The Unconditional Union Party in Other Border States
Similar efforts to Blair's sprang up in other states south of the Mason-Dixon Line where the populations and political leaders were split in their loyalty to the Union. In Kentucky, the Unconditional Union Party emerged as a counter to the pro-secession views of several of the state's more outspoken leaders.
A similar movement was underway in Maryland, where its leaders also advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves in the state without compensation to the slave owners. With the help of the Federal government and its troops, Maryland's secessionist voices were stilled. The party was not formalized until the summer of 1863 when adherents worked to elect pro-Union candidates at the state and local level, particularly in Western Maryland. Because Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only applied to slaves in those states in rebellion, and did not include border states such as Maryland, the party shifted its emphasis to the question of freeing slaves locally. The Conservative Union State Central Committee, led by Thomas Swann and John P. Kennedy, met in Baltimore on December 16, 1863. It passed a resolution supporting immediate emancipation "in the manner easiest for master and slave." Supporters included the local military commander, Robert C. Schenck. When the Federal government failed to respond, the Unconditional Union policy held a second similar meeting on April 6, 1864, and again overwhelmingly supported immediate emancipation. General Schenk's replacement, Lew Wallace, supported the resolution.
Following the war, the radical wing of the Unconditional Union Party remained active in pushing its agenda of not allowing former slaves or former Confederates to vote. In their convention in Baltimore in 1866, the radicals pledged to the maintenance of the state constitution of 1864, "which expressly and emphatically prohibits both rebel suffrage and negro suffrage." Henry Winter Davis, a leading voice within the party's radicals, was elected to the 38th United States Congress as a candidate of the UCP.
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