Philadelphia in The American Civil War - Before The War

Before The War

In antebellum days, Philadelphia, the United States' second-largest city, had strong economic ties with to the South. This fostered political sympathy; for example, political leaders in the city called for the repeal of laws that might be considered unfriendly to South. Meetings led to calls for Pennsylvania to decide which side the state was on in the case of Southern succession. Many blamed the abolitionist movement for the crisis and abolitionists in the city were harassed and threatened.

In the 1860 mayoral election the Democratic Party candidate John Robbins challenged People's Party candidate and incumbent mayor Alexander Henry. The People's Party in Pennsylvania was aligned with the national Republican Party, but downplayed the issue of slavery and made tariff protection their main issue in the state. During the election the Democrat's attacked Alexander Henry's moderate position on slavery as virtual abolitionism. Alexander Henry was reelected, but vote tampering was alleged. In the election for governor Philadelphia gave Democrats 51 percent of the vote and in the U.S. presidential election Republican Abraham Lincoln won 52 percent of the city's vote.