Clement Vallandigham
Clement Vallandigham was born in 1820 in Ohio. He was educated by his father, who was a Presbyterian minister. He attended several schools and universities before starting a career in law in 1842. Vallandigham joined the Ohio legislature as a representative from Columbiana County in 1845. He only served one term before moving to Dayton to work as the editor of a newspaper that supported the Democratic Party. He remained in fairly low level politics until 1851 when he was ran for Ohio Lieutenant Governor. He lost, but this was his first step in participating in higher politics. After losing the elections for the Ohio House of Representatives in 1852 and 1854, Vallandigham finally won in 1856. In the years prior to the Civil War, Clement Vallandigham became one of Lincoln's most outspoken critics who strongly opposed the war. After the issue of General Order No. 38 in Ohio, which violated the First Amendment in the eyes of many, Vallandigham organized rallies to oppose it. As a result, he was charged with sympathizing with the enemy because he opposed the war. He was deported to the Confederate States, where he offered himself up as a prisoner of war. There he proposed the idea of forming a Northwestern Confederacy that would consist of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.
"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them."
-Clement Vallandigham
"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them."
-Clement Vallandigham