The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-10
Presidential Campaigns
xT-7he Lincoln-M Mc clellan Race of 1864
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By Fredric J. Haskin.

a week in advance of the "Unfon''
 convention at Baltimore. John c. Ere
 mont was nominated for President and
 John Cochrane for Vice President. and
 the platform declared for the confs-
 cation of all property in the Confed-
 crate States. There were comparative ,, ly few prominent leaders in the con vention. but 1t was the purpose to influence the Baltimore convention to take a radical stand. Lincoln had al- ready been nominated, in fact. because
 more than two-thirds of the delegates
 to Baltimore had been instructed. How
 ever the leaders might doubt Lincoln.
 the people believed In Honest Abe" Assured of his own renomination,
 Lincoln set about the task of getting
 war Democrat and a Southerner for
 his running mate. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. was nominated because Lincoln personally conducted the cam
 paign for his selection. He wanted to get the support of the War Democrats
 and he wanted to have a South erner
 on the ticKet because of it's effect in
 Europe. Lincoln held to the belief
 that secession was unconstitutional l and that the eleven States of the Con federacy were not legally out of the Union. If 1t had not been for this be- lief at the beginning of the war. the North would have taken Horace Cree ley's advice to let the wayward sis- ters depart fin peace"
 The Baltimore convention held to Lincoln's ideas. Thaddeus Stevens vas
 there fighting against every movement
 to indorse the Lincoln policy of re- construction, contending that the se-
 ceded States were actually and legal ly out of the Union. and that when
 retaken they should be treated as con. quered territory. Stevens was de- feated at every turn in the Baltimore convention. But his opposition to Lin- coln's policy and his hatred of Andrew Johnson was not ended.
 Nearly three months after he was re-nominated. Lincoln and his advisers
 reached the conclusion that Mcclellan, already agreed upon as the Democrat | ic nominee, would win the election. On August 23rd he wrote and signed a paper, which he sealed and delivered to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, with instructions not to open | 1t until after the election. ~This pa- | per read: This morning, as for some days past, 1t seems exceedingly prob able that this administration will not
 be reelected Then it will be my du- ty to co-operate with the President elect so as to save the Union between
 the election and inauguration. as he
 will have secured his election on such
 grounds that he cannot possibly save
 it afterward"
 Six days later, on August 29th, the
 Democratic national convention met in Chicago. It nominated General Mcclel-
 Ian for President and George H. Pen
 dleton. of Ohio. for Vice President.
 Then 1t made the fatal mistake, the
 blunder that Republicans say they al-
 ways expect from the Democrats, of adopting a platform. That platform declared the war to be a. failure. AL
 most at the same time came the news that Atlanta had fallen and Of Union victories in Virginia General Mo- Clellan hastened to repudiate that por- ton of the platform, but 1t was in | vain. The Confederacy was crumbling | to its fall and the people turned tu Lincoln.
 Stil the campaign waxed hot The | October elections in Pennsylvania I showed great Democratic gains and l the administration was alarmed Lin- coin got Generals Meade and Sheridan
 each to furlough 5000 Pennsylvania
 soldiers to go home to vote. He car
 ried the State on the home vote by only a few over 5000, and including the soldier vote in the field. by only 10000. New York he carried by