Founded at Pekin, Illinois, on June 25, 1862, the Union League of America promoted patriotism and loyalty to the Union as its members sought to counter northern disillusionment with President Lincoln's military policies after early Union defeats in the Civil War. Although closely allied with the Republican Party, it sought to enroll all Union supporters regardless of party, developed from a statewide into a national organization, and by December, 1863, claimed 140,000 members in Illinois and almost a million nationwide. After the war, League councils in the South were concerned with franchising the negro and working for their education.