Soldiers of Peace: Civil War Pacifism and the Postwar Radical Peace Movement

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Historians have tended to dismiss pacifism and the peace movement of the Civil War era, arguing that most Americans believed in the war as an answer to the crisis of secession. This book offers a new perspective on the role played by pacifism during and after the Civil War. Thomas Curran focuses on the "perfectionist pacifists, " a group of northerners whose views on Christian obligation forced them to take an extreme pacifist stance during the War. Curran tracks this opposition into the postwar years, when the perfectionists created the Universal Peace Union (UPU), America's most radical peace organization of the late nineteenth century. The UPU became involved in a range of social and political causes, including Reconstruction, Native American rights, labor relations, and women's rights. Through the UPU the perfectionist sought to reform all aspects of society to their understanding of the laws of God--a continuation of the optimistic perfectionism found in the reform movements of the antebellum era. Although the UPU had successes during its forty-seven years of operation, it ultimately failed to achieve its idealistic agenda. In Curran's fresh, insightful account, this story shines light on the limitations, often self-imposed, that many reform groups face in achieving their goals.