Above: two political cartoons with the Copperheads depicted in snake form. On the left, a Union solider is confronted by the Copperheads. The caption reads: "A soldier came back from the war, with many an honorable scar. But the Copperheads cried, "Served you right if you'd died in this curst, Abolitionist war!" On the right, the snakes are now confronting Lady Liberty, who represents peace throughout the Union. However, the caption reads that the "Copperhead party" is "in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the peace."
Who were the Copperheads?
You’ve most likely learned about the Civil War before: a violent battle between the Union and the Confederacy, which both fought over slavery after many states in the South attempted to secede from the United States. However, many historians often overlook another dangerous, venomous, deadly enemy of the Union, aside from the Confederacy: a group of Northerners called the Copperheads.
No, these guys weren’t actually reptiles, but Republicans named them after the poisonous Northern Copperhead snakes in an allusion to their sneakiness and dangerousness. Eventually, the Copperheads themselves embraced their nickname. They didn't compare themselves to snakes, but instead to copper pennies engraved with Lady Liberty’s face, because they too were fighting for freedom: not from slavery, but from war. The Copperheads' goal was to end the Civil War in any way possible.
So if they just wanted the war to end, why did Republicans (who were in favor of Abraham Lincoln's war effort, and wanted the war to end too) view them as being so toxic? Although they dwelled in the North, Copperheads didn’t support President Abraham Lincoln’s views on the Civil War like the Republicans did. No, these so-called “Peace Democrats” (members of Republican Lincoln’s opposing political party) were willing to put an end to the war through various means—including embracing slavery, and even encouraging the Union to let the Confederacy keep slavery if it meant "peace."
But despite slavery being an immoral and unjust practice, the Copperheads weren’t exactly wrong. The Civil War resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties—anywhere from 600,000 to 750,000, according to historians—which made it the deadliest war in the history of the United States. Copperheads believed that freeing the slaves was a terrible and unacceptable reason for all of this violence, and that abolition was not worth death. In addition, the Copperheads believed that abolition violated the text of the Constitution. "Our fathers had founded a government expressly upon the compatibility and harmony of a union of States 'part slave and 'part free,'" said Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham in an 1860 speech. By promoting the liberation of slaves, Vallandigham claimed that the Republicans "laid the axe at the very root of the union."
So that leaves a lot left up for interpretation. Were the Copperheads really bad? Or was their cause justified? Although it’s easy to just say “yes, they were against freeing the slaves, so they were immoral and racist,” the truth is that there’s no single answer to that question.
No, these guys weren’t actually reptiles, but Republicans named them after the poisonous Northern Copperhead snakes in an allusion to their sneakiness and dangerousness. Eventually, the Copperheads themselves embraced their nickname. They didn't compare themselves to snakes, but instead to copper pennies engraved with Lady Liberty’s face, because they too were fighting for freedom: not from slavery, but from war. The Copperheads' goal was to end the Civil War in any way possible.
So if they just wanted the war to end, why did Republicans (who were in favor of Abraham Lincoln's war effort, and wanted the war to end too) view them as being so toxic? Although they dwelled in the North, Copperheads didn’t support President Abraham Lincoln’s views on the Civil War like the Republicans did. No, these so-called “Peace Democrats” (members of Republican Lincoln’s opposing political party) were willing to put an end to the war through various means—including embracing slavery, and even encouraging the Union to let the Confederacy keep slavery if it meant "peace."
But despite slavery being an immoral and unjust practice, the Copperheads weren’t exactly wrong. The Civil War resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties—anywhere from 600,000 to 750,000, according to historians—which made it the deadliest war in the history of the United States. Copperheads believed that freeing the slaves was a terrible and unacceptable reason for all of this violence, and that abolition was not worth death. In addition, the Copperheads believed that abolition violated the text of the Constitution. "Our fathers had founded a government expressly upon the compatibility and harmony of a union of States 'part slave and 'part free,'" said Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham in an 1860 speech. By promoting the liberation of slaves, Vallandigham claimed that the Republicans "laid the axe at the very root of the union."
So that leaves a lot left up for interpretation. Were the Copperheads really bad? Or was their cause justified? Although it’s easy to just say “yes, they were against freeing the slaves, so they were immoral and racist,” the truth is that there’s no single answer to that question.