 Flag of the Knights of the Golden Circle | |
| Abbreviation | KGC |
|---|---|
| Formation | July 4, 1854 |
| Dissolved | 1863 |
| Type | Paramilitary |
| Purpose |
|
| Headquarters | Cincinnati, Ohio, United States |
Official language | English |
| Leader | George W. L. Bickley |
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The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective of which was to create a new country, known as the Golden Circle (Spanish: Círculo Dorado), where slavery would be legal. The country would have been centered in Havana and would have consisted of the Southern United States and a "golden circle" of territories in Mexico (which was to be divided into 25 new slave states), Central America, northern parts of South America, and Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and most other islands in the Caribbean, about 2,400 miles (3,900 km) in diameter.[1][2]
The KGC's proposal grew out of previous unsuccessful proposals to annex Cuba (Ostend Manifesto), parts of Central America (Filibuster War), and all of Mexico (All of Mexico Movement). In Cuba, the issue was complicated by the desire of many in the colony for independence from Spain. Mexico and Central America had no interest in being part of the United States. Originally, the KGC advocated that the new territories should be annexed by the United States, in order to vastly increase the number of slave states and thus the power of the slave-holding Southern upper classes.
In response to the increased anti-slavery agitation that followed the Dred Scott decision (1857), the Knights changed their position: the Southern United States should secede, forming their own confederation, and then invade and annex the other areas of the Golden Circle.[3] The proposed new country's northern border would roughly coincide with the Mason–Dixon line, and within it were included such cities as Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Mexico City, and Panama City. In either case, the goal was to increase the power of the Southern slave-holding upper class to such a degree that it could never be dislodged.[3]
During the American Civil War, Southern sympathizers in the Union or Northern states, such as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Iowa, were organized to a radical paramilitary splinter group of KGC, which was renamed, in a deliberate reference to the American Revolution, the "Order of the Sons of Liberty". In some cases, such as that of Lambdin P. Milligan, Sons of Liberty members were imprisoned, deported, or even court martialed and hanged for their activities.
Among the many acts of guerrilla warfare attributed to the Sons of Liberty were the burning of The Walnut Ridge Friends Meeting House in Rush County, Indiana in 1864 and the Northwest Conspiracy, which plotted regime change uprisings aimed at forcibly bringing Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana into the Confederacy.
Although nominally secret societies, the existence of the Knights of the Golden Circle and the Order of the Sons of Liberty were never considered a secret.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Gawaltwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Campbell, Rudolph B. "Knights of the Golden Circle." Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas. Archived from the original. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
- ^ a b Woodward, Colin. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. New York: Penguin, 2017, p. 207.