where there ppl living during civil war times and american revolutionary times that were apathetic about war?

Answer 1

Absolutely.

Ex Sarge is right about the Revolution. During the Civil War there were anti-draft riots in New York City.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/317749.html

There were anti-War Democrats during the Civil War too, they were called "Copperheads".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperheads_(politics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_American_Civil_War

In 1864 the Democrats ran General McClellan on an anti-war ticket. (McClellan had been fired by Lincoln because he was incredibly incompetent and had lost several battles to Lee.)

http://www.historic-lamott-pa.com/content/theelectionof1864/index.cfm

http://www.answers.com/topic/united-states-presidential-election-1864

In 1864 the Democratic Party was bitterly split between the War Democrats and the anti-war Copperheads. The compromise was to nominate pro-war General George B. McClellan along with an anti-war platform. McClellan defeated Horatio Seymour and others for the nomination; he and ticketmate George H. Pendleton were nominated on a peace platform—a platform McClellan personally rejected.

They would have won, except for two things. 1) Sherman took Atlanta just before the election, and that big victory helped people see that the Union was winning and the war was almost over and 2) something like 80% of the troops voted Republican.

There is always oppostion to war in a Democracy. Sometimes it is principled oppostion (Whig Congressman Abraham Lincoln contested the causes of the Mexican War in 1846). Sometimes it comes from people who just don't want to be involved (like the isolationists before WW2). Often it comes from people who are loosing money because of the war (like during the War of 1812) or are afraid of being drafted (like Vietnam).

Answer 2

During the revolutionary war, 1/3 of the people were for independence, 1/3 were for staying with Britain, and 1/3 were apathetic. It has been called our first civil war for this reason.
Not sure about the war between the states.

Answer 3

Yepper, there were apathetic persons and also nimby persons (not in my backyard) if the war wasnt nearby it didnt matter to them......rememebr too society was much more spread out and there was no tv or internet so news could take literally months to get to some streaches of the land

Answer 4

Absolutely. Many colonists during the Revolution did not want to abandon British rule, and many others tried to stay neutral in order to avoid offending whoever won. Same was true during the Civil War.

Chow!!

Answer 5

Heck yeah. I think only about a quarter of the American population even wanted to go to war with Britain.

Answer 6

The estimate is that about 30% of the people actually participated in the Revolution (that includes both fighters and leaders/founders); about 30% wanted to stay British; and about 40% didn't give a rat's bottom and just waited to see who would win.

My Gt.-Gt.-Gt.-Gt.-Grandfather, Corporal Samuel B------, says "you're welcome."

What are the polls saying is the proportion of Americans who want to win the GWOT before we pull out?

Answer 7

Yepperz!!

Answer 8

sadly there has always been people to afraid to the right thing when it was also the hard thing to do