Election+of+1864

Contents:
1. Date of the Election 2. Present in the White House 4. Candidates for each party 4.1 Democratic Candidates 4.2 Republican Candidates 4.3 National Union Party 5. Party Conventions 5.1 Democratic Convention 5.2 Republican Convention **6. Major Issues that the Campaign and Candidates focused on** **7.** Overall Results 7.1 Map of Electoral College Vote 7.2 Electoral and Popular Vote Count 8. Assessment 9. **Bibliography
 * 3. Issues in the four years before your election **

Date of the Election
This election took place in November 8, 1864.

Who was present in the White House?
President Abraham Lincoln was running for re-election. If he won, he would be the first president to serve two consecutive terms since Andrew Jackson in 1832. The past nine presidents had served only one term.

Issues in the four years prior to the election
There were several issues that occurred in the four years prior to the election of 1864. The biggest of these issues was the Civil War. This tore our country apart, and there was no unity during this time. Lincoln was faced with the choice of wanting to end the war, or wanting to continue the war if he were to be reelected. The war had also taken a toll on the economy, and several states had little money. The southern states were refusing to vote, because they were at war with the Union. This led to fewer popular votes than anyone originally intended for. Lincoln had also issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 which caused some discontent within the nation.

Candidates for each party
There were candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties, and Lincoln represented the National Union Party.

//**Democratic Candidates**//
George B. McClellan represented the Democratic Party, even though he called himself the "peace candidate" and did not personally believe in what his party stood for. McClellan believed in ending the war, hence the name "the pace candidate".

//-Thomas H. Seymour*// //-Horatio Seymour*// //-Blank// //-Charles O'Conor// //-Lazarus W. Powell//
 * Other Democratic Candidates:**

//-John Frémont// //-Ulysses S. Grant// John C. Frémont was originally the candidate from the Republican Party. Eventually, Frémont dropped out of the election, and his small group of followers ended up supporting Lincoln. Grant, who was the general of the Union army, was endorsed by many newspapers. He was never really a part of the election, but he was considered one of the early candidates.
 * Republican Candidates:**

National Union Party
On the ballot, Lincoln was considered the Republican candidate, but he really represented the National Union Party. This was a group formed by War Democrats who combined with the loyal Republicans in the border states. They adjusted the party's morals, in order to gain the support of the War Democrats.

Party Conventions
The Democratic party was harshly split between the War Democrats and the Peace Democrats.
 * Democratic Convention**

//Peace Democrats://
There were two distinct parties within the Peace Democrats. Moderate Peace Democrats, such as Horatio Seymour , supported the war against the Confederacy. When it became clear that the south would not be able to win, this group wanted a negotiated peace that would ensure Union victory. The other group was the Radical Peace Democrats. They were also known as Copperheads, and they declared the war to be a failure. Radicals wanted an immediate end to the war, without declaring the Union victorious. Former Connecticut Governor, Thomas H. Seymour and George B. McClellan fought for the presidential nomination from this faction.

//War Democrats://
This group wanted to continue fighting the war. Many members supported the beliefs of Lincoln, and combined with the Republican and joined the National Union Party. This took Lincoln who was a former Republican, and combined him with Andrew Johnson, who was a former War Democrat. This way the War Democrats would be able to support Lincoln's views on the war, without actually having to turn Republican.

-There were two rival Republican conventions in 1864. The first was the Radical Democracy Party. Members of this convention were very anti-slavery, and they were angered at Lincoln's views on the issue. They met in Cleveland, Ohio where they decided to nominate John C. Frémont for President on May 31, 1864. This split in the republican party eventually ended when Frémont abandoned his political campaign, and his small group of followers then endorsed Lincoln. President Lincoln was placed on the ballot as the Republican candidate but stood behind his National Union Party views. He was nominated for reelection at the 1864 National Union Convention held in Baltimore, Maryland from June 7 to June 8, 1864.
 * Republican Convention**

Major Issues the the campaigns and candidates focused on
One of the major issues that the candidates focused upon during the election of 1864 was the Civil War. In the summer of 1864 65,000 Union soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing in action. In the first three years of the war the Union had lost 108,000 soldiers. Because this was consuming the nation, both the Republican and Democratic campaigns were centered around the war. McClellan wanted to end the war, where as Lincoln supported the continuation of the war. Slavery was also a main focal point of the election. The differing views on slavery could make or break the election. Lincoln almost lost a large group of Republican followers, because they believed that he was too pro-slavery.

Overall Results
In the end, Abraham Lincoln won the presidency and was to begin a second term in office. In the Electoral vote, Lincoln received 212 votes and Mclellan only received 21 votes.The other 80 electoral votes were from the Confederacy and were not cast. This was because 11 of the slave states refused to vote in the election. However, elections were held in Louisiana and Tennessee. Both of these states were Union dominated, and had their old southern government replaced by a more modern governing system. Both of these states also swung Republican. Of the popular vote, Lincoln received 2, 213, 665 votes while Mclellan got 1, 805, 237 votes. McClellan did manage to receive 45% of the popular votes, but couldn't outnumber Lincoln's supporters. A large part of Lincoln's victory is due to the supporters he gained when John Frémont dropped out of the race, but he also had the votes of many Union soldiers. A big difference between Lincoln and Mclellan was that Mclellan wanted to end the war while Lincoln wanted to finish it out. The soldiers had been fighting for almost 4 years now and wanted to continue fighting and win the war


 * = **Candidate** ||= **Party** ||= **Electoral Votes** ||= **Popular Votes** ||
 * = Abraham Lincoln (I) ||= Republican ||= 212 ||= 2,213,665 ||
 * = George B. McClellan ||= Democratic ||= 21 ||= 1,805,237 ||

Assessment
This election was very significant for many reasons. First off, about a month after Lincoln's inauguration he became the first president to be assassinated while seeing a play at Ford's Theatre on April 15, 1865. After this, the presidency went to Lincoln's Vice President Andrew Johnson who was a former War Democrat and a slave owner. Just before Lincoln's death, the Civil War ended when the Confederate army surrendered on April 9, 1865. 617, 000 people had died during the Civil War which is more than the casualities of all other American wars combined. This was also the first time an election was held during a war since the election of 1812.


 * Laine:** This election is especially important, because it was so centered around the war. It shows how much the power of the people can affect the decisions of the country, and how quickly things can get to the extreme. The results of this election would have been a lot different if the war wasn't going on. This also shows the great strength of the nation, because we were able to have this election in the midst of the most tragic event in American history.


 * Sarah:** The election of 1864 was between Lincoln and McClellan. Lincoln was the republican candidate committed on pursuing the war against the rebellious confederate stated until the Union was restored. McClellan, the democrat candidate, ran for immediate peace and essentially granting the rebellious states their independence. If McClellan had prevailed, there would likely be two separate nations with no guarantee of reconciliation between them.

Additional Products
Lincoln Tweets: [|Abe's Twitter] Election of 1864 Tumblr: [|1864 Tumblr]