By Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia
While the Republican Party had three broad factions—conservatives, moderates and radicals—the Democrats were split into two main factions. One faction, called the ‘War Democrats’, supported the Civil War effort. The second faction, called the ‘Peace Democrats’, was willing to consider a lenient peace for the Confederate States of America.
War and Peace Democrats
The War Democrats supported the Lincoln administration’s efforts to prosecute the war, but opposed Republican domestic legislation. The Peace Democrats opposed Lincoln on almost everything.
Some of the extreme Peace Democrats became known as ‘Copperheads’, the word coming from the snake. Opponents of the Copperheads said that they ‘struck without warning’, that that’s what the Copperheads were doing in the midst of this war. The Copperheads were especially strong in the southern Midwest, and among Irish Catholics in northern cities.
The Democratic Party as a whole detested black people, abolitionists, and temperance advocates, all of whom tended to support the Republican Party. They opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, and they hated the idea of adding freedom to the Union as a major war aim. The Democrats said adamantly, “This is a war for union, not a war to liberate slaves.” The Democrats fought very hard against Republican programs such as protective tariffs, a national bank, and so forth.
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Election of 1864
When the Civil War was going poorly, the Copperheads gained strength. They reached their strongest point in the spring and early summer of 1863. When the war was going well for the United States’ military forces, the Copperhead support dropped.
The election of 1864 was absolutely crucial for the Republicans. The war was going very poorly in the early and midsummer of 1864, and Abraham Lincoln expected to be defeated. He, in fact, had his cabinet sign a blind memorandum in late August 1864, saying that it looked like the Republicans would not win reelection, and that they should do everything possible between that point and when the Democrats took power to try to push the war along. The Democrats nominated George Brinton McClellan in 1864; he proved to be quite an attractive candidate.
Between the time the candidates were nominated and the election, though, the United States’ military forces won a series of absolutely critical victories at Atlanta, and at Mobile Bay, and in the Shenandoah Valley. Those victories propelled the Republicans to victory in November 1864.
Election in Midst of War
This election was really a referendum on the war and on emancipation, and by voting Republican, northern voters showed their support for seeing the struggle through to its end, with freedom as well as union as an aim for northern armies to try to achieve.
The election of 1864 marked the first time that a national election was held in the midst of a major war, and it was a remarkable testament to the vitality of American democracy. Equally remarkable was the fact that United States soldiers were allowed to vote in this war. These were men who had the prospect of being killed in battle before them, every day.
If they cast a ballot for George B. McClellan, there was a chance that the war might end sooner. McClellan was not going to push for the same kind of resolution to the war that Lincoln would have pushed for. The Democratic platform in 1864, in fact, called for some kind of armistice, and then a working out of a peace agreement: first, stop the fighting, and then work out a peace agreement.
Victory of Republicans
There was an uncertainty, though, about exactly what a Democratic victory would mean that might have led many soldiers to think that if they cast a Democratic ballot, the shooting might stop almost immediately. Their lives would be saved, and yet among the soldiers who voted, nearly 80 percent cast their ballot for Abraham Lincoln, and the Republicans.
It was made easier for soldiers who would vote that way, actually, to cast their ballots in some instances. The government did what it could to make sure that Republican voters got to vote among those in the army, but still, it’s quite a testament to the strength of the United States political system that these men were allowed to vote, and it was much to Lincoln’s good fortune that they were. Their votes proved crucial for Republicans in many districts.
The Confederate Mindset
The Confederates had been looking toward the election of 1864 with tremendous interest. They believed that if they could just hang on until the election, without losing a major battle—they didn’t have to win a major battle, just avoid losing a major battle—the Democrats might, in fact, sweep the election. When Lincoln won, though, it cast down many people in the Confederacy; it disheartened them tremendously.
Thus, the election of 1864 must be reckoned, along with the election of 1861, as extremely important in United States history.
Common Questions about the Election of 1864
The Democrats were split into two main factions: ‘War Democrats’ and ‘Peace Democrats’. The Peace Democrats opposed Lincoln on almost everything. Some of the extreme Peace Democrats became known as ‘Copperheads’.
The Democratic Party as a whole detested black people, abolitionists, and temperance advocates, all of whom tended to support the Republican Party. They opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, and they hated the idea of adding freedom to the Union as a major war aim. The Democrats fought very hard against Republican programs such as protective tariffs, a national bank, and so forth.
The election of 1864 marked the first time that a national election was held in the midst of a major war, and it was a remarkable testament to the vitality of American democracy. Equally remarkable was the fact that United States soldiers were allowed to vote in this war.
