The South was probably far more repressive of civil liberties than the North for whites -- and for blacks of course much more so. But, civil liberties had never been a high priority in the South, as the work of Clement Eaton (Freedom of Thought in the Old South) demonstrated. There was not real free speech or free press in the South before the War. Also, beyond government repression, in parts of the South there was significant vigilante violence against Unionists, many of whom were murdered, lynched, amd attacked, with local and Confederate governments doing nothing to stop this kind of violence. As far as I know, no copperheads were lynched or killed in the North and the only violence was perpetrated BY copperheads and others who opposed the war in the draft riots.
----
Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208
518-445-3386 (p)
518-445-3363 (f)
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www.paulfinkelman.com
--- On Thu, 4/16/09, Brent (LVA) Tarter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Brent (LVA) Tarter <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [VA-HIST] Civil Liberties in the Civil War
To: "Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history" <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 4:42 PM
Abraham Lincoln receives (and ever since 1861 has received) quite a bit
of criticism for his restrictions on civil liberties during the American
Civil War. Jefferson Davis receives (and has received) quite a bit less
criticism, but there is important scholarship that demonstrates that the
Confederate government was also pretty severe in its treatment of
dissenting civilians, more so, perhaps, than the United States
government. I strongly recommend Mark E. Neely, Southern Rights:
Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism (1999)
and William W. Freehling, The South vs. the South: How Anti-Confederate
Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War (2001).
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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<blocked::mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov <blocked::http://www.lva.virginia.gov/>
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