Hj brother aM I got into the Demoeratie 

 Party. We had a little limch club, I remembert 

 of vlileh I was the treasurer* It was an odd 

 Mixture or Democrats. Some of them were liberals, 

 some of them very conservative. One of the 

 conservatives, one of the old aristocrats, was a 

 Demoerat because an uncouth upstart named Lincoln 

 had COBM into the national picture with the 

 Hepublican Party and ruined the country. 



§ilbl Considering yoin* abolitionist background, it was 

 a little odd that you went into the Democratic 

 Party. 



Coggins: I was bom a Hepublican. My father was Republican. 

 It took him quite awhile to get arer it because at 

 first it had been a new and improved party. His 

 uncle had been one of its founders. 



Oilb: By your time it distinctly was not, however. 



Coggins: Ho. Of course, there were econimle issues involved 

 In its birth. The North was not against slavery 

 solely because it was wrong. The controversy has 

 been interpreted as a conflict between the planters 

 and the growing capitalism of the Horth. 



ailbi How active was this club? Did it Just talk? 



