The right book at the right time
During the middle of the Civil War, Democrats (aka the party of slavery), began turning up the heat on President Lincoln to make peace and end the civil war. The cut and run mentality of the Democrats was their primary point in the 1864 election.
In the run up to the election, it looked as if the Republicans would be defeated and the Democrats would be able to execute on their cut and run strategy. We can admire the consistency in Democrats, if something is hard to do, then it's something we should run away from. But luckily for all of us, the Democrats were defeated.
This week, a new book which I am linking to below talks about the copperheads. Today's modern copperheads have a lot in common.
From the description...
Now, Jennifer L. Weber offers the first full-length portrait of this powerful faction to appear in almost half a century. Weber reveals how the Copperheads came perilously close to defeating Lincoln and ending the war in the South's favor. Indeed, by the summer of 1864, they had grown so strong that Lincoln himself thought his defeat was "exceedingly likely."
Passionate defenders of civil liberties and states' rights--and often virulent racists--the Copperheads deplored Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, his liberal interpretation of the Constitution, and, most vehemently, his moves toward emancipation. Weber reveals how the battle over these issues grew so heated, particularly in the Midwest, that Northerners feared their neighbors would destroy their livestock, burn their homes, even kill them. Indeed, some Copperheads went so far as to conspire with Confederate forces and plan armed insurrections, including an attempt to launch an uprising during the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Finally, Weber illuminates the role of Union soldiers, who, furious at Copperhead attacks on the war effort, moved firmly behind Lincoln. The soldiers' support for the embattled president kept him alive politically in his darkest times, and their victories on the battlefield secured his re-election.