American political faction
War Democrats
in American politics of the 1860s were members of the
Democratic Party
who supported the
Union
and rejected the policies of the
Copperheads
(or Peace Democrats). The War Democrats demanded a more aggressive policy toward the
Confederacy
and supported the policies of
Republican
President
Abraham Lincoln
when the
American Civil War
broke out a few months after his victory in the
1860 presidential election
.
[1]
Ohio
[
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]
In the critical state elections in Ohio in 1862, the
Republicans
and War Democrats formed a
Unionist Party
. This led to victory over the
Democrats
, led by
Copperhead
Clement Vallandigham
. However, it caused trouble for
Radical Republican
Senator
Benjamin Wade
's reelection bid. War Democrats opposed Wade's radicalism, and Wade refused to make concessions to their point of view. He was narrowly reelected by the legislature.
[2]
In 1863, the Ohio gubernatorial campaign drew national attention. Ohio Republicans and War Democrats were dissatisfied with the leadership of Ohio Governor
David Tod
, and turned to War Democrat
John Brough
after he made a strongly pro-Union speech in his hometown of Marietta on June 10, 1863. He was elected to the governorship that fall on a pro-Union ticket, partly due to his stronger support than Tod of the anti-slavery direction that the Northern war effort was taking. Brough telegraphed Washington that he had a 100,000 vote margin over Vallandigham. President Lincoln wired Brough: "Glory to God in the Highest. Ohio has saved the Nation".
[3]
1864 presidential campaign
[
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]
Recognizing the importance of the War Democrats, the Republican Party changed its name for the national ticket in the
1864 presidential election
, held during the Civil War. The
National Union Party
nominated the "former" Republican and incumbent President, Lincoln, for President and former War Democrat
Andrew Johnson
for Vice President. As a result, many War Democrats could support Lincoln's Civil War policies while avoiding the "Republican" ticket. While a large number of Republican dissidents had maintained an entity separate from the National Union Party leading up to the 1864 election, they withdrew their ticket for fear that splitting the vote would allow the Copperhead Democrats and their "peace at all costs" ticket to possibly win the election. The National Union ticket won 42 of 54 available
Senate
seats and 149 of 193 available
House of Representatives
seats.
1865?1869
[
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]
Following Lincoln's 1865 assassination, Johnson became President. Johnson's
Reconstruction
policies were lenient compared to those of the Radical Republicans. This dispute represented the conflict that many War Democrats faced, in that they supported the Union, but did not wish to severely punish former Confederates or strongly protect the rights of former slaves. In the 1868 lead up to the first post-Civil War
presidential election
, President Johnson was a candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. However, he finished second in the 22 ballots cast at the
Democratic Convention
, and lost the nomination to former New York Governor
Horatio Seymour
, a former Copperhead.
[4]
Lincoln appointed other War Democrats to high civil and military offices. Some joined the Republican Party, while others remained Democrats.
Leadership
[
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]
Prominent War Democrats included:
- Andrew Johnson
,
Senator
from Tennessee and military
Governor of Tennessee
who was elected Vice President in 1864 on a ticket with Lincoln and became President after Lincoln's assassination
- George Bancroft
, historian and presidential speech writer
[5]
- John Brough
,
Governor of Ohio
- Benjamin Butler
, Congressman from Massachusetts and Union General
- John Cochrane
, Congressman and general
- Reverdy Johnson
, Senator from Maryland
- John Alexander McClernand
, Union General from Illinois
- John Adams Dix
,
James Buchanan
's
Secretary of the Treasury
and Union General
- Stephen A. Douglas
, Senator from Illinois and Democratic Party's Northern candidate in the
presidential election of 1860
, who died a few weeks into the war
- Joseph Holt
, Buchanan's
Secretary of War
and Lincoln's
Judge Advocate General of the Army
- August Belmont
, Chair of the
Democratic National Committee
, 1860?1872
- Francis Kernan
, Congressman from New York
- Michael Crawford Kerr
, 32nd
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
from December 6, 1875, to August 19, 1876
- John A. Logan
, Congressman from Illinois and Union General
- George B. McClellan
, railroad president, Union General and Democratic presidential nominee in 1864
- Joel Parker
,
Governor of New Jersey
- Edwards Pierrepont
, appointed in 1875 as
Attorney General
by President
Ulysses S. Grant
- William Rosecrans
, led the Union at
Chickamauga
and was asked to run with Lincoln as a War Democrat in 1864
- Daniel Sickles
, former New York Congressman who led
III Corps
at
Gettysburg
- David Tod
, Governor of Ohio
- Edwin M. Stanton
, Buchanan's Attorney General and Lincoln's Secretary of War who switched to the Republican Party in 1862
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Cowden, Joanna D. "The Politics of Dissent: Civil War Democrats in Connecticut".
New England Quarterly
(1983). 56#4. pp. 538?554.
in JSTOR
.
- Dell, Christopher (1975).
Lincoln and the War Democrats: The Grand Erosion of Conservative Tradition
. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
- Nevins, Allan (1959).
War for the Union
. 4 vol.
- Silbey, Joel H.
(1977).
A Respectable Minority: The Democratic Party in the Civil War Era, 1860?1868
.
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