Persistent Whiggery in the Confederate South, 1860-1877

Abstract

I T IS OFTEN STATED THAT THE WHIG PARTY IN THE UNITED States disintegrated during the 1850's in all parts of the country, including 'the eleven states that were to comprise the Confederacy. Students of 'the South's political history are not unaware that the Constitutional Union party of 1860 was substantially a continuation of the party of the South; but the rare mention of the term Whig in studies of the section after 1860 would seem to imply that the party disappeared with the firing of the first gun at Fort Sumter, and that its leaders promptly forgot that they had ever venerated Henry Clay or villified their Democratic opponents. On the contrary, influence continued to exist within the Confederacy and to oppose Democrats behind a facade of wartime solidarity.' Furthermore, after 'the war many southern leaders remained keenly conscious of their former party affiliation, partial to fellow Whigs in political contests, and hostile to the Democratic party. Indications abound that this persistence of loyalty was an important influence in the South and must be properly assessed before an adequate understanding can be gained of Civil War and Reconstruction politics.2