| On November 8, 1864 Abraham Lincoln was reelected | | | | were fading. On August 23, Lincoln wrote a memo to |
| to a second term as President of the United States. | | | | his cabinet saying; |
| This was one of the few elections in world history held | | | | "This morning, and for some days past, it seems |
| in the middle of a civil war. As the president, and with | | | | exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be |
| the current dire circumstances of the ongoing Civil | | | | re-elected." |
| War, Abraham Lincoln might have tried to cancel or | | | | In 1864 the Democrat Party had as its candidate |
| postpone the election until the Civil War was over. | | | | George B. McClellan, the former Union general who |
| Instead, Lincoln said; | | | | with his constant delays and preparations for battle, |
| "If the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a | | | | had caused so much frustration and trouble for |
| national election, it might fairly claim to have already | | | | President Lincoln. The Democrat's party platform was |
| conquered and ruined us." | | | | based on ending the war. But, this turned out to be a |
| Things had not been going well for the Union. The | | | | huge mistake when news arrived in early September |
| Confederate Army had advanced so close to | | | | that the Union Army had captured Atlanta and Mobile. |
| Washington, D.C., that President Lincoln was able to | | | | Suddenly, the Democrats looked like the party of |
| use field glasses to watch a battle while standing on | | | | surrender and defeat, just as Union forces were |
| top of a parapet. On July 30, 4,000 Union soldiers were | | | | starting to win battles, and the war. |
| killed in a disastrous attempt to invade Petersburg, | | | | Lincoln won the election with 2,330,552 votes to |
| Virginia. The army needed 500,000 more soldiers, so | | | | challenger George B. McClellan's 1,835,985 votes. |
| Lincoln would probably have to call for another | | | | Lincoln had 212 Electoral College votes to McClellan's |
| unpopular draft. The war debt was becoming | | | | 21 votes. Lincoln carried every state except New |
| unsustainable. As the presidential election day drew | | | | Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. |
| near, President Lincoln's hopes for a second term | | | | |