Fears about government being run by an autocrat. Battles over freedom of the press. Concerns about immigration, illegal voting, and foreign influence in politics. Mass resistance movements springing up across the land. Protest marches through city streets. Town hall meetings erupting into shouting matches. Citizens considering one another the enemy, sometimes coming to blows. Acts of terror. The specter of war.

It’s not today. It was 200 years ago. It was America. It was also France, Haiti, Mexico, and the rest of Spanish-speaking central and South America.