United States presidential election, 1864
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The U.S. presidential election of 1864 was conducted during the Civil War, and as such the Confederate states did not participate. The war was taking a heavy toll in terms of lives and resources, and as such incumbent President Abraham Lincoln was seen as vulnerable. Republicans across the country were jittery over the summer—but that was before the Democrats had to confront their severe internal strains at their convention. With William Tecumseh Sherman marching inexorably toward Atlanta, and Ulysses S. Grant pushing Lee into the inner defenses of Richmond, it became increasingly obvious that Union victory was inevitable.
The Lincoln/Johnson ticket ran with the slogan “Don't change horses in the middle of a stream,” and over time a series of Union victories culminating in the capture of Atlanta, Georgia by forces led by General William Tecumseh Sherman restored Lincoln's popularity. The Republican/Union party made an all-out effort, ridiculing McClellan for his pacifist platform and denouncing Democrats as traitorous Copperheads. On November 8, Lincoln won by over 400,000 popular votes and easily clinched an electoral majority. Several states allowed their citizens serving as soldiers in the field to cast ballots, a first in United States history. It was widely assumed—and indeed evident in the soldiers' corps—that those serving in the Army were going to turn out heavily for Lincoln; the expectation was validated as Lincoln received more than 70% of the soldiers' vote.
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[edit] Nominations
[edit] "National Union Party" nomination
Abraham Lincoln was renominated by the Republican Party, which changed its name for the 1864 election to the "National Union Party”. Lincoln's nomination was not unanimous, however, as 22 disgruntled opponents of Lincoln voted for Ulysses S. Grant, who was not a candidate. Seeing an opportunity to work with the War Democrats under the Union banner, the convention nominated Governor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a Democrat, as Lincoln's running mate over incumbent Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, Daniel Stevens Dickinson, Joseph Holt and Benjamin Franklin Butler.
[edit] Democratic Party nomination
The Democratic Party was bitterly split between the War Democrats and the anti-war Copperheads. The compromise was to nominate pro-war General George B. McClellan along with an anti-war platform. McClellan defeated Horatio Seymour and others for the nomination; he and ticketmate George H. Pendleton were nominated on a peace platform—a platform McClellan personally rejected.
[edit] General election
The 1864 election was the first time in the history, not only of the United States, but the history of the World, that a democratic presidential election took place during any war, much less a civil one.
There was a genuine possibliity that McClellan would win the election and thus the nation "would change horses in the middle of a stream."
The campaign, in which niether candidate actively participated, was particularly nasty.
[edit] Results
(Only 24 states participated, because 11 had attempted to secede from the Union and were currently in a state of rebellion. However 2 new states, Nevada and Kansas, participated for the first time)
| Presidential Candidate | Party | Home State | Popular Vote(a) | Electoral Vote(a), (b) | Running Mate | Running Mate's Home State |
Running Mate's Electoral Vote(a), (b) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | |||||||
| Abraham Lincoln | Republican/ National Union(c) |
Illinois | 2,218,388 | 55.0% | 212 | Andrew Johnson(c) | Tennessee | 212 |
| George Brinton McClellan | Democratic | New Jersey | 1,812,807 | 45.0% | 21 | George Hunt Pendleton | Ohio | 21 |
| Other | 692 | 0.0% | 0 | Other | 0 | |||
| Total | 4,031,887 | 100.0% | 233 | Total | 233 | |||
| Needed to win | 117 | Needed to win | 117 | |||||
Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1864 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).
(a) The states in rebellion did not participate in the election of 1864.
(b) One Elhiiiiector from Nevada did not vote
(c) Andrew Johnson had been a Democrat, and would again later be elected to the Senate as a Democrat. The Republicans changed their name in the 1864 election to accommodate Democrats who supported Lincoln.
[edit] References
- Harold M. Dudley. "The Election of 1864," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Mar., 1932) , pp. 500-518 full text in JSTOR
- David E. Long. Jewel of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln's Re-election and the End of Slavery (1994)
- Merrill, Louis Taylor. "General Benjamin F. Butler in the Presidential Campaign of 1864." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 33 (March 1947): 537-70 full text in JSTOR
- Nelson, Larry E. Bullets, Ballots, and Rhetoric: Confederate Policy for the United States Presidential Contest of 1864 University of Alabama Press, 1980.
- Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union: The War for the Union vol 8 (1971)
- Randall, James G. and Richard N. Current. Lincoln the President: Last Full Measure. Vol. 4 of Lincoln the President. 1955.
- Vorenberg, Michael. "'The Deformed Child': Slavery and the Election of 1864" Civil War History 2001 47(3): 240-257. ISSN 0009-8078 full text in JSTOR
- Jack Waugh Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency (1998), a popular study
- White, Jonathan W. "Canvassing the Troops: the Federal Government and the Soldiers' Right to Vote" Civil War History 2004 50(3): 291-317. ISSN 0009-8078
- American election campaigns in the 19th Century
- History of the United States (1849–1865)
- Third Party System
[edit] External links
- 1864 popular vote by counties
- 1864 State-by-state popular results
- Transcript of the 1864 Democratic Party Platform
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