Union League

Union League of Philadelphia, established 1862.
Union League Club of New York, established 1863.

The Union Leagues were a group of men's clubs established during the American Civil War to promote loyalty to the Union, the Republican Party, and the policies of Abraham Lincoln. They were also known as Loyal Leagues. They were composed of upper middle class members who provided financial support for organizations such as the United States Sanitary Commission, which provided medical supplies to treat soldiers wounded in battle. The clubs supported the Republican Party with funding, organizational support, and activism.

The Union League of Philadelphia, established in 1862, was the first to be formed, and still exists, as do the Union League Clubs of New York and Chicago. Membership in the league is selective, and is comparable in social status to membership in a country club. Union League buildings often serve as private social clubs.

South

During Reconstruction, Union Leagues were formed across the South after 1867 as working auxiliaries of the Republican Party, financed entirely by Northern interests. They were secret organizations that mobilized freedmen to register to vote and to vote Republican. They taught freedmen Union views on political issues and which way to vote on them, and promoted civic projects. Eric Foner reports:

By the end of 1867 it seemed that virtually every black voter in the South had enrolled in the Union League, the Loyal League, or some equivalent local political organization. Meetings were generally held in a black church or school.[1]

The Ku Klux Klan was a secret organization of whites that terrorized and sometimes assassinated Union League leadership.[2][3]

Postwar

After the Civil War, members of the Union League Club of New York helped to found the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[4] and to build the Statue of Liberty's pedestal[5] and Grant's Tomb. The building of the former Union League Club of Brooklyn now serves as a senior citizens' home,[6] while the home of the former Union League Club of New Haven is used as a restaurant.[7]

The Union League Civic and Arts Foundation[8] 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.

Famous historical members of the League include Cyrus McCormick, Robert Todd Lincoln, Daniel Burnham, William D. Boyce,[9] and Charles D. Barney.[10]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Eric Foner, "Black Reconstruction Leaders at the Grass Roots" in Leon F. Litwack and August Meier, eds. (1991). Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century. p. 221.
  2. ↑ Mitchell Snay (2010). Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction. LSU Press. p. 61.
  3. ↑ Steven Hahn, A nation under our feet: Black political struggles in the rural South, from slavery to the great migration (2003). pp 165-205
  4. ↑ John K. Howat, "Founding friends - of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York", The Magazine Antiques, January 2000 issue.
  5. ↑ National Park Service Statue of Liberty website Archived August 31, 2006, at the Wayback Machine..
  6. ↑ "Landmark Architecture of Crown Heights North", Gothamist, July 20, 2006.
  7. ↑ Union League Cafe website Archived February 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ Union League Civic and Arts Foundation
  9. ↑ Petterchak 2003, p. 11
  10. ↑ Union League of Philadelphia. The League, 1909

Bibliography

the most detailed study, full text online at the Gutenberg Project at link above
Primary sources
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