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The Civil War, 1861-1865
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General SummaryThat Lincoln was apprehensive regarding his re-election to the Presidency in 1864 is indicated by his letter to General Sherman, quoted in this account taken from Herndon and Weik’s "Abraham Lincoln" (Appleton), suggesting that Sherman, who was marching through Georgia, let as many as possible of his Indiana men return home to vote. Lincoln’s opponent was General McClellan, affectionately known to his soldiers as "Little Mac," who was nominated by the Democratic party on a platform which denounced the war as a failure. To this view, however, McClellan did not subscribe, and in his letter of acceptance he advocated a vigorous prosecution of the war. \n In the Electoral College the vote stood 212 for Lincoln, and 21 for McClellan, while the popular vote for Lincoln was 2,200,000, and for McClellan 1,800,000. McClellan had resigned from the army in order to make the campaign.
Lincoln Reelected President
THE Summer and Fall of 1864 were marked by Lincoln’s second Presidential campaign, he, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President, having been nominated at Baltimore on the 8th of June. Fremont, who had been placed in the field by a convention of malcontents at Cleveland, Ohio, had withdrawn in September, and the contest was left to Lincoln and General George B. McClellan, the nominee of the Democratic convention at Chicago. The canvass was a heated and bitter one. Dissatisfied elements appeared everywhere. The Judge Advocate-General of the army (Holt) created a sensation by the publication of a report giving conclusive proof of the existence of an organized secret association at the North, controlled by prominent men in the Democratic party, whose objects were the overthrow by revolution of the administration in the interest of the rebellion. Threats were rife of a revolution at the North, especially in New York City, if Mr. Lincoln were elected. Mr. Lincoln went steadily on in his own peculiar way…. Mr. Swett has told us how indifferent he appeared to be regarding any efforts to be made in his behalf. He did his duty as President, and rested secure in the belief that he would be reelected whatever might be done for or against him. The importance of retaining Indiana in the column of Republican States was not to be overlooked. How the President viewed it, and how he proposed to secure the vote of the State, is shown in the following letter written to General Sherman:
"Executive Mansion,
"Washington, September 19, 1864.
"Major General Sherman:
"The State election of Indiana occurs on the 11th of October, and the loss of it to the friends of the Government would go far towards losing the whole Union cause. The bad effect upon the November election, and especially the giving the State government to those who will oppose the war in every possible way, are too much to risk if it can be avoided. The draft proceeds, notwithstanding its strong tendency to lose us the State. Indiana is the only important State voting in October whose soldiers cannot vote in the field. Anything you can safely do to let her soldiers or any part of them go home and vote at the State election will be greatly in point. They need not remain for the Presidential election, but may return to you at once. This is in no sense an order, but is merely intended to impress you with the importance to the army itself of your doing all you safely can, yourself being the judge of what you can safely do.
"Yours truly,
"A. LINCOLN."
The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for Lincoln. He received a majority of over four hundred thousand in the popular vote—a larger majority than had ever been received by any other President up to that time. He carried not only Indiana, but all the New England States, New York, Pennsylvania, all the Western States, West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the newly admitted State of Nevada. McClellan carried but three States: New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. The result, as Grant so aptly expressed it in his telegram of congratulation, was "a victory worth more to the country than a battle won." A second time Lincoln stood in front of the great Capitol to take the oath of office administered by his former rival, Salmon P. Chase, whom he himself had appointed to succeed the deceased Roger B. Taney. The problem of the war was now fast working its own solution. The cruel stain of slavery had been effaced from the national escutcheon, and the rosy morn of peace began to dawn behind the breaking clouds of the great storm. Lincoln, firm but kind, in his inaugural address bade his misguided brethren of the South come back. With a fraternal affection characteristic of the man, and strictly in keeping with his former utterances, he asked for the return of peace. "With malice towards none, with charity for all," he implored his fellow-countrymen, "with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations….
Contents:
Chicago: William H. Herndon, "Lincoln Reelected President," The Civil War, 1861-1865 in America, Vol.8, Pp.263-266 Original Sources, accessed November 21, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2GYXZC68FZXEAHJ.
MLA: Herndon, William H. "Lincoln Reelected President." The Civil War, 1861-1865, in America, Vol.8, Pp.263-266, Original Sources. 21 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2GYXZC68FZXEAHJ.
Harvard: Herndon, WH, 'Lincoln Reelected President' in The Civil War, 1861-1865. cited in , America, Vol.8, Pp.263-266. Original Sources, retrieved 21 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2GYXZC68FZXEAHJ.
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