Credit: Library of Congress
One of Pennsylvania’s most prominent Copperheads, George Woodward once remarked that "Negro slavery has been an incalculable blessing to us." Elected to the Pennsylvania supreme court in 1852, he ran for governor as a peace Democrat in 1863, favoring a compromise that would allow the South to return to the Union with slavery intact. Narrowly defeated by Republican James Curtin, Woodward served as chief justice of the state supreme court from 1863 to 1867 and as a Representative in Congress from 1867 to 1871.
