The Copperheads

THOSE

The Copperheads were a faction of Democrats in the North who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. They were also called Peace Democrats.

WHO

A majority of Peace Democrats supported war to save the Union, but a strong and active minority asserted that the Republicans had provoked the South into secession; that the Republicans were waging the war in order to establish their own domination, suppress civil and states rights, and impose "racial equality"; and that military means had failed and would never restore the Union.

DO

Copperheads were opposed to the emancipation of the slaves

NOT

the Peace Democrats...publicly criticized Lincoln's belief that violating the U.S. Constitution was required to save it as a whole. ...Lincoln assumed all powers not delegated in the Constitution, including the power to suspend habeas corpus.

LEARN

During Lincoln's presidency, he was criticized for taking what were considered "extra-constitutional measures." But in the end, the verdict of history is that Lincoln's use of power did not constitute abuse since every survey of historians ranks Lincoln as number one among the great presidents.

FROM

Peace Democrats. Many Democrats within this group hoped that the Union could be salvaged, but felt that military means were not justified. This faction asserted the following:
The North was responsible for pushing the South into secession
The Republicans were committed to establishing racial equality, a prospect opposed by many working class immigrants who wanted to protect their low-paying jobs and by racists
Lincoln had become a tyrant and was bent upon destroying civil liberties
The war was a national tragedy and must be ended, even if that meant granting independence to the Confederacy.

HISTORY

Their views struck a responsive chord among like-minded Democrats in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio in the period 1862 to 1864, while their Republican opponents considered their ideas and alleged actions as nothing less than treason.

ARE

One of the initial reasons for why the Peace Democrats did not support the Northern war effort was that a sizable number of white Ohioans, especially those living along the Ohio River, had migrated to the state from slaveholding states...Some Peace Democrats also feared that President Abraham Lincoln intended to free the slaves. White Ohioans who objected to slavery's end, usually on racist grounds, feared that African Americans would flood the North looking for jobs if they were given their freedom. These white Ohioans did not want to compete with African Americans for employment.

DOOMED

The most prominent Copperhead leader was Clement L. Valladigham of Ohio, who headed the secret antiwar organization known as the Sons of Liberty. At the Democratic convention of 1864, where the influence of Peace Democrats reached its high point, Vallandigham persuaded the party to adopt a platform branding the war a failure

TO

they said, "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight."

REPEAT

With the conclusion of the war in 1865 the Peace Democrats were thoroughly discredited. Most Northerners believed, not without reason, that Peace Democrats had prolonged war by encouraging the South to continue fighting in the hope that the North would abandon the struggle

IT

...it was not until years after the Civil War that the Democratic party succeeded in living down the association

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes