The American Presidential Election of 1864

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The 20th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1864, the country is still at war with itself or each other, however which way you look at it. A general Lincoln fires after the Battle of Antietam comes back to challenge him for the Presidency.

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Who cares if the southern half of the country split off and it’s been fighting a very bloody war against it ever since? Let’s have an election! The 20th Presidential election in American history took place on November 8th, 1864. Right smack dab during the Civil War, so yeah, Americans were a bit...preoccupied.

By the summer of 1864, the North (aka the Union) had gained momentum. The South (aka the Confederate States of America) was retreating, yet were not showing signs of giving up. Hundreds of thousands had already died. Even though the Union won the Battle of Gettysburg and the Siege of Vicksburg the previous summer, they had lost over 65,000 soldiers that summer to do it. In comparison, they had lost 108,000 during the entire war up to that point.

Many Northerners were growing tired of the war. Those who originally were excited about the war, now questioned the point of it. They were also questioning the President himself, the man who led them into it. Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln was questioning his ability to get re-elected, and rightly so. The country hadn’t re-elected a President since Andrew Jackson 32 years prior, way back in 1832. Lincoln had made many enemies, especially in Congress. Lincoln now openly embraced the emancipation of all slaves, and even Northerners turned against him because of this. Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Obviously, this war had been a nightmare, and the stress had aged him considerably.

Two distinct factions developed in both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.

First the Republicans. Well, some Republicans who didn’t like Lincoln split off. They called themselves “Radical Republicans,” and formed a new political party called the Radical Democracy Party. Woah...what a radical name. The radicals nominated John C. Fremont for President and general John Cochrane for Vice President, but their plan backfired as Fremont later ended up backing Lincoln after he was afraid the Democrats might win. More on the Democrats in a bit.

The other Republicans formed a new political party as well, called the National Union Party. Some Democrats even joined. They had a clear, impressively specific platform:

They wanted “pursuit of the war until the Confederacy surrendered unconditionally; a constitutional amendment for the abolition of slavery; aid to disabled Union veterans; continued European neutrality; enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine; encouragement of immigration; and construction of a transcontinental railroad.”

Lincoln wanted to go with a new running mate this time, dropping Hannibal Hamlin. (sorry Hannibal) to broaden his support. He went with a Democrat. That’s right, a Democrat! The National Union Party nominated Andrew Johnson, a former Senator and current Military Governor of Tennessee for Vice President.

Fortunately for the Republicans, the Democratic Party was even more split than them. The two major factions were the War Democrats and Peace Democrats. Extreme War Democrats wanted to finish the job completely. Extreme Peace Democrats, nicknamed Copperheads, wanted to stop the war immediately. Looking for unity, they nominated George McClellan, the general Lincoln had fired two years before. McClellan was definitely a War Democrat, but he was very popular, and the Democrats nominated the Peace Democrat George Pendleton, a Representative from Ohio, for Vice President to balance it out. Though McClellan personally was for continuing the war, the two ran a campaign for ending the war, a peace platform.

The fact that the Democrats were split and with Fremont changing his mind to endorse him gave Lincoln confidence he could actually get re-elected. Lincoln probably gained more confidence when on September 6, 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman led forces to take over Atlanta and his March to the Sea thereafter devastated the South.