John Bell

Tennessee state legislator and U.S. congressman John Bell (1797-1869) headed the moderate Constitutional Union Party during the 1860 presidential election, which helped spark the Civil War after the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln. Formerly a member of the defunct Whig Party, Bell was supported by many Alabama Unionists and opposed secession. After the start of the war, however, he joined the Confederate cause.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

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