T H E S U R V I V A L O F T H E P I O N E E R S O F T H E E A R L Y U S A

Minutemen

Table of contents

Early Minutemen

Definition

Context

Role

Modern minutemen

Context

Role

Public and civil reactions

Debate

Early minutemen (1)

¼ of the militia of the American colonies.

Who were they?

Settlers, farmers, workmen, between 16 and 25 years old

Where does the name “minuteman” come from?

Decompose the word and try to guess!

Early Minutemen (2)

Context Indian wars

French and Indian War

American Revolutionary War

Mission Skirmishers and sharpshooters :Harassment

of enemy's troops

Sabotage

Glory facts Battles of Lexington and Concord

All the other battles of the Revolutionary War

Modern minutemen and their mission

The “Minuteman Project”

Activist organization created by a group of private individuals.

Since April 2005

Founder Jim Gilchrist ->

Missions:

Monitor the United States–Mexico border's flow of illegal immigrants.

Attract media attention to illegal immigration

Modern Minutemen: Facts

Incidents

Garden Grove incident

T-shirt incident

August 2007 fake murder video

Relations with the US Border Patrol

Not one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent about the Minutemen.

“These people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents; they're courteous. Many of them are retired firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they're not causing us any problems whatsoever”

Modern Minutemen: Public and civic reaction

Support California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: “They do a

terrific job”

Council of Conservative Citizens (white nationalism & white separatism political organization)

Criticism Controversy launched by former Mexican President Vicente

Fox.

Minutemen are depicted as the villains in the 2010 Robert Rodriguez film Machete.

The Latino criminal organization MS13 claimed that it would target the Minutemen.

Debate

Do you think modern Minutemen respect or betraythe legacy of the early Minutemen?

Do you mean it is a specific trait of American early culture or an inappropriate recuperation of a heroic legacy?

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N S :H T T P : / / W W W . U S H I S T O R Y . O R G / P E O P L E / M I N U T E M E N . H T M

H T T P : / / W W W . M I N U T E M A N P R O J E C T . C O M /

Fin