Connecticut Copperhead Constitutionalism
Matthew Warshauer examines the Democratic Peace Movement in Connecticut to explain partisan perspectives on national loyalty. Warshauer argues that the state’s anti-war Democrats consistently stressed the importance of the Constitution, rather than the Declaration of Independence, as the litmus test of loyal citizenship. This ideology of Constitutionalism, emphasizing the power of the states and the limits of federal authority, was the core component of their vocal opposition to emancipation, conscription, and other wartime Republican measures. In studying their ideology, Warshauer also speaks to other important themes, including the development of the anti-war movement outside of the Midwest, the debate over alleged Democratic secret societies, Republican rhetoric of Democratic treason, and the vital political connections between the home front and battlefield.