Decision Five: Election of1864

• There are two main candidates for President in November 1864: Abraham Lincoln and General George McClellan

• Lincoln is running on the promise to complete "the unfinished work which those who died have thus far so nobly advanced"

• McClellan is running on the promise to end the war and establish peace with the South by reneging the Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln wrote the following prediction:
  This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.  — A. Lincoln

• In order to show his compassion for the South, Lincoln has replaced his Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin, of Connecticut, with Andrew Johnson, Democrat from Tennessee

• Assume you are a typical family in 1864. You have lost 1 out of every 5 members of your family to the war, and stand to lose even more if the war continues. The dead include young brothers, fathers, uncles.

• The war has definitely turned since Gettysburg. The Union is dominating Georgia, Tennessee, and the Mississippi Valley. It seems that the Confederacy will lose if you're willing to sacrifice some more relatives, perhaps yourself.

DECISION: Who do you want in the White House, a man who will end the bloodshed, or one who will, by sacrificing more of your relatives, finish the job? Try to resist the impulse of hindsight--knowing that the war will be won quickly if Lincoln is re-elected.

Click here to see why people voted as they did in 1864