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Popular opposition to the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, was widespread. Although there had been many attempts at compromise prior to the outbreak of war, there were those who felt it could still be ended peacefully or did not believe it should have occurred in the first place. Opposition took the form of both those in the North who believed the South should be allowed to secede and those in the South who either did not agree with secession or opposed the Confederate States of America.
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Northern opposition
The main opposition came from Copperheads in the Midwest. Irish Catholics after 1862 opposed the war, and rioted in the New York Draft Riots of 1863. Some German Americans were also opposed. The Democratic Party was deeply split. In 1861 most Democrats supported the war, but with the growth of the Copperhead movement, the party increasingly split down the middle. It nominated George McClellan a War Democrat in 1864 but gave him an anti-war platform. In terms of Congress the opposition was nearly powerless--and indeed in most states. In Indiana and Illinois pro-war governors circumvented anti-war legislatures elected in 1862. For 30 years after the war the Democrats carried the burden of having opposed the martyred Lincoln, the salvation of the Union and the destruction of slavery. Finally in 1898 the Democrats recovered by strongly demanding war with Spain.
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Southern opposition
Massive opposition existed in the South. Half of the border states refused to join the Confederacy in the first place, and a bloody internal civil war raged in Kentucky, Missouri, and Indian Territory. Many Confederate governors fought against the central government in Richmond. As prospects for victory faded after 1863, desertion became common, and was supported by the families and communities of the deserters. The Confederate government arrested thousands of dissenters. Lynch parties in Texas executed scores of suspected disloyals without trial.
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Appalachia
Appalachia was the center of strong opposition to the Civil War. Many areas controlled by Confederates (such as East Tennessee) contained pro-Union strongholds, and vice versa for areas controlled by the Union (such as eastern Kentucky). This fact led the Appalachian part of Virginia to split off from Confederate Virginia and become the Union state of West Virginia.
As Fisher (2001) explains:
"A constant in Civil War Appalachia was the prevalence of partisan violence. Throughout this region, loyalists, secessionists, deserters, and men with little loyalty to either side formed organized bands, fought each other as well as occupying troops, terrorized the population, and spread fear, chaos, and destruction. Military forces stationed in the Appalachian regions, whether regular troops or home guards, frequently resorted to extreme methods, including executing partisans summarily, destroying the homes of suspected bushwhackers, and torturing families to gain information. This epidemic of violence created a widespread sense of insecurity, forced hundreds of residents to flee, and contributed to the region's economic distress, demoralization, and division."
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See also
Gangs of New York, a 2002 fictional movie set during the New York Draft Riots of 1863
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North
William Dusinberre. Civil War Issues in Philadelphia, 1856-1865 (1965)
Arnold Shankman. The Anti-War Movement in Pennsylvania, 1861-1865 (1980).
Barnet Schecter. The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America (2005)
G. R. Tredway. Democratic Opposition to the Lincoln Administration in Indiana (1973). hostile to Lincoln
Hubert H. Wubben. Civil War Iowa and the Copperhead Movement (1980) finds a fragmented Democratic opposition had few disloyal or outright traitorous elements.
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South
Ambrose Stephen E. "Yeoman Discontent in the Confederacy." Civil War History 8 (1962): 259-268. in JSTOR
Auman William T. "Neighbor against Neighbor: The Inner Civil War in the Randolph County Area of Confederate North Carolina." North Carolina Historical Review 61 (1984): 59-92.
Coulter, E. Merton. The Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 Louisiana State University Press, 1950.
Coulter, E. Merton. William G. Brownlow, Fighting Parson of the Southern Highlands University of North Carolina Press, 1937. Tennessee
Faust Drew Gilpin. The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1988.
Noel Fisher, "Feelin' Mighty Southern: Recent Scholarship on Southern Appalachia in the Civil War" in Civil War History. Volume: 47. Issue: 4. 2001. pp 334+. in JSTOR
Fleming Walter L. Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama Columbia University Press, 1905.
Hahn Steven. The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 Oxford University Press, 1983.
Kimball William J. "The Bread Riot in Richmond, 1863." Civil War History 7 (1961): 149-154. in JSTOR
Kruman Marc W. "Dissent in the Confederacy: The North Carolina Experience." Civil War History 27 ( 1981): 293-313.
Kruman Marc W. Parties and Politics in North Carolina, 1836-1865 Louisiana State University Press, 1983
Lonn Ella. Desertion during the Civil War 1928.
McKitrick Eric L. "Party Politics and the Union and Confederate War Efforts." In The American Party Systems . Edited by William Nisbet Chambers and Walter Dean Burnham . Oxford University Press, 1967.
McMillan Malcolm C. The Disintegration of a Confederate State: Three Governors and Alabama's Wartime Home Front, 1861-1865 Mercer University Press, 1986.
Owsley Frank Lawrence. State Rights in the Confederacy University of Chicago Press, 1925.
Rable George C. The Confederate Republic: A Revolution against Politics University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
Ramsdell Charles W. Behind the Lines in the Southern Confederacy Louisiana State University Press, 1944.
Anne S. Rubin. A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868 (2005)
Shanks Henry T. "Disloyalty to the Confederacy in Southwestern Virginia, 1861-1865." North Carolina Historical Review 21 (1944): 118-135.
Tatum Georgia L. Disloyalty in the Confederacy University of North Carolina Press, 1934; reprint 2000
Jon L. Wakelyn. Confederates Against the Confederacy: Essays on Leadership and Loyalty (2002)
Yearns Wilfred Buck, ed. The Confederate Governors, University of Georgia Press, 1985.
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