Presidential Election of 1864

IN 1864, THE American Civil War was over three years old, and the chances of Abraham Lincoln winning reelection did not appear to be good. The war was dragging on, the Union armies seemed unable to make any progress, and the casualties continued to mount. Lincoln's enemies felt that they could do a better job of bringing the war to an end. The Democrats nominated General George B. McClellan and the Radical Republicans nominated General John C. Fremont to oppose Lincoln. In the fall of 1864, the military situation changed in favor of the Union, which helped Lincoln win re-election.

The major issue of the election was the conduct of the Civil War. After over three years of horrendous casualties the war was, seemingly, nowhere near to a conclusion. The government had resorted to conscription to fill the depleted ranks of the army, the writ of habeas corpus had been suspended, taxes and inflation were high. The voters of the north were disillusioned with Lincoln and his administration. By June of 1864, General U.S. Grant was still unable to capture Richmond, Virginia (the capital of the Confederate States of America) and General William T. Sherman was bogged down outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It looked like the Confederacy might be able to survive the war if Lincoln was defeated in the election.

The mainstream Republican Party joined with the War Democrats to re-nominate Lincoln as their candidate. As his running mate, they chose Andrew Jackson from Tennessee, who was a very strong pro-Union politician, a Democrat, and the governor of occupied Tennessee. The alliance of the two parties also adopted the name the “Union Party.” Their platform was the ending of slavery by a constitutional amendment and the restoration of the Union.

Within the Republican Party, there were those who believed that Lincoln was the cause of the war's continuance. There were also those who believed that the president should only serve one term, especially because the last president to only serve one term was Andrew Jackson. Lincoln's opponents also disagreed with him over his plan, announced in December 1863, to take it easy on the southern states when the war was over. The Radical Republicans, as they were called, advocated a much harsher peace and a new president. In their search for a candidate, they approached Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, and General Grant. Grant [Page 587]turned them down immediately because he felt that it was important to the war effort for Lincoln to remain president. As for Chase, information showed up in the press concerning the idea of his run for the presidency, creating a huge backlash against the idea, and Chase was forced to remove his name from consideration and apologize to Lincoln. The Radical Republicans finally settled on Fremont as their candidate. Fremont was nominated at their convention in May in Cleveland, Ohio. The party ended up calling themselves the Radical Democrats.

The remainder of the Democratic Party met in Chicago, Illinois, in August. To them, the war had been lost and needed resolution, and the Union needed restoration by any means necessary. As their candidate, they chose McClellan, who had commanded the Union armies earlier in the war, but had been relieved of command by Lincoln because he refused (in Lincoln's opinion) to prosecute the war vigorously enough. No friend of Lincoln's, McClellan accepted the nomination. McClellan did not support emancipation or believe that it should be a goal of the war. However, he also disagreed with his party that the war was lost. As with the Republicans, he felt that the Union had to be restored.

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