Peter Cooper was very much against war. He was also against slavery. These positions were a result of his faith. When he lived on Long Island, in the early 1800s, Cooper attended the
Quaker meetings of Elias Hicks. While he went on to become a Unitarian Universalist, many of his ideas were shaped by early Quaker influence.
He integrated his anti-war and anti-slavery position with the following sensibility. The North should not interfere with the legal frameworks of the South to abolish slavery. Instead a strong North would act as an example for Southern states to follow in their own time.
Cooper wrote Republican Senator John Sherman, asking him to pacify the South. "Would it not be a great stroke of policy for the Republican Party to rise above all parties
and platforms?" Cooper suggested they "rely on the growth and strength of the North- And offer to secure to the South the right to take their slave property into any of the territory now owned by the United States."
Professor Paul Anderson of Clemson University points out that offering the North as a strong example could not have worked. "The fear of the growing strength and influence of the North, and the Republicans, is exactly what caused secession," he says.
Professor Paul Anderson of Clemson University points out that offering the North as a strong example could not have worked. "The fear of the growing strength and influence of the North, and the Republicans, is exactly what caused secession," he says.
