Snakes, Coins, & Liberty

There is an old term for Northern Democrats (which besides having the same name was really a different animal from the modern party ) who were sympathetic to the South during the war for Southern Independence. I like to apply it to the more honest Northerners and any other “non-Southern” Confederate sympathizers.

The designation?  Copperheads.

A term of derision, originated by the radical Republicans, turned into a badge of honor for these Democrats, despite the intentions of their detractors. The inference, metaphorically equating them to a common poisonous snake, was no doubt intended to both denigrate their character and undermine their arguments for peace with the South. The slanderous title attempted to reduce their passive defense of secession & self determination to venomous vitriol.

These lovers of peace (with both the wisdom of a serpent & the harmlessness of a dove) ingeniously countered by embracing the descriptive, but substituted the object of it’s comparison for one of their own choosing. Instead of the indigenous viper they opted to identify with the copper head of “Lady Liberty”  adorning  Confederate pennies. They even went so far as to cut her bust from the coin and wear it on their lapels, proudly displaying their “copper head” status.

Oddity of oddities, Abraham Lincoln, himself a subtle menace to the cause of liberty, became a “copper head” (see the obverse of the modern penny). But then, we knew it all along.

Deo Vindice