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The United States Presidential Election of 1864, the 20th U.S. presidential election, was held on November 8, 1864. Held during the Civil War, this election was an important referendum on the ongoing war effort. Initially, Republican/National Union candidate Abraham Lincoln looked likely to win, but the increasing failures of the Union war efforts gave George McClellan a chance. In the end, Lincoln won by a small margin and went on to oversee the final surrender of the Union.
Background[]
This election was held in the midst of the American Civil War, and was thus extremely important in determining the Union's war strategy moving forward. At first, it was not even certain that this election would take place. The Union was not faring particularly well in the war, and it was thought that an election at such a fragile time could hurt the war effort even more. Lincoln eventually decided to move forward with the election, to avoid looking like a tyrant and because he was afraid that not holding the election would make the U.S. look desperate. He himself thoroughly believed that he would lose the election.
The Republican Party re-branded itself as the National Union Party for this election, in an effort to attract war Democrats to their cause. To this end, they nominated the Democrat Andrew Johnson as vice president (replacing Hannibal Hamlin). Lincoln's nomination was never in doubt, despite the state of the war.
The Democrats nominated General George B. McClellan, who was opposed to Lincoln's strategy in the war. McClellan was committed to continuing the war, but the Democratic platform endorsed immediate peace. Representative George H. Pendleton of Ohio, a peace Democrat, was nominated as his running mate.
The Campaign[]
Not much actual campaigning was done by either side. As most capable men were fighting in the war, there weren't many people on the ground to promote either candidate. Lincoln was focused on the war effort and did no open campaigning. McClellan respected the tradition of not openly campaigning either, and doing so would have been hard with Confederate armies present in the North.
Lincoln was at first perceived to be ahead of McClellan, as most people were still supportive of his efforts leading the war. Most believed that they needed continuity of leadership in such uncertain times. However, as Union armies lost battle after battle, and the Confederate armies moved further north, and the blockade against the South was broken up by France, citizens began to lose faith in their president. McClellan's promise of a change in strategy, and the other Democrats' promise of peace. suddenly seemed very attractive.
In the last two months before the election, McClellan rapidly gained popularity. Every lost battle was another reason to cast a vote in his name. Every lost son and husband was another reason to shun the Republican Party forever. While he continued to believe that defeat was likely, Lincoln refused to campaign. He continued to focus wholly on the war.
Election Results and Aftermath[]
By election day, the election was considered a toss-up. Once the votes were counted, it was about as close as everyone thought it would be.
By a margin of 31 electoral votes and 58,000 popular votes, Abraham Lincoln won a second term. McClellan became the first presidential candidate in US history to win both Pennsylvania and New York but lose the election. Only one other candidate would ever join this rare company, that being William McKinley in 1896 (who actually tied the electoral college and lost in the House).
At his inaugural address in March, President Lincoln promised to fight the war until its finish. Already, many Republican voters were regretting their choice. It was said that if this election had been held in March, or even in December instead of November, McClellan would have won. Just two months after Lincoln promised to fight until the end, the Union was forced to surrender. The country was devastated, and naturally a lot of the blame found its way to the president. Lincoln tried to comfort the mourning nation, but he found that anything he did was now universally reviled by the public. People couldn't wait until the next election so they could throw Lincoln out of office and give the nation a fresh start. For the rest of his term, Lincoln sank into a depression of his own and didn't do much except make appointments and sign procedural papers.
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