Politics and Civil Liberties on the Union Home Front

Opposition to the American government’s wartime policies appeared before and during every armed conflict from the Revolution to the Middle Eastern episodes of the 1990s and early 2000s. ¹ In the Revolutionary War, Tories loyal to Britain engaged in vicious, often bloody, confrontations against supporters of the colonists’ revolution. In the War of 1812, New England Federalists strongly opposed the Madison Administration for its policies that had brought on the war, to the point where the dissenters threatened the secession of their states from the Union. In the years after the 1812 conflict, national political parties became increasingly important organizers and energizers of the nation’s political conflicts. These parties stressed different perspectives about the role of government and over the critical issues that were always present.