Whoa. History repeating itself?

Bartleyby.com lists this entry from the Columbia Encyclopedia for the term Copperheads, which I noticed in the Best of the Web for today:

in the American Civil War, a reproachful term for those Northerners sympathetic to the South, mostly Democrats outspoken in their opposition to the Lincoln administration. They were especially strong in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, where Clement L. Vallandigham was their leader. The Knights of the Golden Circle was a Copperhead secret society. The term was often applied indiscriminately to all Democrats who opposed the administration. It afforded an opportunity for impugning the loyalty of those who opposed Lincoln’s policies, either military or civil (e.g., the suspension of habeas corpus), and it was not until years after the Civil War that the Democratic party succeeded in living down the association.

Boldfacing mine; I don’t think the Democrats have lived it down. If they did, they’re reassociating themselves with the term again.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 at and is filed under Miscellaneous thoughts and hypertext minutia.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.