Unconditional Union Party | |
|---|---|
| Other name | Radical Union Party(Missouri) |
| Leader | B. Gratz Brown Henry Winter Davis |
| Founded | 1863; 162 years ago (1863) |
| Dissolved | 1867; 158 years ago (1867) |
| Split from | Union Party |
| Merged into | Republican Party |
| Ideology | Unconditional Unionism Abolitionism Radical Reconstruction |
| National affiliation | Radical Republicans |
TheUnconditional Union Party was aunionistpolitical party in theUnited States during theAmerican Civil War. It was a regional counterpart to theNational Union Party that supported the wartimeadministration of Abraham Lincoln.[1] The party was active in theborder states andUnion-occupied areas of theConfederacy. After the war, it formed the nucleus of theRepublican Party in theUpper South.[2]
Following thecommencement of hostilities in April 1861,Unionists won critical elections inKentucky andMaryland ahead of theJuly 4 emergency session of Congress and established provisional governments inMissouri and thewestern counties of Virginia.[3]Emancipation and the enlistment ofBlack soldiers split the Unionist movement, with Radicals embracing calls for the immediate abolition of slavery in response to wartime exigencies. Factional strife culminated in a formal schism between the Conservative Unionists and the Radicals, who called themselves the Unconditional Union Party to signify their uncompromising support for the war effort.[4]
Nationally, Unconditional Unionists aligned themselves with theRadical Republicans in calling for the immediateabolition of slavery in the United States, the enlistment of Black soldiers to fight in theUnion Army, and the aggressive prosecution of the war.[5] They frequently clashed with the Lincoln administration and Conservative Unionists in their own states over issues related to emancipation, military appointments and strategy, and the looming issue ofReconstruction. Some Radicals favored running a candidate against Lincoln in the1864 United States presidential election, but most eventually supported Lincoln's re-election on the National Union ticket.[6] After the war, the party continued to operate as a regional counterpart to the Republican Party. Circumstances emerging from Reconstruction, particularly the introduction ofBlack suffrage, led state parties to adopt the Republican label in the late 1860s, although in Missouri the Republican organization continued to call itself the Radical Union Party as late as 1870.[7]