Copperheads Quotes
President Lincoln reversed this order. Most Northerners however sided with Burnside on this point. They saw little point to protecting traitors who were helping to kill their neighbors by encouraging the Southerners.
What makes this quotation so historically interesting is that the abiding by the Supreme Court’s decisions on constitutionality was even an issue. It was because of the terrible Dred Scott decision which required Northern States to return fugitive slaves to their owners despite the constitutions of those states which stated that all men were free. A substantial part of the Democratic Party was the “solid South” and the return of fugitive slaves was one of the major issues of the 1860 Presidential Election. Ironically, the Southern States were arguing AGAINST states’ rights when the Northern States’ laws and Constitutions made fugitive slaves free the minute they set foot in the state.
of allegiance to the U.S. There were a number of “Copperheads” –Southern sympathizers—in the North, especially those areas that were near borders with Southern States. Some patriots proposed requiring everyone to take an oath—a solution that tends often to be suggested in times of war and strife, but really doesn’t do any good. The real traitors just falsely take the other; others who refuse, do so on principle and are rarely dangerous. Few public men had had the courage to call the process of requiring loyalty oaths absurd as Sherman did in the Civil War. In almost every era of war—cold or hot—there are some people who call for requiring more loyalty oaths and relatively few like Sherman who will publicly admit its futility.
Whether or Not the Democratic Speeches Against the manner in which the Union was conducting the Civil War was aiding the South of just fair political criticism has been debated since the war itself. This is one piece of evidence.
Phelps was a Copperhead Democrat who was a virulent racist, an enemy of Lincoln and supported McClellan against Lincoln in 1864. His extreme disrespect for the President and his racism was not appreciated in Vermont, and Phelps not only failed to help McClellan but destroyed his own credibility in his home state of Vermont. Phelps had been practicing law in New York City where there was a large Copperhead, racist and anti-Lincoln part of the population there.
The concept of emancipation was so unthinkable to most Southern leaders that Lee was convinced that the Lincoln policies of emancipation would split the North and unseat Lincoln and his Republicans. While there were Northerners who objected to emancipation it in general, most saw it as a great blow to the then hated South, which made it tolerable. At the same time most Northerners approved of emancipation for the blow to the South, the moral end to slavery and/or the end of free labor having to compete with slave labor. The Southern mentality on slavery blinded most to the unreality of their prospects and strategies of the entire secession and war. Lee’s argument echoed that made by most of the confederates which is a classic logical hypocrisy. Emancipation of slaves was a great restriction on the rights and liberties of the slave owners of the South. They demanded the freedom and liberty to deny freedom and liberty to many more people than they, so that they could have the rights to their “property” while the would deny the slaves the rights to their own. bodies, souls and families,
The Copperheads were the Northern pro-South and anti-war faction of the Civil War.
This is a fascinating quotation of the then leader of the Mormons. Historically, it shows us that many from the North, primarily to avoid the military draft of the Civil War, left their homes and emigrated to California, Washington and Oregon. In doing so, many passed through Salt Lake City and many became Mormons and stayed. These “Copperheads” included a serious peace movement at the time along with racists who didn’t want to risk their lives over the issue of slavery. Next we see the affinity that the Mormons had for the Copperheads. Actually, although the Mormons did not own slaves the church leadership had not been, well before the civil war, opposed to slavery and some were supportive of the institution. See {629157} and {629154}. Note the hostility that Young had for Abolitionists. At that time, a large proportion of the Abolitionists were religious Protestant laymen and laywomen and ministers. They were very outspoken and used writing and the media of the time to make their case. In almost all cases they also opposed polygamy and from a sexual morality point of view, saw it as little different from the slave owners sexual exploitation of his female slaves. Moreso than any other issue, polygamy was damaging the Mormon image amongst other Americans, It was the Abolitionists who were principle drivers of this negative image problem of the Mormons, So Young resented these “busybodies” and empathized with the Southerners not because he personally favored slavery, but they were both “victims” of the same set of do gooders. Young had a very limited narrow view of the rest of the country, and completely overestimated the prospects of the Southern Rebels.
