Union League
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A Union League is one of a number of organizations established 1863-64 during the American Civil War to promote loyalty to the Union side and the policies of Abraham Lincoln. They were also known as Loyal Leagues. They comprised upper middle class men who supported the United States Sanitary Commission which helped treat wounded soldiers after the battle had ended. The Clubs also supported the Republican party, with funding, organizational support, and political activism. Many of these organizations survive to this day. Membership in the League is selective, and is comparable in social status to membership in a country club albeit with a generally urban location and minus the golf . Union League buildings often serve as venues for lavish social events.
During Reconstruction, Union Leagues were formed all across the South after 1867 as working auxiliaries of the Republican party. They mobilized freedmen to register to vote and to vote Republican. They discussed political issues, promoted civic projects, and mobilized workers opposed to certain white employers. Most branches were segregated but there were a few that were racially integrated. The leaders of the all-black units were mostly urban Blacks from the North, who had never been slaves. Foner (p 283) says "virtually every Black voter in the South had enrolled." Black League members were special targets of the Ku Klux Klan's violence and intimidation, so the Leagues organized informal armed defense units.
After the Civil War, the Union League Club of New York founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art, [1] built the Statue of Liberty's pedestal[2] and built Grant's Tomb. The Union League of Philadelphia stills exists as do the Union League Clubs of New York and Chicago. The former Union League Club of Brooklyn now serves as a senior citizen's home[3], while the former Union League Club of New Haven is used as a restaurant.
The Union League Civic and Arts Foundation was established in 1949 as a public, not-for-profit charitable and educational organization. The Foundation's mission is one of community enrichment; it is funded largely by contributions from members of the Union League Club of Chicago.
[edit] References
- ^ John K. Howat, "Founding friends - of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York," The Magazine Antiques January 2000 issue.
- ^ National Park Service Statue of Liberty website.
- ^ "Landmark Architecture of Crown Heights North," Gothamist, July 20, 2006.
- Michael W. Fitzgerald, The Union League Movement in the Deep South: Politics and Agricultural Change During Reconstruction (1989).
- Walter L. Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama" (1905), pp 553-59.
- Eric Foner. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988) pp 283-86
- Melinda Lawson; "The Civil War Union Leagues and the Construction of a New National Patriotism" Civil War History Volume: 48. Issue: 4. 2002. pp 338+.
- Melinda Lawson; Patriot Fires: Forging a New American Nationalism in the Civil War North (2002).
- Clement M. Silvestro. Rally Round the Flag: The Union Leagues in the Civil War (1966).
[edit] Primary sources
- Fleming, Walter L. ed. Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, and Industrial (1906). vol 2 pp 1-29.
- Loyal National League of the State of New York, Opinions of Prominent Men Concerning the Great Questions of the Times Expressed in Their... (1863). The complete book is online at [1]
