1864 National Union National Convention

The 1864 National Union National Convention was the United States presidential nominating convention of the National Union Party, which was a name adopted by the main faction of the Republican Party in a coalition with many, if not most, War Democrats after some Republicans and War Democrats nominated John C. Frémont over Lincoln. During the Convention, the party officially called for the end of the ongoing Civil War, the eradication of slavery and the adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Background

The party name was created in May 1864, during the Civil War, ahead of the 1864 presidential election, in which President Abraham Lincoln, then a Republican, was running for reelection.

The Radical Republicans, a hard-line faction within Lincoln's own party, held the belief that Lincoln was incompetent and therefore could not be re-elected and had already formed a party called the '' Radical Democracy Party'', for which a few hundred delegates had convened in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 31, 1864. They eventually nominated John C. Frémont, who had been the Republicans' first presidential nominee during the 1856 election. It was hoped that this act would cause someone other than Lincoln to gain the Republican nomination.

Republicans loyal to Lincoln created a new name for their party at the convention in Baltimore, Maryland, during the first week in June 1864, in order to accommodate the War Democrats who supported the war and wished to separate themselves from the Copperheads. The convention dropped then-Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, a Radical Republican from the ticket, and chose War Democrat Andrew Johnson as Lincoln's running mate. The National Unionists hoped that the new party and the Lincoln–Johnson ticket would stress the national character of the war.

Party platform

The party supported a Platform of 11 resolutions. Several resolutions were notable as they specified that the cause of the Civil War was slavery, called for slavery's eradication from the union, called for the complete destruction of the Confederacy, opened military enlistment to freed slaves, adopted the Emancipation Proclamation, and supported an increase in foreign immigration and asylum as just policy. Dennis Francis Murphy, member of the Official Corps of Reporters for the U.S. Senate, transcribed the unveiling of, and response to, the resolutions:

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

File:Abraham Lincoln November 1863.jpg, President
Abraham Lincoln
of Illinois
File:Ulysses S. Grant - NARA - 531118.jpg, Commanding General
Ulysses S. Grant
of Illinois
''(No Political Intentions)''
File:Mathew Brady, Portrait of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, officer of the United States government (1860–1865, full version) (1).jpg, Treasury Secretary
Salmon P. Chase
of Ohio
''(Declined Consideration)''

On the first ballot, Missouri delegates cast their 22 votes for General Ulysses S. Grant. The Missourians quickly changed their votes to make Lincoln's renomination unanimous.

Presidential Balloting / 2nd Day of Convention (June 8, 1864)

File:1864NationalUnionPresidentialNomination1stBallotBefore.png, 1st Presidential Ballot
(Before Shifts)
File:1864NationalUnionPresidentialNomination1stBallotAfter.png, 1st Presidential Ballot
(After Shifts)

Vice Presidential nomination

Vice Presidential candidates

File:President Andrew Johnson.jpg, Military Governor
Andrew Johnson
of Tennessee
File:Vice-President of the United States Hannibal Hamlin.jpg, Vice President
Hannibal Hamlin
of Maine
File:DanielSDickinson.png, Former Senator
Daniel Dickinson
of New York
File:General Butler during the Civil War face detail, from- Benjamin Franklin Butler politician - Brady-Handy (cropped).jpg, Major General
Benjamin Butler
of Massachusetts
''(Not Nominated)''
File:Maj. Gen. Lovell Harrison Rousseau LOC cwpb.07108 (1).jpg, Major General
Lovell Rousseau
of Kentucky

Though Hamlin hoped to be re-nominated as vice president, the convention instead nominated Andrew Johnson, the military governor of Tennessee. Lincoln had refused to weigh in on his preferred running mate, and the convention chose to nominate Johnson, a Southern War Democrat, in order to boost the party's appeal to Unionists of both parties.White (2009), pp. 632-635.

Vice Presidential Balloting / 2nd Day of Convention (June 8, 1864)

File:1864NationalUnionVicePresidentialNomination1stBallotBefore.png, 1st
Vice Presidential Ballot
(Before Shifts)
File:1864NationalUnionVicePresidentialNomination1stBallotAfter.png, 1st
Vice Presidential Ballot
(After Shifts)

Lincoln's acceptance

In keeping with the tradition of the time, Lincoln did not attend the convention. On hearing the news of his re-nomination, he wrote on June 9, 1864:

See also

* 1864 Democratic National Convention
* 1866 National Union Convention
* History of the United States Republican Party
* List of Republican National Conventions
* 1864 United States presidential election

References

External links

Republican Party Platform of 1864
at ''The American Presidency Project''

Lincoln nomination acceptance letter
at ''The American Presidency Project''

{{Authority control

1864 United States presidential election
1864 conferences
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant