Sentinels of the Republic
| Motto | Every citizen a Sentinel: every home a sentry box! |
|---|---|
| Formation | 22 September 1922 |
| Extinction | 1944 |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Association |
| Purpose | Political lobby |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
|
Region served
|
National |
|
President
|
Louis A. Coolidge (first president) |
|
Main organ
|
Executive Committee |
The Sentinels of the Republic was a national organization that opposed what it saw as federal encroachment on the rights of the States and of the individual. Politically right-wing, the group was highly active in the 1920s and 1930s, during which it worked against child labor legislation and the New Deal. Accusations of antisemitism and a decreasing relevance of its political agenda both served to weaken the organization, which ultimately disbanded in 1944.
The Sentinels of the Republic was created as part of a surge in constitutionalism that occurred during the 1920s and 30s. During this period, historian Michael Kammen writes, constitutionalism "assumed a more central role in American culture than it ever had before," and resulted in "the efflorescence of intensely partisan organizations that promoted patriotic constitutionalism as an antidote to two dreaded nemeses, governmental centralization and socialism."
In Massachusetts, on 22 September 1922 (in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Adams), several of these organizations, including the National Association for Constitutional Government, the Public Interest League, the League for Preservation of American Independence, the Constitution Liberty League, the Anti-Centralization Club, the Sons of the Revolution, the American Legion, the Society of the Cincinnati, the American Rights League, and the American Defense Society joined forces under a cooperative arrangement called the Sentinels of the Republic. Louis A. Coolidge was chosen as the group's first president.
The main purpose of the new organization was to serve as a defense against unconstitutional legislation. The Sentinels were particularly concerned with protecting the rights of the States, limiting government's interference with and regulation of business, and combating the threat of international communism.
The founding principles of the Sentinels were:
The organization's motto was: Every citizen a Sentinel: every home a sentry box!
The Sentinels' founding members were:
Coolidge served as the Sentinels' first president from 1922 until his death in 1925. He was succeeded by Bentley Wirt Warren, a Boston lawyer who had been the Democratic Party's candidate for Massachusetts' 11th Congressional District seat in 1894. Warren served from 1925 to 1927 and was succeeded by Alexander Lincoln, also a Boston lawyer, who served from 1927 to 1936.
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Wikipedia