American Political Enemies Were Tarred And Feathered

American Political Enemies Were Tarred And Feathered

Though prevalent mostly in the North American colonies, cases of tarring and feathering in the United States date up until the early 20th Century.

The punished individual was covered in hot tar and feathers. Tarring and feathering was primarily enacted or provoked by revolutionary organizations, for example, the Sons of Liberty, as well as by mob justice, rather than as a state-sanctioned form of punishment.

It gained much of its popularity the decade leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Crowds gathered to tar and feather British officials or individuals with anti-revolutionary predilections as an act of punishment and humiliation. 

Tarring and feathering continued into the early 20th Century. A notable case was on the night of August 19th, 1918 in Luverne, Minnesota when German-American farmer John Meints was kidnapped, whipped, tarred and feathered, then ordered out of state with the threat of death.

He was accused of being a German sympathizer in the later years of World War I because he refused to participate in a war bond drive.