Lincoln and The 1864 Presidential Election Essay -- Government

The 1864 presidential election was one of the important elections in the American History. In the middle of a devastating civil war, the United States had held its presidential election almost without discussing any alternative (American President: A Reference Resource). None of the other Democratic nations had ever conducted a national election during the time of war. While there was still talk going in postponing the election. That was when Lincoln pointed out that America needs a free government and without conducting the election we have ruined ourselves (Boller P.115). So, before even the year had ended United States had gone forward with its voting just as in peacetime. This was one of the deeply anxious election outcomes for both, the Republican and Pro-war Democrats. They both joint together and formed the National Union Party, which re-nominated Lincoln and selected Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee a prominent War Democrats. The campaign of 1864 was noisy and abusive. The threat posed by the Democratic Party, which met in Chicago in August. The Democrats came forward boldly and proclaimed the Civil War a failure, demanded the immediate ending of hostilities, and called for the convening of a national convention to restore the Union by negotiation with the Confederate government (American President: A Reference Resource). The Democrats nominated General George B. McClellan, former commander of Union forces whom Lincoln had fired because of his failure to pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army after the battle at Antietam in 1862. Some of the Radical Republicans were completely against Lincoln’s reelection (Mintz). Lincoln then had asked the congress to seat representative from the three recently conquered Con... ... to George W. Bush. January 2004. Chadwick, Bruce. Lincoln For President. Sourcebooks, Naperville: Illinois, 2009. McNamara, Robert. The Election of 1860 Brings Abraham Lincoln to the White House: Presidential Politics at a Time of National Crisis. Retrieved: March 29th, 2012. http://history1800s.about.com/od/presidentialcampaigns/a/1860election.htm Mintz, S. The 1864 Presidential Election. Digital History. (2007). Retrieved: March 30th, 2012. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=121 Walsh, Kenneth T. The Most Consequential Elections in History: Abraham Lincoln's Victory in 1864 Led to the End of the Civil War: Lincoln's victory in 1860 triggered the Civil War, and his victory in 1864 allowed him to win it. Retrieved: March 29th, 2012. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/07/30/the-most-consequential-elections-in-history