Historian Kenneth Stampp has captured the Copperhead spirit in his depiction of Congressman Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana:
There was an earthy quality in Voorhees, "the tall sycamore of the Wabash." On the stump his hot temper, passionate partisanship, and stirring eloquence made an irresistible appeal to the western Democracy [i.e. the Democratic Party]. His bitter cries against protective tariffs and national banks, his intense race prejudice, his su ion of the eastern Yankee, his devotion to personal liberty, his defense of the Cons ution and State's rights faithfully reflected the views of his cons uents. Like other Jacksonian agrarians, he resented the political and economic revolution then in progress. Voorhees idealized a way of life which he thought was being destroyed by the current rulers of his country. His bold protests against these dangerous trends made him the idol of the Democracy of the Wabash Valley.[18]
hmmmmmmmmmm