“With No Time To Wrangle and Quarrel Amongst Themselves” The Pennsylvania Democracy During the Civil War
Open Access
Author:
Campbell, Kristen Michelle
Area of Honors:
History
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Dr. William Alan Blair, Thesis Supervisor Dr. William Alan Blair, Thesis Supervisor Catherine Wanner, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Civil War US History Political Parties
Abstract:
This thesis examines the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania during the Civil War as a test
case for assessing the group’s ideals and influence on politics. Scholarship on the Democratic Party during war years typically has focused on the people known as the Copperheads, or Peace Democrats. Prior studies have considered this wing of the party to be a loyal opposition by
people with justifiable constitutional concerns, whose influence was often exaggerated by
Republicans for political reasons. More recent work on the anti-war movement argues that the
Peace Democrats were influential and that the anti-war movement was driven by opposition to
local issues. This thesis expands on these ideas. Unlike earlier studies, it finds that the
Democracy was more than a monolithic party that opposed the war, but a party deeply polarized
by different opinions on war and peace from 1860 through 1864. The Pennsylvania Democracy
was composed of both War and Peace Democrats, each inspired by larger political ideology on
civil liberties, the extent of federal power, and local issues. This thesis finds a party that
generated enough support and influence within state politics to send threatening signals to the
federal government by 1864. Ultimately, however, the party could not unite itself on a national
level, at least partly because it could not overcome its internal divisions and differences over policies.