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Sedition: How America's Constitutional Order Emerged from Violent Crisis
How Americans have weathered constitutional crises throughout our history
Since protestors ripped through the Capitol Building in 2021, the threat of constitutional crisis has loomed over our nation. The foundational tenets of American democracy seem to be endangered, and many citizens believe this danger is unprecedented in our history. But Americans have weathered many constitutional crises, often accompanied by the same violence and chaos experienced on January 6. However, these crises occurred on the state level. In Sedition, Marcus Alexander Gadson uncovers these episodes of civil unrest and examines how state governments handled them.
Sedition takes readers through six instances of constitutional The Buckshot War, Dorr’s Rebellion, Bleeding Kansas, the Brooks-Baxter War, a successful terrorist campaign to overthrow South Carolina’s government during Reconstruction, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898. He chronicles these turbulent periods of violent anti-government conflict on the state level, explaining what it was like to experience coup d’états, rival governments fighting in the streets, and disputed elections that gave way to violence. As he addresses constitutional breakdown, Gadson urges Americans to pay increased attention to the risk of constitutional instability in their home states. His sweeping historical analysis provides new insights on the fight to protect democracy today.
As Americans mobilize to prevent future crises, Sedition reminds us that our constitutional order can fail, that democratic collapse is possible, and offers us advice on how to save our constitutional system.
Since protestors ripped through the Capitol Building in 2021, the threat of constitutional crisis has loomed over our nation. The foundational tenets of American democracy seem to be endangered, and many citizens believe this danger is unprecedented in our history. But Americans have weathered many constitutional crises, often accompanied by the same violence and chaos experienced on January 6. However, these crises occurred on the state level. In Sedition, Marcus Alexander Gadson uncovers these episodes of civil unrest and examines how state governments handled them.
Sedition takes readers through six instances of constitutional The Buckshot War, Dorr’s Rebellion, Bleeding Kansas, the Brooks-Baxter War, a successful terrorist campaign to overthrow South Carolina’s government during Reconstruction, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898. He chronicles these turbulent periods of violent anti-government conflict on the state level, explaining what it was like to experience coup d’états, rival governments fighting in the streets, and disputed elections that gave way to violence. As he addresses constitutional breakdown, Gadson urges Americans to pay increased attention to the risk of constitutional instability in their home states. His sweeping historical analysis provides new insights on the fight to protect democracy today.
As Americans mobilize to prevent future crises, Sedition reminds us that our constitutional order can fail, that democratic collapse is possible, and offers us advice on how to save our constitutional system.
- GenresHistory
264 pages, Hardcover
Published May 13, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 28, 2025
Excellent analysis of how force & violence have shaped our state constitutions and our modern impression of governance. Explained how defining "liberty" and "the people" drove a huge amount of discourse both before and after the Civil War. I was particularly intrigued at the civil war Rhode Island nearly descended into trying to answer that questikn. Overall a great read, highly recommend!
June 8, 2025
Real Rating: 4.5* of five
The Publisher Says: How Americans have weathered constitutional crises throughout our history
Since protestors ripped through the Capitol Building in 2021, the threat of constitutional crisis has loomed over our nation. The foundational tenets of American democracy seem to be endangered, and many citizens believe this danger is unprecedented in our history. But Americans have weathered many constitutional crises, often accompanied by the same violence and chaos experienced on January 6. However, these crises occurred on the state level. In Sedition, Marcus Alexander Gadson uncovers these episodes of civil unrest and examines how state governments handled them.
Sedition takes readers through six instances of constitutional The Buckshot War, Dorr’s Rebellion, Bleeding Kansas, the Brooks-Baxter War, a successful terrorist campaign to overthrow South Carolina’s government during Reconstruction, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898. He chronicles these turbulent periods of violent anti-government conflict on the state level, explaining what it was like to experience coup d’états, rival governments fighting in the streets, and disputed elections that gave way to violence. As he addresses constitutional breakdown, Gadson urges Americans to pay increased attention to the risk of constitutional instability in their home states. His sweeping historical analysis provides new insights on the fight to protect democracy today.
As Americans mobilize to prevent future crises, Sedition reminds us that our constitutional order can fail, that democratic collapse is possible, and offers us advice on how to save our constitutional system.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I've turned the references in the publisher's synopsis into links. I did this so you can look into the high points of the events the author has chosen to highlight in search of a context for the public, academic, and media responses to the unfolding crisis in the US Federal government. Tellingly, each of these cases examined involved a bloody uprising by some (definitionally reactionary, as they chose armed rebellion as a response to change) element of the affected population.
I'm not going to go into the events, that's why I've given you the links, but I do want to highlight a vitally important takeaway from the book. Our system only works when we all play by the rules. When any group decides the rules set out in a constitution just will not do, and determine the effort to change that constitution is better expended in imposing new rules by force, bloodshed must follow. Otherwise the path to anarchy is paved.
This is not theoretical. These are not hypothetical case studies. This is US history, researched by a professor of Law at an accredited (christian) university. His entire text, including an excellent endnotes section, is under three hundred pages. Wear your biblio-track shoes. Have coffee before reading, I had a half-star off for my inability to read and absorb it without taking copious notes. But listen, please to a voice that should be coming from inside the coup-executers' house. He brings facts to the table that demonstrate the danger, and the impracticality, of the current crisis actors' intended result.
It is too important and too imminent a threat not to learn how it has been attempted...and thwarted, however kludged together and flawed the response was...before. And at what cost.
The Publisher Says: How Americans have weathered constitutional crises throughout our history
Since protestors ripped through the Capitol Building in 2021, the threat of constitutional crisis has loomed over our nation. The foundational tenets of American democracy seem to be endangered, and many citizens believe this danger is unprecedented in our history. But Americans have weathered many constitutional crises, often accompanied by the same violence and chaos experienced on January 6. However, these crises occurred on the state level. In Sedition, Marcus Alexander Gadson uncovers these episodes of civil unrest and examines how state governments handled them.
Sedition takes readers through six instances of constitutional The Buckshot War, Dorr’s Rebellion, Bleeding Kansas, the Brooks-Baxter War, a successful terrorist campaign to overthrow South Carolina’s government during Reconstruction, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898. He chronicles these turbulent periods of violent anti-government conflict on the state level, explaining what it was like to experience coup d’états, rival governments fighting in the streets, and disputed elections that gave way to violence. As he addresses constitutional breakdown, Gadson urges Americans to pay increased attention to the risk of constitutional instability in their home states. His sweeping historical analysis provides new insights on the fight to protect democracy today.
As Americans mobilize to prevent future crises, Sedition reminds us that our constitutional order can fail, that democratic collapse is possible, and offers us advice on how to save our constitutional system.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I've turned the references in the publisher's synopsis into links. I did this so you can look into the high points of the events the author has chosen to highlight in search of a context for the public, academic, and media responses to the unfolding crisis in the US Federal government. Tellingly, each of these cases examined involved a bloody uprising by some (definitionally reactionary, as they chose armed rebellion as a response to change) element of the affected population.
I'm not going to go into the events, that's why I've given you the links, but I do want to highlight a vitally important takeaway from the book. Our system only works when we all play by the rules. When any group decides the rules set out in a constitution just will not do, and determine the effort to change that constitution is better expended in imposing new rules by force, bloodshed must follow. Otherwise the path to anarchy is paved.
This is not theoretical. These are not hypothetical case studies. This is US history, researched by a professor of Law at an accredited (christian) university. His entire text, including an excellent endnotes section, is under three hundred pages. Wear your biblio-track shoes. Have coffee before reading, I had a half-star off for my inability to read and absorb it without taking copious notes. But listen, please to a voice that should be coming from inside the coup-executers' house. He brings facts to the table that demonstrate the danger, and the impracticality, of the current crisis actors' intended result.
It is too important and too imminent a threat not to learn how it has been attempted...and thwarted, however kludged together and flawed the response was...before. And at what cost.
April 19, 2025
TL/DR: A timely and thought-provoking new book takes a look at American constitutional crises that have arisen from state constitutions almost from the beginning of our nation.
************
If you are a typical American it’s probably safe to say that you have at least a passing familiarity with the US Constitution. You surely know that our Constitution contains a Bill of Rights. You are likely aware that there are several Amendments to the Constitution, even if you’re not sure how many exactly, or how we as a nation go about amending our Constitution.
It’s also probably safe to say that you aren’t very familiar with the Constitution of the state in which you live. When was it adopted? How is it amended? What would it take to revise or replace it, if that’s even possible?
State constitutions, their importance and the history of violence and sedition that revolves around the creation, adoption, and amending of some of those constitutions is the heart of law professor Marcus Alexander Gadson’s new book Sedition.
Gadson examines six violent constitutional crises that have arisen around state constitutions. It seems that state constitutions have a longer and bloodier history than we might realize.
The long history goes back to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Gadsen points out that during the American Revolution state constitutions were written first and helped to inform the later writing of the national constitution drafted by the Second Continental Congress in the late 1780s. The right of free expression and the separation of powers are just two concepts that started out in state constitutions.
While Gadson covers violent incidents before the Civil War, much of the bloodiest history of state constitutions occurred in the South during Reconstruction. Two of the six constitutional crises that Gadson dives into in this book were in South Carolina and North Carolina after the Civil War, as white supremacists fought to restore the social order that existed before the end of slavery.
The bloodiest events surround the constitution of North Carolina. Gadson takes us through many of the shocking events, including white-led race riots and cold-blooded murder that were so ably covered in the 2020 book Wilmington’s Lie, by Victor Bevine (which I reviewed here).
In his conclusion Gadson takes us through some of the ramifications of this bloody history that are still with us today. For one thing, the history of violence is part of the reason why state constitutions are more easily amended than the US Constitution, as a way to vent off the steam of public sentiment arising over time. The violent history has also left federal courts unwilling to intercede in gerrymandering, even as the US Constitution gives the federal government the duty to ensure that states have “a Republican Form of Government”. Finally, this history has also led to a relative lack of respect for state constitutions among us, the governed. Which explains why you probably know more about the US Constitution than you do about the constitution of your own state.
While you might think a book about state constitutions would be a dry affair, there is enough unknown history to learn (especially the cases from before the Civil War), and enough drama around the post-Civil War examples to keep you reading. I thought this was a great book.
It’s also a relatively short book (about 250 pages including index and notes) meaning the writing is concise and mostly easy to follow. (I will say that events were moved through so quickly in the story of Thomas Dorr in Rhode Island that I had a bit of trouble keeping all the names straight, but no such problems with the rest of the book.)
RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
************
If you are a typical American it’s probably safe to say that you have at least a passing familiarity with the US Constitution. You surely know that our Constitution contains a Bill of Rights. You are likely aware that there are several Amendments to the Constitution, even if you’re not sure how many exactly, or how we as a nation go about amending our Constitution.
It’s also probably safe to say that you aren’t very familiar with the Constitution of the state in which you live. When was it adopted? How is it amended? What would it take to revise or replace it, if that’s even possible?
State constitutions, their importance and the history of violence and sedition that revolves around the creation, adoption, and amending of some of those constitutions is the heart of law professor Marcus Alexander Gadson’s new book Sedition.
Gadson examines six violent constitutional crises that have arisen around state constitutions. It seems that state constitutions have a longer and bloodier history than we might realize.
The long history goes back to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Gadsen points out that during the American Revolution state constitutions were written first and helped to inform the later writing of the national constitution drafted by the Second Continental Congress in the late 1780s. The right of free expression and the separation of powers are just two concepts that started out in state constitutions.
While Gadson covers violent incidents before the Civil War, much of the bloodiest history of state constitutions occurred in the South during Reconstruction. Two of the six constitutional crises that Gadson dives into in this book were in South Carolina and North Carolina after the Civil War, as white supremacists fought to restore the social order that existed before the end of slavery.
The bloodiest events surround the constitution of North Carolina. Gadson takes us through many of the shocking events, including white-led race riots and cold-blooded murder that were so ably covered in the 2020 book Wilmington’s Lie, by Victor Bevine (which I reviewed here).
In his conclusion Gadson takes us through some of the ramifications of this bloody history that are still with us today. For one thing, the history of violence is part of the reason why state constitutions are more easily amended than the US Constitution, as a way to vent off the steam of public sentiment arising over time. The violent history has also left federal courts unwilling to intercede in gerrymandering, even as the US Constitution gives the federal government the duty to ensure that states have “a Republican Form of Government”. Finally, this history has also led to a relative lack of respect for state constitutions among us, the governed. Which explains why you probably know more about the US Constitution than you do about the constitution of your own state.
While you might think a book about state constitutions would be a dry affair, there is enough unknown history to learn (especially the cases from before the Civil War), and enough drama around the post-Civil War examples to keep you reading. I thought this was a great book.
It’s also a relatively short book (about 250 pages including index and notes) meaning the writing is concise and mostly easy to follow. (I will say that events were moved through so quickly in the story of Thomas Dorr in Rhode Island that I had a bit of trouble keeping all the names straight, but no such problems with the rest of the book.)
RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
January 10, 2026
Sedition: How America’s Constitutional Order Emerged from Violent Crisis is a rigorous and unsettling examination of the fragility of American democracy. Marcus Alexander Gadson challenges the widespread belief that the constitutional threats exposed on January 6, 2021, were unprecedented, demonstrating instead that violent challenges to democratic governance have surfaced repeatedly throughout U.S. history often at the state level, and often with devastating consequences.
Gadson’s central intervention is both clarifying and urgent: constitutional collapse is not merely a national phenomenon, nor is it confined to abstract legal theory. By focusing on six state-level crises including Dorr’s Rebellion, Bleeding Kansas, the Brooks–Baxter War, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 he reveals how rival governments, contested elections, and organized violence have repeatedly tested the limits of constitutional order. These episodes are not treated as anomalies, but as formative moments that shaped how American democracy survived—or failed to survive pressure.
The book’s strength lies in its balance of narrative history and constitutional analysis. Gadson brings readers into the lived reality of these crises, describing what it meant for citizens to experience coups, armed takeovers, and breakdowns in lawful authority. At the same time, he carefully examines how state governments responded sometimes reinforcing democratic norms, and other times enabling their erosion. This dual focus makes the book especially valuable for readers seeking to understand how legal systems behave under stress.
Sedition is particularly effective in reframing modern concerns about democratic stability. Rather than offering false reassurance, Gadson insists that constitutional failure is not only possible but historically documented. His argument that Americans must pay closer attention to state-level democratic institutions is persuasive and timely, especially as contemporary political conflict increasingly unfolds outside federal arenas.
Clear-eyed, historically grounded, and deeply relevant, Sedition is an essential contribution to current debates about democracy, governance, and political violence. It is not simply a book about the past, but a warning and a guide for those committed to protecting constitutional order in the present.
Gadson’s central intervention is both clarifying and urgent: constitutional collapse is not merely a national phenomenon, nor is it confined to abstract legal theory. By focusing on six state-level crises including Dorr’s Rebellion, Bleeding Kansas, the Brooks–Baxter War, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 he reveals how rival governments, contested elections, and organized violence have repeatedly tested the limits of constitutional order. These episodes are not treated as anomalies, but as formative moments that shaped how American democracy survived—or failed to survive pressure.
The book’s strength lies in its balance of narrative history and constitutional analysis. Gadson brings readers into the lived reality of these crises, describing what it meant for citizens to experience coups, armed takeovers, and breakdowns in lawful authority. At the same time, he carefully examines how state governments responded sometimes reinforcing democratic norms, and other times enabling their erosion. This dual focus makes the book especially valuable for readers seeking to understand how legal systems behave under stress.
Sedition is particularly effective in reframing modern concerns about democratic stability. Rather than offering false reassurance, Gadson insists that constitutional failure is not only possible but historically documented. His argument that Americans must pay closer attention to state-level democratic institutions is persuasive and timely, especially as contemporary political conflict increasingly unfolds outside federal arenas.
Clear-eyed, historically grounded, and deeply relevant, Sedition is an essential contribution to current debates about democracy, governance, and political violence. It is not simply a book about the past, but a warning and a guide for those committed to protecting constitutional order in the present.
October 17, 2025
Pros
- Well-written, clearly explaining the themes, principles, and perspectives of historical events and actors
- Best explanation I’ve read of 1800s state and federal constitutions and political arrangements
- Connects lofty themes to on-the-ground events that are often left out of school curricula or simplistic accounts of U.S. history
- Avoids oversimplifying actors or events into “good” or “bad”. The figures feel nuanced and real rather than caricatures
- Approachable exploration of the historical identity of the U.S.
Cons
- Focuses mainly on events from the 1830s to 1900; a wider temporal context would have been appreciated
- The proposed solutions at the end are disappointing. It's basically, “use the system to change the system.” Given how chaotic U.S. politics were historically and continue to be today, this feels naive, though understandable why the author avoids advocating a total overhaul
- Only touches on the Black experience, with little discussion of how state and federal constitutions marginalized and subjugated Native, Hispanic, and Asian populations, excluding them from political participation
Favorite part
After reading many books on 1800s U.S. politics, this one gave me a much clearer understanding of how the political system functioned, particularly in terms of its impact on Black Americans.
- Well-written, clearly explaining the themes, principles, and perspectives of historical events and actors
- Best explanation I’ve read of 1800s state and federal constitutions and political arrangements
- Connects lofty themes to on-the-ground events that are often left out of school curricula or simplistic accounts of U.S. history
- Avoids oversimplifying actors or events into “good” or “bad”. The figures feel nuanced and real rather than caricatures
- Approachable exploration of the historical identity of the U.S.
Cons
- Focuses mainly on events from the 1830s to 1900; a wider temporal context would have been appreciated
- The proposed solutions at the end are disappointing. It's basically, “use the system to change the system.” Given how chaotic U.S. politics were historically and continue to be today, this feels naive, though understandable why the author avoids advocating a total overhaul
- Only touches on the Black experience, with little discussion of how state and federal constitutions marginalized and subjugated Native, Hispanic, and Asian populations, excluding them from political participation
Favorite part
After reading many books on 1800s U.S. politics, this one gave me a much clearer understanding of how the political system functioned, particularly in terms of its impact on Black Americans.
December 27, 2024
You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at Mr. Book's Book Reviews.
Thank you, NYU Press, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Sedition: How America’s Constitutional Order Emerged from Violent Crisis, by Marcus Alexander Gadson.
This book will be published on May 13, 2025.
This book is about the writing of state constitutions and the battles that ensued from that. The book covered six incidents of rewriting state constitutions in the 19th century. There are stories of vote fraud, near violence, actual violence and plenty of white supremacy. There was plenty of good information in the book and stories that even big history buffs won’t already be familiar with.
I give this book an A.
Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and Mr. Book’s Book Reviews
Mr. Book finished reading this on December 27, 2024.
Thank you, NYU Press, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Sedition: How America’s Constitutional Order Emerged from Violent Crisis, by Marcus Alexander Gadson.
This book will be published on May 13, 2025.
This book is about the writing of state constitutions and the battles that ensued from that. The book covered six incidents of rewriting state constitutions in the 19th century. There are stories of vote fraud, near violence, actual violence and plenty of white supremacy. There was plenty of good information in the book and stories that even big history buffs won’t already be familiar with.
I give this book an A.
Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and Mr. Book’s Book Reviews
Mr. Book finished reading this on December 27, 2024.
August 7, 2025
Could use a bit of a tighter edit. Main issue is the author tosses around the word “conservative” to describe Democrats wanting to preserve the status quo ante of pre Civil War racism. That is technically correct of course because they were trying to conserve the status quo. However, a paragraph describing how those conservatives are not in any way like 20th/21st. Conservatives would help. And no Trumpers are not conservative in the same way as Reagan/Buckley/Kirk conservatives.
February 2, 2025
Reviewed for Library Journal; full review appears there.
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