William Marvel: Chronic McCarthyism

Now that the National Archives and Library of Congress have reopened, I’m picking up a project I was working on when everyone retreated into isolation. The topic seems as viable and relevant today as it did when I shelved my notes on it, two years ago, and I needn’t worry that it will go stale before it’s finished.

For half a century after the Civil War, it was still generally believed that the conflict had spawned a vast network of disloyal conspirators in the Northern states who were organizing for a violent uprising. That belief had some small foundation in fact. There actually were a few pipe-dreaming plotters who colluded with Confederate operatives on insurrection, but their schemes depended on legions of likeminded lunatics who did not exist. Most of the imagined collaborators were perfectly loyal Democrats who had joined the local lodges of secret societies, seeking political camaraderie and organizational cohesion in an era of intense polarization. Many of them opposed Abe Lincoln’s war, but the majority only opposed his methods. Men were jailed for voicing either sentiment in public, however; hence, the appeal of secret fraternities.