The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-10-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsHIN. Director.
washington, d. G.
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS.


difficult for this generation. ackno~l-
edging Abraham Lincoln as one of the
greatest of men and as the greatest
leader of the Republican party, to
realize the fact that he won his re-
nomination and reelection to the
presidency in 1864 over the greatest
obstacles. Practically every leader In
the Republican party was opposed to
Lincoln's denomination. Nearly every
prominent Republican in the country
believed that Lincoln could not defeat
General Mcclellan if he were renomi-
mated. But the people of the whole
North rose up in their might, ran
rough-shod over the politicians and In
structed their delegates TO vote ror
"Old Abe.'
Months after the nomination was
made it seemed certain that McClel-
land would be elected. The Republi-
can campaign leaders gave up nope
and Lincoln himself admitted defeat.
Two months before the erection the
tide turned the other way, thanks to
a Democratic blunder and a victory
won by the Union Armies OF the South.
The Democratic party nad been a
wonderful political machine and had
dominated the country for sixty years.
1t had been more powerful in the
North than in the South for q goodly
portion of that six decades. 1t was too
four years. So greatly did the RepuD-
lican organization fear II, notwItn-
standing its broken condition, that the
Republican leaders deliberately ap-
Jured their party name and called a
national Union" convention to meet
at Baltimore early in June. The ''Un-
ion" party it was that renomlnated
Lincoln, not the Republicans.
Two Kinds of Democrats.
The Democrats of the states rernain-
ing in the Union were divided into two
camps-War Democrats and Peace
Democrats. Both factions were rather
free with their criticism of Lincoln's
administration, but neither could say
the hard things that the Radical Re-
publcans" were saying. The Peace
Democrats were those who believed in
letting the southern states go, or in
anything to bring peace. They were
all accused, and many were guilty, of.
being in sympathy with the Confed-
crates. They were the "dough-faces"
who had supported Pierce and Bu-
chanan and Breckenridge in the past.
They were now the hated and despised
"Copperheads." One of the more
pleasant Republican campaign songs
of the period was:
"Of all the factious men we've seen,
Existing now or long since dead,
No one was ever known so mean,
As him we call a Copperhead.
A draft-evading Copperhead,
A rebel aiding Copperhead.
A Sowing, slandering, bowling, pander-
ing,
Vicious, States Rights Copperhead"
If the Copperheads were hated, they
were not SO dangerous to Lincoln po-
litically as the radicals of his own
party. He knew where to place the
Copperheads, but it was hard for him
to fight the radicals like Fremont,
Thad Stevens, Ben Wade and others
of that ilk who were opposed to him
because he would not agree to the
confiscation of all pSivate property in
the south. 1t was even more difficult
for Lincoln to meet the determined
opposition of men like Salmon P.
Chase, William H Seward and Edwin
NJ. Stanton, who held him in ill-con-
cealed contempt. And it was painful to
Lincoln to see men like Horace Gree
ley and Charles Sumner openly oppose
his denomination on the ground that
he could not possibly be elected.
Enemies Within the Ranks.
The Radical Republicans held a
national mass convention at Cleveland
a week in advance of the Union" con-
vention at Baltimore. John c. Free
ment was nominated for president and
John Cockrane for vice president, and
the platform declared for the con-
fiscation of all property in the Con-
federate states. There were compare
lively few prominent leaders in the
convention. but it was the purpose to
Influence the Baltimore convention to
take a radical stand. Lincoln had al
ready been nominatedP-in fact, because
more than two-thirds of the delegates
to Baltimore had been instructed.
However the leaders might doubt Lin
coin. the people believed in Honest
Abe
Assured of his own denomination,
Lincoln set about the task of getting
| \ - &a1s
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 southerner
on the ticket because of it's effect in
Europe. Lincoln held to the belief
| that secession was unconstitutional
and that the eleven states of the Con-
| federacy were not legally out OF the
Union. If it had not been for this
| belief at the beginning of the war, the
north would have taken Horace Gree
! ley's advice to ''let the Maynard sis
tiers depart in peace"
The Baltimore convention held to
| Lincoln's ideas. Thaddeus Stevens
was there fighting against every move
ment to indorse the Lincoln policy OF
reconstruction, contending that the
seeded states were actually and legal
| ly out of the Union. and that when
retaken they should be treated as con-
uuered territory. Stevens was de-
| feated at every turn in the Baltimore
convention. But his opposition to
Lincoln's po,'cy and his hatred of An
drew johnson was not ended.
A Democratic Blunder.
Nearly three months after he was
renominated, Lincoln and his advisers
reached the conclusion that Mcclellan,
| already agreed upon as the Demo-
/ fif.fv1 I7n
On August q he wrote and signed
| a paper, which he sealed and deliver
ed to the secretary of the navy, Gideon
| Welles, with instructions not to open
| it until after the election. This paper
read: This morning, as for some days
past, it seems exceedingly probable
| that this administration will not be
| elected. Then it will be my duty to