the International.” In the fire’s aftermath, rumors spread that organized incendiaries had deliberately set multiple blazes in order to destroy the city, destabilize social order, or launch class war. The historical record clearly shows that such rumors circulated and that Chicago newspapers used explicitly anti-communist language about alleged “North Side incendiaries.” What remains unproven is the conspiratorial claim itself. The fire’s true origin was never established with certainty, and no evidence demonstrated a coordinated revolutionary arson campaign.

• The Negro Plot (Post-Civil War)

  This theory held that after emancipation, freedpeople were being secretly armed and organized by northern “carpetbaggers,” Radical Republicans, and other white allies for a coming race war or mass slave uprising in reverse. Across the Reconstruction South, many white communities imagined “the big insurrection” as an imminent event, even when evidence was thin or wholly absent. The historical record clearly shows that these fears were widespread and that they helped justify white paramilitary violence, disarmament campaigns, and the repression of Black political participation. What remains unproven is the central conspiratorial claim that former slaves and carpetbaggers were coordinating a region-wide hidden insurrectionary network.

• The Slave Power (Pro-Slavery Conspiracy)

  This theory held that a small, wealthy class of Southern slaveholders had captured the federal government and was using the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court to nationalize slavery. Northern abolitionists, Free Soilers, and later Republicans argued that the “Slave Power” was not just a regional interest but an organized oligarchy working to dominate the Union through law, patronage, territorial expansion, and intimidation. The historical record clearly shows that the phrase “Slave Power” became a central element of antislavery politics and that many northerners genuinely believed slavery was being extended through a coordinated set of federal actions. Historians continue to debate how conspiratorial the claim was, but many agree that slaveholders enjoyed disproportionate national power and repeatedly bent institutions toward their interests.