"Copperheads" Topic

"Copperheads, or Peace Democrats, opposed the Civil War because they believed it was unjustified and being waged in an unconstitutional manner. Moreover, they came to believe that the benefits of winning the war were not worth the cost. For several generations, historians adhered to the Republican view of Peace Democrats—that they were disloyal traitors both to the war effort and the Union itself. Beginning in the Vietnam era, historians began to reevaluate the "disloyalty" of the Democratic Party, pointing out that Democrats adhered to long-standing constitutional and economic positions, and that they had been in some cases illegally suppressed by the Lincoln administration. Several leading political historians came to the conclusion that the Democrats really were a loyal opposition. Recent scholarship has challenged this revisionist view asserting that, while Copperheads were loyal, they actively hampered the Union war effort and that Copperhead secret societies posed a real threat and danger to the Union. Current scholarship is splintered between those who view Copperheads as a loyal opposition and those who view them as a threat to the Union war effort…"

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Armand

The real answer to this, is "Yes. They were both."
But in all honesty, Old Abe didn't do himself any favors with his suppression of habeas corpus, imposing martial law, shutting down presses, suppressing the 1st Amendment and jailing editors that printed opinions and editorials against him and his administrations policies.

Thanks….

Armand