Scope and Contents:
This collection contains a printed letter that was signed in ink by Clement L. Vallandigham and a photograph of Clement L. Vallandigham. The letter, written in May of 1861, expressed Vallandigham’s disapproval of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s administration.
Clement Laird Vallandigham was a lawyer and Ohio Congressman who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1858 until 1863. Vallandigham was a leading member of the Copperheads, a faction of Democrats in the Union who opposed the Civil War. He was arrested for his anti-War speeches and banished to the Confederacy. Vallandigham then went to Canada where he unsuccessfully campaigned for Ohio’s governorship in absentia. Following the war, Vallandigham resumed his law practice. He died in 1871 from an accidental gunshot wound.
This collection contains a photograph of Clement L. Vallandigham as well as a printed letter that he signed. This letter expressed Vallandigham’s strong opposition to the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s administration. Vallandigham believed that the inauguration of the war was an act of military despotism, and that Lincoln was placing too much power in the hands of the Executive. Vallandigham asked the receiver of his letter, A. McGreggor, to speak out against the dangers of the Civil War.
This collection was purchased by the Library in 2024 with support from the Dr. Harlan Horner Estate.
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