Clement Vallandigham Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
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Shortly after moving to Dayton, Ohio to practice law, Vallandigham began his career as a politician. As a Democrat, He was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1845 and 1846 and served as editor of the pro-slavery newspaper, the Dayton Empire, a Democratic weekly, from 1847 until 1849. He was elected to Congress in 1856 and re-elected in 1858 and 1860. Once the Civil War began, however, the majority anti-slavery population of the Dayton area turned him out, and Vallandigham lost his bid for a fourth term in 1862.
As a die-hard confederate, he was a very strong supporter of states rights and slavery, and on May 1, 1863, in a speech at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Vallandigham stated that the Civil War was being fought not to save the Union but to free the blacks and enslave the whites.
On May 1, 1863, in Dayton he denounced "King Lincoln," calling for Abraham Lincoln's removal from the presidency. Four days later, he was arrested by Union soldiers stationed in Cincinnati on a charge of showing sympathy toward the enemy. Vallandigham was convicted of "uttering disloyal sentiments" and sentenced to banishment; he was taken to Tennessee.
Back in Dayton, Vallandigham's supporters attacked the offices of the Dayton Journal, the Republican rival to the Empire. The Journal 's offices and press were burned by the mob.
In Tennessee, the Confederate government declared him an "alien enemy" and Vallandigham had to flee to Canada, at which time he declared himself a candidate for Governor of Ohio. His platform included withdrawing Ohio (and any other northern state that would agree) from the Union if Lincoln refused to reconcile with the Conferderacy. He lost the 1863 gubernatorial election, but his activism had left Dayton bitterly divided between pro- and anti-slavery factions and left in its wake an atmosphere of racial tension.
He died by accidentally shooting himself with a firearm from evidence in a murder case he was working on.
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