Who were the Copperheads during the Civil War?

The Copperheads were the name given to a

political faction in opposition to the Civil War. Civil War historians also refer to the
group
as the Peace Democrats. Unlike modern-day pacifists, their opposition
was not on moral grounds,
but instead, they believed the war to be
unconstitutional. Copperheads also thought the
consequences of the war were
too great of a cost to bear. Fearing freed slaves would move to the
North;
many of the Copperheads were opposed to the emancipation of the slaves. Some
scholars
believe their opposition stemmed from many of the members being
related to southerners or having
economic ties to the South and they did not
want their economic interests to be disrupted by
war. The members supported
the reconciliation of the South through negotiations in avoidance of
civil
war.

Until recently, some historians characterized the Copperheads
as
traitors to the cause of the Union. There is some debate whether the
efforts by Copperheads to
disrupt the war was disloyalty to the Union or only
an expression of their political opposition
to the war. The majority of known
Copperhead members belonged to the Democratic Party at the
time. From the
historical research, it appears most of the membership was located in the

Midwest. These were border states, and the issue of slavery was hotly contested and as
of that
time, not a foregone conclusion whether states could accept or
reject
slavery.

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