Civil War "Copperheads"

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Found this little nugget while doing some research for a term paper I'm writing.

Copperheads  "Peace Democrats"

 

Republican Abraham Lincoln was able to win the 1860 presidential election largely because the Democratic party had torn itself into several factions and could offer no united opposition. In the North the Democrats divided into two factions- the War Democrats and the Peace Democrats. Neither group agreed with the way the Republican administration conducted the war, but the War Democrats at least supported the fight for the Union.

The Peace Democrats were opposed to the war and would have accepted a negotiated peace resulting in an independent Confederacy. Most Peace Democrats were from the midwestern states of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, but political dissent was widespread throughout the North. Midwesterners had close economic and sentimental ties with the South, and many of them bitterly opposed the Union's war against what one of them called "the injured, incensed, downtrodden people of the South."

In 1861, Republicans started calling antiwar Democrats "copperheads", likening them to the poisonous snake. By 1863, the Peace Democrats had accepted the label, but for them the copper "head" was the likeness of Liberty on the copper penny, and they proudly wore pennies as badges.

The Copperheads mounted a forceful and sustained protest against the Lincoln administration's policies and conduct. The most popular of the Copperheads was Democratic Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham, who in 1862 introduced a bill in Congress to imprison the President. Instead, Vallandigham and a host of other Democrats, including judges, newspaper editors, politicians, and antiwar activists, were arrested and imprisoned without trial on the orders of Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton, who had decided to take off their gloves in dealing with persons "guilty of any disloyal practice".

Fascinating Fact:  At the 1864 Democratic convention, Vallandigham persuaded the party to adopt a platform that declared the war a failure and called for negotiations with the Confederacy.

Link

I really loved this part, "Vallandigham and a host of other Democrats, including judges, newspaper editors, politicians, and antiwar activists, were arrested and imprisoned without trial on the orders of Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton, who had decided to take off their gloves in dealing with persons "guilty of any disloyal practice"." This was done by the person widely considered to be the nation's best president. Imagine this happening today!

Some things never change ---> At the 1864 Democratic convention, Vallandigham persuaded the party to adopt a platform that declared the war a failure and called for negotiations with the Confederacy. Sounds a lot like the democrat party of today.

[japantiger 4,051]

I like Lincoln's approach to dealing with disloyal f***'s. I'm sure our liberal friends will take offense at what the Great Emancipator had to do to actually make emancipation a reality. I'd say he broke a few egg's, huh. Suspending habious corpus, imprisoning and prosecuting the opposition..........why, he sounds worse than George Bush

I've am reading Chancellorsville currently (the latest in a long string of accounts of the first 100 years of the country). The more I read about Lincoln and Washington, my respect only grows for them. Lincoln was besieged by constant attacks from the opposition; even to the point of promoting mutiny within the Army of the Potomac in late 1862; early 1863.

George McClelland was largely responsible (former head of the Army who was banished to political and military oblivion at the time). He of course thought he was smarter than everyone else, and thought that we should be suing for peace. According to McClelland, we could not win; the Army of the Potomac would be destroyed. The only purpose for the Army of the Potomac in his mind was to "not be destroyed". He didn't believe in attacking and destroying the enemy; if it actually required casualties. But his Army looked good. He actively recruited officers within the command to petition Lincoln to have the existing heads of the Army removed; so that he could (naturally) save the nation and Lincoln from his folly. When that subtrefuge failed, of course he signed on as the head of the democratic party and ran for President. I love Intellectuals.

Same thing was true during the Revolution. Funny how it is always the "smart ones" and intellectuals that know more and if only the uneducated/plain spoken President's would listen to them; we would be victorious.

Only victory to them was never actually defeating the enemy and winning the war. As in Lincoln's day, the naysayer's and plotters wanted Washington removed, so they could take over and sue for piece with his majesty's commanders. A little tyrrany was OK; couldn't the bumpkin Washington understand that????

Imagine the courage it took from these two men to stick to their convictions. Every newspaper daily attacked every mistake; every setback no matter how small was "proof" that the President was incompetent. How could men with no formal education possibly understand such a complex and nuanced situation. Why, these "simpletons" deal in black and white; right and wrong; don't they understand that everything is really grey? If only they were as smart as us and could see what we see.

History repeats itself.......

[Bottomfeeder 244]

http://www.thirdday.com/

[AURaptor 1,125]

http://www.thirdday.com/

211317[/snapback]

Huh?

[Wishbone 0]

There really isn't a comparison b/w the civil war and the iraq war, nor the politcal factions that existed back then, even though they share the same names of the modern parties.

Remember, the Confederacy was a sovereign nation of Americans that wanted the same rights won by the founder fathers when they declared independence from Britian. The exact same situation just different results. Of course, if the revolutionaries would have failed they would have been demonized in history books.