The Election That Saved A Nation
Oct. 30, 2014
Peter Wood
As Americans go to the polls Nov. 4, it’s worthy to look back 150 years to
when Union voters, in the midst of a bloody civil war, cast their ballots in what many
historians considered to be the most important presidential contest in the history of
the United States.
The election of 1864 pitted President Abraham Lincoln against democratic
challenger General George McClellan – one-time commander of the Army of the
Potomac who said he would the end the war immediately, urging peace without
victory.
Some historians consider the Union victory at Gettysburg in 1863 as the
turning point of the war, but according to CU-Boulder historian Peter Wood, it was
ballots, not bullets, that turned the tide of the war.
CUT 1 “We often think of Gettysburg as the great turning point in the war. We think
of Fort Sumter as the beginning, Appomattox as the end and Gettysburg is right in
the middle of the great turning point of 1863. (:13) But, in fact, it’s not until the
election of 1864 that you get the real tipping point in the war. If that election had
gone differently the war would have gone differently and America would be a very
different place.” (:27)
At stake in the election, says Wood, was whether the United States would
remain a Union or, more than likely, dissolve.
CUT 2 “I think it’s pretty clear that if General McClellan had won the election of 1864
for the democrats he was wedded to a platform which urged peace without victory.
(:13) That we should make a settlement with the Confederacy, end the killing on
both sides as rapidly as possible, set the slavery issue aside and hopefully bring the
Union back together as it had been before the war or allow the Confederacy to
separate itself and create its own government.” (:32)
What many people may not know, says Wood, is how precarious of a hold
Lincoln had on the presidency just months before the election. After four long
bloody years with no end in sight, many northerners tired of the conflict – a conflict
that had taken a hefty toll on lives and commerce.
CUT 3 “Lincoln in the summer of 1864 is sure that he is going to lose the election
because Grant and Sherman have been unable to bring victories in the field. War
attitudes in the north are changing. (:15) It’s only with the fall of Atlanta in early
September that public opinion in the north begins to shift. They suddenly realize
they can, perhaps, win this war. It would be almost treasonous to give up now when
we’ve sacrificed so much.” (:32)
Wood says another fascinating aspect of the election of 1864 is that it
happened in the first place, which insured that the democratic process would
continue on despite the war.
CUT 4 “That’s probably the most amazing thing about the election of 1864. It didn’t
even have to happen at all. Lincoln could have declared marshal law and said, ‘As
long as there is a civil war being conducted we’ll postpone any presidential election
until the war is over.’ (:16) He felt that would have been a psychological victory for
the Confederacy. He felt that Democracy really had to follow through on this
tradition and that set a huge precedent.” (:28)
Lincoln won the election easily with 55 percent of the vote. 22 out of 25
states ended up supporting him. An amazing turnaround, says Wood, when six
months earlier it had looked almost the opposite way.
-CU-