“DR. EDITH E. WARE’S “Political Opinion in Massachusetts during Civil War and Reconstruction,” the latest number in the Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law (Longmans, Green; $1.75), will not, we fear, be altogether pleasant reading to those who like to think that Massachusetts has not only led other States in the clearness and strength of its public spirit, but has also been prevailingly on the right side of national issues. The failure of an influential minority to read the signs of the times, and to realize that the South would not hesitate to carry its threats into effect; the disposition to acquiesce in secession if the South really desired to withdraw; the strong support for compromise; the reluctant acceptance of emancipation as an issue; the strength of Copperheadism; the persistent criticism of Lincoln’s Administration, and the small constructive part that was played in the Civil War crisis by the literary group which made Boston famous, are incidents which, however overshadowed by the ultimate support for the Union cause, fill a considerable place in Miss Ware’s careful and scholarly narrative. The Union party in Massachusetts in 1860 fairly merited Henry L. Dawes’s characterization of it as ‘a class of simple-minded people who believe that the sun rises in Chelsea, comes up over State Street, hovers about the State House, and sinks in the waters of Back Bay’; and although, after war began, the spirit of patriotic acquiescence grew apace, Boston could nevertheless give McClellan an impressive reception in 1863. Happily, Miss Ware’s study brings out also the excellent work of Charles Eliot Norton and others, through the Loyal Publication Society, and the memorable activities of Governor Andrew. The lack of an index is only in part made good by an analytical table of contents.”

Reference Data:

The Nation, Vol. 105, Oct. 11, 1917, page 409