A free of cityJan. 7,1861: Will New York secede with the confederacy?Civil war and the dissolution of the Union seemed imminent, and so mayor Fernando Wood of New York , A powerful pro-Southern Democrat, made a startling proposal in his annual message to the
city`s Common
Council: if the Southern states seceded, the city should do so too and become ``equal independent ``. As a ``free city``, he argued, it would survive with the support of the South and the sizable income provided by import duties.Attacking the Republican state legislature`s tight control and taxation of the city, Wood asked: ``Why may not New York disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master?``Democrats in the council and a number of businessmen supported his idea, and secret plans were made to carry it out. But when the war`s first shot were fired, New Yorkers proved to be staunchly pro-Union and Wood was voted out of office.Later, as a leader of Northern antiwar Democrats, or copperheads, Wood became a thorn in Abraham Lincoln`s side.