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| Campaign | U.S. presidential election, 1864 |
|---|---|
| Candidate | George McClellan 4thCommanding General of the United States Army (1861–1862) George Pendleton U.S. Representative forOhio's 1st district (1857–1865) |
| Affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Status | Lost general election: November 8, 1864 |
| Slogan(s) | An honorable, permanent and happy peace. |
In the1864 U.S. presidential election, theDemocrats nominatedUnion Army General George McClellan forU.S. President andOhioU.S. Representative George Pendleton (who later became notable for thePendleton Act) forU.S. Vice President.[1] During the campaign, McClellan vowed to do a better job of prosecuting the Union Army effort in theAmerican Civil War than incumbent U.S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln did.[1] Ultimately, the McClellan-Pendleton ticket lost to theNational Union ticket of Abraham Lincoln and former U.S. SenatorAndrew Johnson.[1]
By the summer of 1864, theCivil War had gone on for over three years. Over 250,000 Union soldiers had been killed, with many more maimed or crippled. A Union victory was not yet in sight.[1][2] Democrats were energized by what they saw as "death, debt, and destruction with no end in sight" and also hoped to capitalize on public opposition to various policies of incumbent U.S. President Abraham Lincoln such as "emancipation, the military draft, the use of black troops, and violations of civil liberties."[1] Democrats also argued that the Republicans were advocating in favor ofmiscegenation (sexual relations andmarriage between people of different races) trying to destroy the traditional race relations in the United States.[1]
The delegates at the1864 Democratic National Convention adopted proposals by former CongressmanClement Vallandigham and CongressmanFernando Wood for a cease-fire and a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy to end the American Civil War.[1] However, the delegates also choseWar Democrat George McClellan as their presidential nominee.[1] In his fight for the Democratic nomination, McClellan beat outNew York GovernorHoratio Seymour (who would become the Democratic presidential nominee himself just four years later) and formerConnecticut GovernorThomas Seymour, both of whom ran as peace candidates.[1] Once formerTreasury SecretaryJames Guthrie withdrew from consideration, the Democratic vice presidential nomination went to Ohio Congressman George Pendleton.[1]
After he captured the Democratic presidential nomination, McClellan repudiated the peace plank of the Democratic platform and instead vowed to continue the war effort and to do a better job with this than the incumbentLincoln Administration was doing.[1] McClellan emphasized the fact that he previously led the Union military effort in the American Civil War and that he was and remains committed to "the restoration of the Union in all its integrity" due to his belief that the massive sacrifices that the Union endured during this war should not be in vain.[3] Incumbent U.S. President Abraham Lincoln worried about his reelection chances and was afraid that if McClellan won the election, theCopperheads (the Peace faction of the Democratic Party) would successfully pressure McClellan to recant his campaign promise to continue the war.[1] Thus, Lincoln made his Cabinet secretly promise to cooperate with McClellan if he won the election to win the war by the time that McClellan will be inaugurated.[1][4] Fortunately for Lincoln, the tide of the war effort began to turn in the Union's favor in the autumn of 1864 as a result of Union GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman'scapture ofAtlanta on September 2 as well asSherman's subsequent military successes.[1] These successes increased Lincoln's popularity and reduced McClellan's chances of defeating Lincoln in November 1864.[1]
With a voter turnout of 78%, incumbent U.S. President Abraham Lincoln won a decisive victory in the November general election.[1] Lincoln won 55% of the popular vote to McClellan's 45% and received over 90% of the total electoral votes (212 for Lincoln versus 21 for McClellan). Lincoln's popular vote victory was the largest since 1828 and wouldn't be surpassed again until 1872.[1] In this election, McClellan did the best in thecities and amongIrish-Americans andGerman-Americans (many of whom wereimmigrants).[1] Meanwhile, Lincoln received the votes of 78% of allUnion soldiers andsailors—something that, while not being decisive in Lincoln's victory—did help Republicans win some additional seats in theU.S. Congress and recapture control of severalstate legislatures.[1] However, McClellan could bask in the fact that he won 48% of the total vote in a bloc of U.S. states stretching fromConnecticut toIllinois (Lincoln's home state), that Lincoln underperformed in 1864 relative to 1860 in several crucial U.S. states (such asNew York,Pennsylvania, andIndiana), and that the Republicans lost theGovernorship in his (McClellan's) home state ofNew Jersey.[1]
