Wide-Awake Membership Certificate
Wide-Awakes were volunteer marching clubs that banded together throughout the North in support of the Republican Party during the 1860 presidential election. They served as a type of self-appointed “political police,” hence the membership certificate as a form of identification. They escorted visiting speakers to meeting places, guarded the polls, and attempted to keep order at political rallies.
<p>Wide-Awakes were volunteer marching clubs that banded together throughout the North in support of the Republican Party during the 1860 presidential election. They served as a type of self-appointed “political police,” hence the membership certificate as a form of identification. They escorted visiting speakers to meeting places, guarded the polls, and attempted to keep order at political rallies.</p>