INSURRECTION, the act of rising against governmental authorities, active opposi tion to the power of the State. In the United States, power to suppress insurrections by em ploying the militia is given to Congress by the Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 15. In 1792 and 1807 acts were passed the President power to call forth the militia when notified by an associate justice of the Supreme Court or a district judge that the execution of the laws is obstructed, and on application of a legislature or a governor, when the legislature could not be convened, and to employ also the land and naval forces of the United States. The Whisky Insurrection (q.v.) was directed against the Federal au thority and the President employed force to suppress it on notification by the Federal judge. During the Buckshot War (q.v.), in 1838, be tween the Whigs and Democrats in Pennsyl vania, the governor of that State asked for assistance, but it was refused. The governor of Rhode Island made a similar application during the Dorr Rebellion (q.v.) and the regu lars were held ready for action, but their aid proved unnecessary. These last two cases
came under Art. IV, Sec. 4, of the Federal Constitution, which provides athat the United States shall protect') each State on application of the legislature, or of the executive, against domestic violence.
When the Civil War began the President was obliged to take prompt steps in calling out the militia, though no application had been made to him as required by the acts of 1792 and 1795. His action was justified by Art. II, Sec. 3, of the Constitution, providing that °he shall take care that the laws be faithfully but Congress on 6 Aug. 1861 formally validated and made legal all of President Lincoln's previ ous acts, proclamations and orders. The Force Bill (q.v.) of 20 April 1871 gave the President special power to use military force in certain contingencies. In the South during the recon struction period, and in the North, during strike riots, Federal troops have been used