America First Association of Minnesota

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<h3>Background</h3>
<p>During the summer of 1917 the upper midwestern state of Minnesota was one of the focal points of the American anti-war movement. The city of <a href="/facts/Minneapolis/gEsXsP3d">Minneapolis</a> was governed by a pragmatic <a href="/facts/Socialist_Party_of_America/NL9pcEbM">Socialist</a> mayor, <a href="/facts/Thomas_Van_Lear/gedqE8Ub">Thomas Van Lear</a>, and the heavily <a href="/facts/White_ethnic/ND0wKm2X">White ethnic</a> state was home to a vigorous labor movement and a varied radical press. The <a href="/facts/People%27s_Council_of_America_for_Democracy_and_the_Terms_of_Peace/NShWSRaS">People's Council of America for Democracy and the Terms of Peace</a>, an <a href="/facts/Anti-militarism/bCtCo53Q">anti-militarist</a> organization established in <a href="/facts/New_York_City/YlyvFmVC">New York City</a> in May 1917 as a center for socialist and pacifist anti-war activity, sought to hold its first national conference in Minneapolis on September 1 of that year.
</p><p>The efforts of this group to organize protests against the war effort came as a direct challenge to President <a href="/facts/Woodrow_Wilson/zE4yxK2X">Woodrow Wilson</a> and supporters of the national military cause, and a boycott was launched to deny the People's Council use of a meeting hall in Minneapolis. The alternative idea of meeting in a <a href="/facts/Circus_tent/7flRQANa">circus tent</a> was advanced,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> only to be rejected by <a href="/facts/Conservatism/2XdCcPzq">conservative</a> Governor <a href="/facts/Joseph_A._A._Burnquist/meC9bfGx">Joseph Burquist</a>, who just one week before the scheduled start of the People's Council conclave unilaterally banned the group from gathering anywhere in the state.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p><p>The organization was thus effectively chased from Minnesota to the city of Chicago, where its national convention was ultimately disbursed by the police.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> Despite the victory over the perceived radical and pacifist interlopers, patriotic sentiment throughout Minnesota was aroused, providing a fertile ground for pro-military organization.
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<h3>Establishment</h3>
<p>The America First Association of Minnesota (AFA) was formed in November 1917.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h3>Development</h3>
<h3>Termination</h3>
<h3>Legacy</h3>
<p>The papers of the America First Association reside at the Minnesota Historical Society Library in St. Paul, Minnesota. The material there includes the group's constitution and bylaws, various resolutions and circular letters, as well as minutes of its executive body.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
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<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>

<h2 id="publications">Publications</h2>
<ul><li>Frank W. Murphy, <i>Americans, Do Your Duty: America First Association of Minnesota Sets Forth Its Principles: Address, Fairmont, Minnesota, November 14th, 1919.</i> St. Paul, MN: America First Association, 1919.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"The People's Council of America for Democracy and Peace," The Advocate of Peace [Washington, DC], vol. 59, no. 9 (October 1917), pp. 279-280. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=G8EpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA279" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=G8EpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA279</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>H.C. Peterson and Gilbert C. Fite, Opponents of War, 1917-1918. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1957; pp. 76-77. <a href="/wiki/Gilbert_C._Fite" target="_blank">/wiki/Gilbert_C._Fite</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Peterson and Fife, Opponents of War, pg. 77. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"America First Association Records, 1917-1935," Minnesota Historical Society Library, St. Paul, MN. OCLC 122586801. <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122586801" target="_blank">https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122586801</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"America First Association Records, 1917-1935," Minnesota Historical Society Library, St. Paul, MN. OCLC 122586801. <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122586801" target="_blank">https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122586801</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

America First Association of Minnesota open-in-new

America First Association of Minnesota