Levellers (New York)

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The New York Levellers of Hudson Valley, New York, were not an organization but a tax protest moment of the 19th Century.

[edit] Brief history

The New York Levellers gained this name from their enemies who attempted to link them with the Christian communist movement called the True Levellers that had been organized by Gerrard Winstanley in 17th Century England during the rule of Oliver Cromwell. At that time the True Levellers had been branded as 'Diggers' because of their activity in digging up and squatting upon public lands.

[edit] Misleading interchange of terminology

This interchange of Levellers with True Levellers eventually led to a blurring of the history of these two distinct movements of 17th Century England. The original Levellers of the 17th Century were agitators for political reform in the period leading up to the establishment of the New Model Army and the military dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell. It was due to this transition that John Lilburne (who had risen to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the armies of the English Civil Wars), broke off his relationship with Cromwell and refused to join his New Model Army.

[edit] Writings of Hugo Black

By the 19th Century most of these political distinctions had been lost and that is when these terms became interchangeable in the United States. It was not until United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black began devoting his interests and writings to John Lilburne (beginning with Adamson v. California in 1947, that interest in the works of John Lilburne was renewed. Black's masterpiece in preserving the Lilburne legacy came with Miranda v. Arizona ("The Miranda Warning") in 1966.