October 18, 1864---Some of Our Forefathers Brought Forth a Nation Dedicated to the Proposition That Not All Men are Created Equal

OCTOBER 18, 1864:                  

Defiant Copperheads, disgusted by the McClellan candidacy, call into existence the “Cincinnati Convention For The Organization of a Peace Party, upon State-Rights, Jeffersonian, Democratic Principles, and For the Promotion of Peace and Independent Nominations for President and Vice-President of the United States.” 

The delegates adopt the Kentucky Resolution of 1799 (written by Thomas Jefferson), which endorses the concept of Nullification. 

 

Despite its lengthy name and its windy writings, the Peace Party makes no headway. It is too close to the election to mount a viable third party challenge, and the trajectory of the war brings the Peace Party to a quick but not undeserved end. 

The Cincinnati Convention lives on in that it lays the foundation for the Dixiecrat Party of 1948 headed by Senator Strom Thurmond.