Democratic Party  "United Against Emancipation"
 
 Between 1861 and 1863, Republican President Abraham Lincoln caused 13,000 Northerners to be arrested and imprisoned, and more than 20 Northern newspapers to be suppressed for voicing antiwar opinions. Almost all of the victims of Lincoln's presidential power were Peace Democrats- antiwar members of the Democratic party whom opponents called Copperheads. Neither the Supreme Court nor Congress could weaken the president's resolve to suppress antiwar sentiment. Even many Republicans were alarmed at the high-handed violations of civil liberties. "Not one of the many hundreds illegally arrested and locked up for months has been publicly charged with any crime", exclaimed Republican lawyer George Templeton Strong. "All this is very bad- imbecile, dangerous, and unjustifiable."

The most radical Peace Democrat was Congressman Clement L. Vallandingham. The handsome and eloquent Ohioan, nicknamed "Valiant Val" by his friends, sponsored a number of resolutions that called for a censure of Lincoln for the "illegal arrests" and the suppression of free speech and the press; he even introduced a bill to have President Lincoln imprisoned. On May 5, 1863, Vallandingham was arrested and charged with "declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions." "I am a Democrat- for the Constitution, for law, for the Union, for liberty- this is my only crime," said Vallandingham, but he was soon found guilty and sentenced to prison for the duration of the war. There was such an outpouring of rage over the proceedings that Lincoln changed the sentence to banishment to the South.

The mainstream of the Democratic party, the War Democrats, generally supported Lincoln's prosecution of the war though they opposed many of his policies. One of the main issues the two party factions united against was emancipation. War Democrat New York Gov. Horatio Seymore promised "to make every sacrifice... for the preservation of this Union," but he opposed emancipation as "bloody, barbarous, revolutionary."

Fascinating Fact:  The Democratic legislatures of Illinois and Indiana labeled the January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation "wicked, inhuman and unholy" and demanded that Lincoln retract it.


Back to index page