
The Union Leagues were quasi-secretive men's clubs established separately, starting in 1862, and continuing throughout the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
(1861–1865). The oldest Union League of America council member, an organization originally called "The League of Union Men", was formed in June 1862 in
Pekin, Illinois
Pekin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Peoria metropolitan area ...
. Four months later, on November 22, 1862, the
Union League of Philadelphia, the first of the elite eastern Leagues and the second-oldest ULA council member, was established (and is still active today, as are the Union League Clubs of
New York and
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
).
The Union Leagues were established to promote loyalty to the
Union of the
United States of America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...
, to support the policies of newly elected 16th President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
(1809–1865, served 1861–1865) and to assure his reelection in 1864, and to combat what they believed to be the treasonous words and actions of anti-war, anti-black
"Copperhead" Democrats. Though initially nonpartisan, by the election year of 1864 they were in open alliance with the
Republican Party, supporting the reelection of Abraham Lincoln, but were also supportive of pro-Union Democrats.
The largest and best known of these clubs formed in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, were composed of prosperous men who raised money for war-related service organizations such as the
United States Sanitary Commission
The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private Aid agency, relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the Ameri ...
, which provided medical care to treat Federal soldiers wounded in battle at a time when the military was ill-prepared for the scale of need.
At the same time as these elite clubs were formed, Union Leagues sprang-up throughout the rest of the North, created primarily by working-class men, while women's organizations known as Ladies Union Leagues appeared in towns across the North. In the spring of 1863 these separate, though (mostly) philosophically aligned groups, were organized under the Union League of America (ULA), headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Postwar
During the
Reconstruction era
The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
, Union Leagues were formed across the South after 1867 as working auxiliaries of the Republican Party, supported entirely by Northern interests. They were secret organizations that mobilized
freedmen to register to vote and to vote Republican. They taught freedmen Union views on political issues and which way to vote on them, and promoted civic projects.
Eric Foner
Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstr ...
reports:
By the end of 1867 it seemed that virtually every black voter in the South had enrolled in the Union League, the Loyal League, or some equivalent local political organization. Meetings were generally held in a black church or school.
The
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
; a secret society of
white supremacists which opposed civil rights and terrorized black voters, sometimes assassinated leaders of the Union Leagues.
The Union Leagues still do support the Republican Party despite the changes in party ideology over the years. In 2023, there was a controversy in the New York City Union League about whether to put a picture of Donald Trump on the wall of their Union Hall; the NYC Union League had a picture of every previous Republican president. The pro-Trump and anti-Trump Republicans in the NYC Union League ultimately compromised by putting up a picture of Trump that was hidden behind a couch. Many Union Leagues preferred other candidates such as
Ron DeSantis
Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...
to Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries. The Philadelphia Union League bestowed their highest honor on DeSantis, which caused a small protest by NAACP members and other civil rights supporters outside of the Union League building.
Philanthropic endeavors

After the Civil War, members of the
Union League Club of New York broadened their support of other philanthropic purposes. For instance, they helped to found the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, and funded construction of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...
's pedestal and
Grant's Tomb.
Some former Union League buildings have been adapted for other uses. In Brooklyn, New York, the former Union League Club building now serves as a senior citizens' home. The former Union League building in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
, built on the site of founding father,
Roger Sherman's home is now a restaurant. In 1949, members of the
Union League Club of Chicago raised contributions to found the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation as a public,
not-for-profit
A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives.
While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...
charitable, educational organization, whose mission is community enrichment.
Union League Civic and Arts Foundation
/ref>
See also
* Union League of Philadelphia
* Union League Club of Chicago
* Union League Club of New York
* Union League of America Hall
* Union League Golf and Country Club
* List of American gentlemen's clubs
References
Notes
Further reading
* Bahde, Thomas. " 'Our Cause Is a Common One': Home Guards, Union Leagues, and Republican Citizenship in Illinois, 1861–1863." ''Civil War History'' 56.1 (2010): 66–98
online
* Fitzgerald, Michael W. ''The Union League Movement in the Deep South: Politics and Agricultural Change During Reconstruction'' (Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
online
* Fleming, Walter L. (1905
New York: Macmillan, pp 553–59
* Foner, Eric (1988) '' Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877''
* Gibson, Guy James. “Lincoln's League: the Union League movement during the Civil War" (PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1957. 00252270.
* Lawson, Melinda (2002) "The Civil War Union Leagues and the Construction of a New National Patriotism", ''Civil War History'' 48#4 pp. 338+.
* Lawson, Melinda. ''Patriot Fires: Forging a New American Nationalism in the Civil War North''((University Press of Kansas, 2002)
* Owens, Susie Lee, “The Union League of America: political activities in Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Virginia, 1865–1870” (PhD dissertation, New York University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1943. 7318079).
* Silvestro, Clement M. ''Rally Round the Flag: The Union Leagues in the Civil War'' (Historical Society of Michigan, 1966).
* Taylor, Paul (2018) ''"The Most Complete Political Machine Ever Known": The North's Union Leagues in the American Civil War.'' Kent, Oh.: Kent State Univ. Press.
* Tremel, Andrew T. (Winter 2013) "The Union League, Black Leaders, and the Recruitment of Philadelphia's African American Civil War Regiments," ''Pennsylvania History,'' 80#1, pp. 13–36.
online
Primary sources
* Fleming, Walter L. (ed.) (1906) ''Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, and Industrial'' vol 2 pp 1–29.
* Loyal National League of the State of New York (1863
''The Great Questions of the Times: The Great Mass Meeting of the League and Other Loyalists at Union Square, New York''
External links
The Union League of Philadelphia
The Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of Chicago
{{American Civil War
1879 establishments in the United States
Clubs and societies in the United States
New York (state) in the American Civil War
Working-class culture in the United States