The Peace Democrats
or
The Copperheads
Origin
The Copperheads, who were originally known as Peace Democrats, originated from the election of 1860, when Lincoln was able to win a majority of the votes due to the splitting of the Democratic Party into two factions, the War Democrats and the Peace Democrats. The Peace Democrats were Lincoln’s main opposition, and they were also the most prominent anti-war group in the North during the Civil War.
The name “Copperhead” came from multiple places. Peace Democrats were primarily called Copperheads after the copperhead snake, which was said to strike rapidly without any warning. This term was more of a derogatory term, as Republicans used it to signify that the organization was poisonous. The name also stemmed from the fact that at the time, the penny was referred to as a copperhead, which the Peace Democrats were fully supportive of. Since there was a picture of Lady Liberty on one side, the Copperheads felt that it showed they were opposing the President to defend the Constitution and the civil rights that came with it. |
During the Civil War
The majority of the Copperheads could be split into three general groups. The first group was made up of those with connections to the South, such as Southerners who had moved up north or people that had relatives in the South. This group would have also contained most of the people who sympathized with the South. The next section consisted of immigrants, who were mostly the Catholic Irish and Germans. The immigrants were also very anti-Republican, which made them a threat to Lincoln (who was a Republican), since the Republicans included people that had worked against immigrants, such as supporters of the temperance movement (anti-alcohol) which tried to destroy a large part of Irish and German culture, and nationalists, who had fought them in the 1840s and 1850s. Finally, the third group were the strict Jacksonian Democrats. These were the Democrats that looked to Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson as models, as they believed in following the Constitution strictly, and used constitutionalism as their main argument and validation. This portion of the Copperheads firmly believed that war was unnecessary and that the whole conflict would have been easily avoided if the South got what it wanted before it turned to secession, which meant that they were supporters of an unalterable amendment to the Constitution concerning slavery. However, they also used the Constitution to justify Southern secession, as it did not include material about being a part of the Union.
This excerpt from The Copperhead Catechism: For the Instruction of Such Politicians as Are of Tender Years by Sinclair Tousey, written in 1864, states . . . "I also believe in the unalienable doctrine of State Rights, In the admission of Slavery into the Territories, In the illegality of the Confiscation Act, of the Conscription, of the Suspension of Habeas Corpus, of Arbitrary Arrests, and of the Proclamation of Emancipation . . . But I do not believe that the Negro was born free or equal to the white or any other man . . ." During the first year of the war, the Peace Democrats as a whole were generally calm. Some individual members declared their outrage at the war in their own ways, but nothing dramatic occurred on the behalf of all of the Copperheads. However, they still showed their opposition to the Civil War. Based on the Constitution, they called into question Lincoln’s mustering of the militia (which should have been decided by Congress), the order to blockade Confederate ports (which was an act of war prior to Congress’s declaration of war), and the income taxes and suspension of habeas corpus. For these reasons, Copperheads viewed Lincoln as a tyrant because he did not appear to follow the Constitution on many occasions. Due to both the suspension of habeas corpus and the issue of martial law, many dissenters were thrown in jail or otherwise suppressed. When the war situation started to take a bad turn for the Union with a series of defeats in 1862, causing many Union supporters to voice their dissatisfaction with the war. With an increase in followers, the voice of the Copperheads grew louder and louder. With each Northern defeat, the Peace Democrats only seemed to grow stronger in their cause. The Copperheads had suspected that the real reason Lincoln wanted to go to war was to free the slaves, so when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect in January 1863, the groups was both incensed that such a thing could occur and triumphant that they were right. The Copperheads were extremely racist and usually supported slavery for aforementioned reasons, so that was further cause for their anger. In 1863, there were also problems concerning drafting for the military. Around March 1863, the Enrollment Act was issued, which caused many Copperheads to voice their anger at all the restrictions and injustices caused by the drafts. The Peace Democrats did whatever they could do hinder the drafts and therefore the Union war effort, and their hatred only strengthened when African-Americans were allowed to serve in the military, as they felt it gave proof that the war was being fought for emancipation. By the beginning of 1864, Copperheads had started to lose support. Many people felt that all the opposition was only prolonging the war, when all that anyone wanted was for the bloodshed to end. Supporters of the Union war effort increased with the number of victories and the appointment of Ulysses S. Grant as general in chief of all armies, as people believed there was finally a chance for the North to win the war. However, by mid-July, the Peace Democrats started to regain strength. Lives were being lost in the war faster than ever, and the Copperheads used this to their advantage and began to re-attack Lincoln and the war. They formed other organizations such as the Sons of Liberty and the American Order of Knights to work with Confederates, which lowered Union morale even further. At the Democratic National Convention at Chicago in August 1864, Democrats chose George McClellan, who promised to end the war, as the presidential nominee, and George Pendleton, a Copperhead, as the nominee for vice president. At the meeting, more insults were thrown at Lincoln and the Civil War. However, the efforts of the Peace Democrats did not pay off. With General Lee’s surrender to General Grant, Lincoln was reelected in the election of 1864, and the Union won the war. |