mwkaufman
10-03-2007, 10:32 AM
The Copperheads didn't choose their name. They thought of themselves as Peace Democrats or true conservatives committed to preserving the Constitution and preventing Lincoln from grabbing too much presidential power. The Democrats of the Civil War are much more closely related to the GOP than the modern Democratic party, for what it's worth.
When the CSA seceded, Lincoln attacked. He then suspended habeas corpus so he could jail dissenters like the Copperheads. Then he expanded federal power with a draft. He blamed the South, who just wanted peace, for the war and when the war went poorly, he made it a human rights issue. We were there to free the slaves... sure. Not to force a government upon the South they neither wanted nor needed.
Seems there are some pretty great analogies to the situation in Iraq and America today here.
When the CSA seceded, Lincoln attacked. He then suspended habeas corpus so he could jail dissenters like the Copperheads. Then he expanded federal power with a draft. He blamed the South, who just wanted peace, for the war and when the war went poorly, he made it a human rights issue. We were there to free the slaves... sure. Not to force a government upon the South they neither wanted nor needed.
Seems there are some pretty great analogies to the situation in Iraq and America today here.