1864 United States presidential election

1864 National Union Party ticket
Abraham Lincoln	Andrew Johnson
for President	for Vice President
16th President of the United States (1861–1865)	Military Governor of Tennessee (1862–1865)

National Union candidates:

• Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
• Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General from Illinois

• 
  President Abraham Lincoln

• 
  Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant from Illinois

• 
  Former Senator Andrew Johnson from Tennessee
• 
  Vice President Hannibal Hamlin from Maine
• 
  Major General Benjamin Butler from Massachusetts
• 
  Former Senator Daniel Dickinson from New York
• 
  Major General Lovell Rousseau from Kentucky

As the Civil War progressed, political opinions within the Republican Party began to diverge. Senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson from Massachusetts wanted the Republican Party to advocate constitutional amendments to prohibit slavery and guarantee racial equality before the law. Initially, not all northern Republicans supported such measures.

Democratic leaders hoped that the radical Republicans would put forth their own ticket in the election. The New York World newspaper, particularly interested in undermining the National Union Party, ran a series of articles predicting a delay for the National Union Convention until late in 1864 to allow Frémont time to collect delegates to win the nomination. Frémont supporters in New York City established a newspaper called the New Nation, which declared in one of its initial issues that the National Union Convention would be a "nonentity". The New York World also published false information (further purported by Samuel S. Cox) to limit Lincoln's popularity.[7]

Lincoln and Johnson campaign poster

Before the election, some War Democrats joined the Republicans to form the National Union Party.[8] With the outcome of the Civil War still in doubt, some political leaders, including Salmon P. Chase, Benjamin Wade, and Horace Greeley, opposed Lincoln's re-nomination on the grounds that he could not win. Chase himself became the only candidate to contest Lincoln's re-nomination actively, but he withdrew in March when a slew of Republican officials, including some within the state of Ohio upon whom Chase's campaign depended, endorsed Lincoln for re-nomination. Lincoln was still popular with most members of the Republican Party, and the National Union Party nominated him for a second term as president at their convention in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 7–8, 1864.[9] The party platform included these goals: "pursuit of the war, until the Confederacy surrendered unconditionally; a constitutional amendment for the abolition of slavery; aid to disabled Union veterans; continued European neutrality; enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine; encouragement of immigration; and construction of a transcontinental railroad." It also praised the use of black troops and Lincoln's management of the war.[10]

With incumbent vice president Hannibal Hamlin remaining indifferent about the prospect of a second term in office, Andrew Johnson, the former senator from and current military governor of Tennessee, was named as Lincoln's vice presidential running-mate. He had been governor of Tennessee from 1853 to 1857 and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857. In his congressional service, he sought passage of the Homestead Bill which was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862. When the Southern slave states, including Tennessee, seceded, he remained firmly with the Union. He was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his state's secession. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as military governor of Tennessee after most of it had been retaken. In 1864, Johnson was a logical choice as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign, especially to ensure the electoral votes of the border states.

Others who were considered for the nomination, at one point or another, were former Senator Daniel Dickinson, Major General Benjamin Butler, Major General William Rosecrans, Joseph Holt, and former Treasury Secretary and Senator John Dix.

1864 Democratic Party ticket
George B. McClellan	George H. Pendleton
for President	for Vice President
4th Commanding General of the U.S. Army (1861–1862)	U.S. Representative for Ohio's 1st (1857–1865)
Campaign

Democratic presidential candidates:

• George B. McClellan, General from New Jersey
• Thomas H. Seymour, Former Governor of Connecticut

• 
  Major General
  George B. McClellan
  of New Jersey
• 
  Former Governor Thomas H. Seymour
  of Connecticut
• 
  Senator
  Lazarus W. Powell
  of Kentucky
  (Declined to be Nominated)
• 
  Former President Franklin Pierce
  of New Hampshire
  (Declined to be Nominated)
• 
  Governor
  Horatio Seymour
  of New York
  (Declined to be Nominated)

• 
  Representative
  George H. Pendleton
  from Ohio
• 
  Railroad President George W. Cass
  from Pennsylvania
• 
  Representative
  Daniel W. Voorhees
  from Indiana
• 
  Former Senator Augustus C. Dodge
  from Iowa

"How the War Commenced and How Near It Is Ended" published by the National Union Executive Committee.

The Democratic Party was bitterly split between War Democrats and Peace Democrats, a group further divided among competing factions. Moderate Peace Democrats who supported the war against the Confederacy, such as Horatio Seymour, were preaching the wisdom of a negotiated peace. After the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, moderate Peace Democrats proposed a negotiated peace that would secure Union victory. They believed this was the best course of action, because an armistice could finish the war without devastating the South.[11] Radical Peace Democrats known as Copperheads, such as Thomas H. Seymour, declared the war to be a failure and favored an immediate end to hostilities without securing Union victory.[12]

McClellan and Pendleton campaign poster

George B. McClellan vied for the presidential nomination. Additionally, friends of Horatio Seymour insisted on placing his name before the convention, which was held in Chicago, Illinois, on August 29–31, 1864. But on the day before the organization of that body, Horatio Seymour announced positively that he would not be a candidate.

Since the Democrats were divided by issues of war and peace, they sought a strong candidate who could unify the party. The compromise was to nominate pro-war General George B. McClellan for president and anti-war Representative George H. Pendleton for vice president. McClellan, a War Democrat, was nominated for president over the Copperhead Thomas H. Seymour. Pendleton, a close associate of the Copperhead Clement Vallandigham, balanced the ticket, since he was known for having strongly opposed the Union war effort.[13] The convention adopted a peace platform[14] – a platform McClellan personally rejected.[15] McClellan supported the continuation of the war and restoration of the Union, but the party platform, written by Vallandigham, opposed this position.

• 
  Former Senator John C. Frémont from California
  (Withdrew Sep. 22, 1864)

• 
  General John Cochrane from New York

The Radical Democracy Convention assembled in Ohio with delegates arriving on May 29, 1864. The New York Times reported that the hall which the convention organizers had planned to use had been double-booked by an opera troupe. Almost all delegates were instructed to support Frémont, with a major exception being the New York delegation, which was composed of War Democrats who supported Ulysses S. Grant. Various estimates of the number of delegates were reported in the press; The New York Times reported 156 delegates, but the number generally reported elsewhere was 350 delegates. The delegates came from 15 states and the District of Columbia. They adopted the name "Radical Democracy Party".[16]

A supporter of Grant was appointed chairman. The platform was passed with little discussion, and a series of resolutions that bogged down the convention proceedings were voted down decisively. The convention nominated Frémont for president, and he accepted the nomination on June 4, 1864. In his letter, he stated that he would step aside if the National Union Convention would nominate someone other than Lincoln for president. John Cochrane was nominated for vice president.[17][18]

The American Civil War was in progress and unfinished during this election. Because eleven Southern states had declared secession from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, only twenty-five states participated in the election.

Louisiana and Tennessee had recently been re-captured. They chose presidential electors, but their votes were rejected by Congress due to having recently seceded from the Union. Both states had voted for Lincoln, so it would not have changed the result in any case.

Three new states participated for the first time: Kansas, West Virginia, and Nevada.

Despite Kentucky's state government never seceding from the Union, the Commonwealth had an election participation rate decrease of almost 40% compared to the election of 1860.[21]

McClellan won just three states: Kentucky, Delaware, and his home state of New Jersey. Lincoln won in every state he carried in 1860 except New Jersey, and also carried a state won four years earlier by Stephen Douglas (Missouri), one carried by John C. Breckinridge (Maryland) and all three newly admitted states (Kansas, Nevada and West Virginia). Altogether, 212 electoral votes were counted in Congress for Lincoln – more than enough to win the presidency even if all of the states in rebellion had participated and voted against him.

Lincoln was highly popular with soldiers and they in turn recommended him to their families back home.[22][23] The following states allowed soldiers to cast ballots: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Out of the 40,247 army votes cast, Lincoln received 30,503 (75.8%) and McClellan 9,201 (22.9%), with the rest (543 votes) scattering (1.3%). Only soldiers from Kentucky gave McClellan a majority of their votes, and he carried the army vote in the state by a vote of 2,823 (70.3%) to 1,194 (29.7%).[24]

Of the 1,129 counties making returns, Lincoln won in 728 (64.5%), while McClellan carried 400 (35.4%). One county (0.1%) in Iowa split evenly between Lincoln and McClellan.

This was the last election the Republicans won in Maryland until 1896.[25]

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1864 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005.
Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

^(a) The states in rebellion did not participate in the election of 1864.
^(b) The 17 electoral votes from Tennessee and Louisiana were rejected. Had they not been rejected, Lincoln would have received 229 electoral votes out of a total of 251 (250 cast), well in excess of the 126 required to win.
^(c) One elector from Nevada did not vote.

• 
  1864 United States Presidential Election mapped by Counties
• 
  Map of presidential election results by county
• 
  Results explicitly indicating the percentage for the National Union candidate in each county
• 
  Results explicitly indicating the percentage for the Democratic candidate in each county
• 
  Results explicitly indicating the percentage for "other" candidate(s) in each county
• 
  Cartogram of presidential election results by county
• 
  Cartogram of National Union presidential election results by county
• 
  Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county
• 
  Cartogram of "other" presidential election results by county

• Source (most states): Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp. 247–57.
• Source (Tennessee): contemporary Chicago Tribune newspaper.[26]

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1864 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005. Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

States in red were won by Republican Abraham Lincoln; states in blue were won by Democrat George B. McClellan.

State where the margin of victory was under 1% (33 electoral votes):

1. New York 0.92% (6,749 votes)

States where the margin of victory was under 5% (35 electoral votes):

1. Connecticut 2.76% (2,405 votes)
2. Pennsylvania 3.50% (20,075 votes)
3. Delaware 3.62% (612 votes)

States where the margin of victory was under 10% (65 electoral vote):

1. New Hampshire 5.12% (3,562 votes)
2. New Jersey 5.68% (7,301 votes)
3. Indiana 7.19% (20,189 votes)
4. Michigan 7.20% (10,636 votes)
5. Oregon 7.8% (1,431 votes)
6. Illinois 8.8% (30,788 votes) (Tipping-Point State)

• Chester, Edward W. A guide to political platforms (1977) pp. 80–85 online
• Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840–1964 (1965) online 1840–1956