Lincoln's Position In The Election Of 1864

The presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil war. By 1860, the nation had been divided mostly up to that point regarding questions of states’ rights and slavery in the territories. Southerners were outraged over the plan by abolitionist, John Brown, to start a slave rebellion at Harper Ferry, Virginia. This event garnered headlines all over the nation in newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, the Northern Republic seemed equally anger by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Stanford, which declared free soil unconstitutional. The Northern Democrats, however, struggled to persuade the Americans that their policy of popular sovereignty still made since.

Abraham Lincoln's victory alarmed many white southerners because this meant that their future was now in the hands of a political party that was primarily against their region's personal values and interests. The people that wanted the South to secede from the Union had their reasons to do so. They were worried that Lincoln's election might lead to future Republican administrations interfering with slavery in the states. In the Deep South, southerners feared that they might become a sticking minority in a nation that was overrun by their political opposites. With this in mind, they instead seceded from the Union and saved slavery within their states.

In November of 1860, the presidential election was one of the most momentous in the history of the United States. The land was split between North and the South and was smoldering for almost a decade. The candidates for the presidential election of 1860 were Abraham Lincoln, Republican, John Breckinridge, Southern Democrat, John Bell, Constitutional Union, and Stephen Douglas, Northern Democratic. Abraham Lincoln was against the increase of slavery into the new territories. Lincoln did not receive one vote from the south, but he did win over 50% of the Electoral College votes so Lincoln won the presidency to become the 16th President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was known as one of America’s greatest heroes because of his inconceivable impact on our nation and his unique appeal. Lincoln was a captain in the military and a lawyer all before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln was one of two U.S. presidents who was assassinated while in office. Lincoln was also the president during the roughest part of American history, the Civil War. Lincoln was heavily in favor of abolishing slavery and so most of the citizens in the northern states of the U.S... On the other hand, the south had large plantations and favored slavery because the slaves worked for free and made plantation owners and other farmers a staggering amount of profit. The slaves were not treated as human beings; therefore, the slaves were mistreated. Slave owners often beat their slaves

The freedom of America’s slaves has always been accredited to Abraham Lincoln, but he was not always the complete abolitionist as he is commonly portrayed. The “house divided”, as Lincoln depicts it in his famous ‘House Divided’ speech, of the United States during the Civil War, was not always lead towards the freedom of all mankind, and there is sufficient evidence to support this claim. The sixteenth president is most commonly remembered for inducing the courage and determination to end the Civil War, with the Emancipation Proclamation, although when it more closely studied he did not cross the great divide of enslavement vs. freedom with the submittal of that fabled document. When following the many famous quotes and speeches of Lincoln’s life, it appears that he was against all slavery and bondage. At the same time, when more closely examined, the quotes and speeches actually leaned towards his lack of strong opinion on the outcome of slavery. Lincoln is perceived as the most famous revolutionary of American history, but he does not live up to his legacy of being the eradicator of forced servitude.

1861 to 1865 he led the United States during the Civil War. He ended slavery and helped keep the union from falling apart during the war. In 1860 he received 40% of the presidential vote, but by 1865 he became popular (Holzer, Harold.). Even though his feeling towards slavery did not change Lincoln's decision to fight. He believed it was his job as president to maintain the Union.(Abraham Lincoln). Abraham Lincoln’s strategy was to advance at the Confederates at the same time. His goal for the Union armies was to destroy opposing forces. Changing generals many times he found a general that would fight aggressively, Ulysses S. Grant. (Holzer, Harold.) McDowell, Fremont, McClellan, Pope, Buell, Burnside, and Rosecrans looked harmful to Abraham Lincoln when they failed to bring success to the Union (Abraham Lincoln). He often visited his fighting grounds to see if his strategy was being used. He was dissatisfied until he found Ulysses S. Grant. During the war, Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, for the freedom of all slaves. In 1863 the Gettysburg Address was delivered to the United States, letting the federal army fight to keep the Union (ebscohost). The Emancipation Proclamation seized property of those fighting against the Union (Abraham Lincoln). Their victory was achieved April 9, 1869, but less than a week later Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (ebscohost). Abraham Lincoln was a great president, and ended the

Hurrying was not a trait that McClellan was known for. McClellan took his time and began to draw out on paper how this battle would be won. He then began moving troops around, combining armies from all regions. As McClellan was doing this President Lincoln became inpatient and ordered McClellan to move.

The reelection of President Lincoln in 1864 had a lot to do with Lincoln's policies. For example, Lincoln's lenient policies was designed to shorten the war and to give added weight to his Emancipation Proclamation. However, in late 1863, Lincoln feared that if the Democrats won the 1864 election, they would overturn the proclamation. In spite of the Republican Congress objecting Lincoln's 10 percent plan, Lincoln retaliated by refusing to sign the Wade-Davis Bill. Although, we may never know how serious the bickering was, in the end Congress was always ready to reassert their powers.

Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860. As a president of the United States, Lincoln’s goal was to keep the Union together. The problem of slavery and the secession by the South are mainly the two issues that lead to the dissolve of the Union, in which Lincoln put all his efforts to deal with during his presidency. “He believes this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. He does not expect the Union to be dissolved; He does not expect the house to fall; but he does expect it will cease to be divided.” Lincoln claimed that it is

     The South’s dominating strategy in winning the civil war was attrition. They believed they could wear down the political will of the North if they held out long enough to make the Northerners tired and question value of the means to achieve the ends. Military stalemates, guerilla war tactics and inconclusive battles would help the South achieve this goal. “Confederate armies did not have to invade and conquer the North: they needed only to hold out long enough to force the North to the conclusion that the price of conquering the South and annihilating its armies was too high, as Britain had concluded in 1781 and as the United States concluded…” (Why Did the Confederacy Lose?, pg 117)The South really enjoyed McClellan’s performance in the Southern theatre with his tendency to retreat when he could have won. This was another helpful hand the South would need to cause attrition. In response, Lincoln knew he had to do two things to prevent attrition and win the war more quickly. He needed to fire McClellan, and shift the theme of the war in the view of the North so that it would not lose its thunder. He did this by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and converting the war for unionism into the war for morality. The

After the loss at Manassas, Lincoln looked for another leader to replace McDowell, and some consideration settled on General McClellan. McClellan was at his best when he was organizing armies, not leading them into battle. Lincoln wanted the army to take over eastern Tennessee for political reasons, and McClellan for fairly sound military reasons wanted the same thing. The task was given to General Buell; it did not matter to McClellan that the area was impossible to take from the north, not to mention holding it.

Enter the presidential election of 1860, which brought these tribulations to a clash with dramatic cost. The Democratic Party divided into three groups along their provincial lines, with each person vying for control of the party and each holding dissimilar ideas about how to deal with servitude in the West. Their candidates consisted of John C. Breckinride, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas; their efforts would be rubbish, however, as Abraham Lincoln would be triumphant for the Republican Party. Lincoln stood on the grounds that the West should be completely liberated of slavery entirely; which apparently was sufficient as he won the election with less than forty percent of the popular vote. On a side note about the election, fifty-nine percent of the

American forces in the south, between 5,000 and 7,000 men, were based at Charleston under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln recognized that he would need assistance from the French navy and army to retake Savannah. On September 3, he learned that the French forces under the command of Admiral Comte d’Estaing were en route to Savannah, bringing with them ships-of-the-line and 4,000 soldiers. On September 11, Lincoln marched out of Charleston with 2,000 Continentals to link up with d’Estaing. Arriving first, d’Estaing began offensive operations to take the city. He initially offered Prevost an opportunity to surrender, but Prevost demurred, hoping that reinforcements would arrive. He was given twenty-four hours. This reprieve would prove in the end to be pivotal, as 1,000 men arrived to support Prevost's force just as Lincoln arrived to support d'Estaing. The Allied forces, when fully assembled, numbered near 7,000. Defending Savannah was a force totaling 2,500 men. Faced with overwhelming odds, Prevost organized a solid defensive plan.

Lincoln had many powerful opponents going into the election of 1864. Many of them were much more likely to be the next president than he was. The most likely candidate was nominated by the peace democrats. It was George B. McClellan, Lincoln’s former commander of the Army of the Potomac. Even Lincoln thought he was going to win the election. The Radical Republicans form a third party and

There were many issues during the election of 1864. It was during a time while the nation faced with much doubts and issues. The war was upon the country and the voters had to determine whether to vote for the fate of the country, issues that faced around the war, or would the people vote to come to an agreement toward peace. The last time that the elections held during war period was in 1812. The election of 1864 was Lincolns second term. No president ever won an election twice in a row after Andrew Jackson was president. He was widely scrutinized for the way he handled the wars. The union had suffered long times of disappointments and many ruins the president’s strategy’s. The key political issues in the era was that

The freedom of America’s slaves has always been accredited to Abraham Lincoln, but he was not always the complete abolitionist as he is commonly portrayed. The “house divided”, as Lincoln depicts it in his famous ‘House Divided’ speech, of the United States during the Civil War, was not always lead towards the freedom of all mankind, and there is sufficient evidence to support this claim. The sixteenth president is most commonly remembered for inducing the courage and determination to end the Civil War, with the Emancipation Proclamation, although when it more closely studied he did not cross the great divide of enslavement vs. freedom with the submittal of that fabled document. When following the many famous quotes and speeches of Lincoln’s life, it appears that he was against all slavery and bondage. Although when they are more closely examined, the quotes and speeches actually leaned towards his lack of strong opinion on the outcome of slavery. Lincoln is perceived as the most famous revolutionary of American history, but he does not live up to his legacy of being the eradicator of forced servitude.