The National Union Party was the temporary name used by the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
and elements of other parties for the national ticket in the
1864 presidential election
The 1864 United States presidential election was the 20th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easi ...
that was held during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
. For the most part, state Republican parties did not change their name. The temporary name was used to attract
War Democrats,
border state voters,
Unconditional Unionist, and
Unionist Party members who might otherwise have not voted for the Republican Party. The party nominated incumbent Republican President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
of Illinois with life-long Democrat
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...
of Tennessee for
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is o ...
. They won the electoral college 212–21.
Establishment
The National Union Party was created just before the general election of November 1864, when the Civil War was still in progress. A faction of anti-Lincoln
Radical Republicans believed that Lincoln was incompetent and could not be reelected. A number of Radical Republicans formed a party called the
Radical Democracy Party and a few hundred delegates met in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...
starting on May 31, 1864, eventually nominating
John C. Frémont, who had also been the Republicans' first presidential standard-bearer during the
1856 presidential election.
Baltimore Convention
Republicans loyal to Lincoln created a new name for their party in convention at
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...
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. This is the main reason why War Democrat
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...
was nominated for vice president, instead of Vice President
Hannibal Hamlin
Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 15th vice president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln's first term. He was the first Republica ...
. The National Unionists supporting the Lincoln–Johnson ticket also hoped that the new party would stress the national character of the war.
The convention's temporary chairman,
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge of Kentucky, explained that he could support Lincoln on this new ticket for the following reason:
The National Union Party adopted the following goals as its platform:
News of his nomination at the
1864 National Union National Convention elicited Lincoln's famous response on June 9, 1864:
In August 1864, Lincoln wrote and signed a pledge that should he lose the election, he would nonetheless defeat the Confederacy by an all-out military effort before turning over the White House:
Lincoln did not show the pledge to his cabinet, but asked them to sign the sealed envelope.
File:Abraham Lincoln head on shoulders photo portrait.jpg, 1864 National Union Party presidential nominee, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
File:Andrew Johnson photo portrait head and shoulders, c1870-1880-Edit1.jpg, 1864 National Union Party vice presidential nominee, Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...
Changing mood
The complexion of the war changed as the election approached.
Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
's last victory in battle occurred June 3, 1864 at
Cold Harbor. Union General
Ulysses S. Grant's aggressive tactics trapped Lee in the trenches defending Richmond. Admiral
David Farragut successfully shut down Mobile Bay as a Confederate resource in the
Battle of Mobile Bay
The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fl ...
on August 3–23, 1864. Most decisive of all, Union General
William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta on September 1, 1864, convincing even the pessimists that the Confederacy was collapsing.
Frémont withdraws
Frémont and his fellow Republicans hated their former ally
Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. Frémont, aware that his candidacy could result in victory for the Democrats, made a deal to drop out of the presidential race in exchange for Blair's removal from office. On September 22, 1864, Frémont dropped out of the race. On September 23, Lincoln asked for and received Blair's resignation.
The National Union ticket went on to win handily in the
election of 1864
The following elections occurred in the year 1864.
Europe
* 1864 Dalmatian parliamentary election
North America Central America
* 1864 Honduran presidential election
* 1864 Salvadoran presidential election
United States
* United States House of ...
, defeating the
Democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
ticket of former Union General
George B. McClellan (whom Lincoln had previously relieved of his command) and Representative
George H. Pendleton from
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
.
Election
In the
1864 congressional elections, the party won 42
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
seats (out of 54 senators seated, not including vacancies due to the secession of Confederate states) and 149 seats (out of 193) in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
. These candidates ran under various party names, including National Union, Republican and Unconditional Union, but were part of the overall Republican/National Union effort.
Post-Lincoln: Andrew Johnson presidency (1865–1869)
Upon
Lincoln's death in 1865, Andrew Johnson became the only other National Union President.
After the bitter break with the Republicans in Congress over
Reconstruction policies, Johnson used federal
patronage to build up a party of loyalists, but it proved to be unsuccessful. Johnson's friends sponsored the
1866 National Union Convention
The National Union Convention (also known as the Loyalist Convention, the Southern Loyalist Convention, the National Loyalists' Loyal Union Convention, or the Arm-In-Arm Convention) was held on August 14, 15, and 16 1866, in Philadelphia, Pennsylv ...
in August 1866 in Philadelphia as part of his attempt at maintaining a coalition of supporters. The convention sought to bring together moderate and conservative Republicans and defecting Democrats and forge an unbeatable coalition behind President Johnson and his Reconstruction policy.
In the fall of 1866, Johnson embarked upon a speaking tour (known as the "
Swing Around the Circle
Swing Around the Circle is the nickname for a speaking campaign undertaken by United States President Andrew Johnson between August 27 and September 15, 1866, in which he tried to gain support for his mild Reconstruction policies and for his prefe ...
") before the 1866 Congressional elections to attempt to garner support for his policies. His swing was heavily ridiculed and proved ineffective as more of his opponents were elected.
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in f ...
chairman
Henry Jarvis Raymond (1864–1866) lost the regard of the Republicans for his participation in the convention. The National Union movement became little more than the Democratic Party in a new form as Republicans left the movement and returned to the old party fold by the fall.
The last congressman to represent the National Union Party ended his affiliation with the party in March 1867. Johnson was
impeached by the Republican-led House of Representatives in 1868 and was acquitted in the Senate by one vote. Upon the 1869 expiration of Johnson's only term as President, the National Union Party came to an end. The platform adopted at the
1868 Republican National Convention strongly repudiated President Johnson while the platform adopted by the
1868 Democratic National Convention thanked Johnson. Johnson received dozens of votes on the first ballot of the Democratic convention, but the party ultimately nominated
Horatio Seymour. Meanwhile, the mainline Republicans decided at their 1868 national convention to use the term the National Union Republican Convention. The 1868 National Union Republican delegates nominated
Ulysses S. Grant for President and his running mate
Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax Jr. (; March 23, 1823 – January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th Speaker of the United ...
for Vice President. In 1872, all reference to Union had disappeared. Historians regard the initial National Union coalition assembled in 1864 as part of the Republican Party lineage and heritage.
[The standard multivolume history includes it with the Republican Party and does not give it a separate entry. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. ed. ''History of U.S. Political Parties: vol II: 1860–1910'' (1973).]
See also
*
1866 National Union Convention
The National Union Convention (also known as the Loyalist Convention, the Southern Loyalist Convention, the National Loyalists' Loyal Union Convention, or the Arm-In-Arm Convention) was held on August 14, 15, and 16 1866, in Philadelphia, Pennsylv ...
*
History of the United States Democratic Party
The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties of the United States political system and the oldest existing political party in that country founded in the 1830s and 1840s.
It is also the oldest voter-based political party in t ...
*
History of the United States Republican Party
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP (meaning Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the United States. It is the second-oldest extant political party in the United States after its main political rival, ...
Citations
General references
*
Donald, David (1995). ''Lincoln'', pp. 516–54
online
*Johnson, David (2012). ''Decided on the Battlefield: Grant, Sherman, Lincoln and the Election of 1864''.
*
Nevins, Allan (1971). ''The War for the Union: The Organized War to Victory, 1864–1865''. pp 97–143.
*
Nicolay, John G. and
John Hay (1890). ''Abraham Lincoln: A History''. vol 9. ch. 3, 15 and 16.
* McSeveney, Samuel T. (1986). "Re-Electing Lincoln: The Union Party Campaign and the Military Vote in Connecticut". ''Civil War History''. 32(2). pp. 139–158.
*
Waugh, John C. (2001). ''Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency''
online* Wilson, Charles R. (1936) “New Light on the Lincoln-Blair-Fremont ‘Bargain’ of 1864" ''American Historical Review'' 42#1 pp. 71–78
online
*Zornow, William Frank (1954). ''Lincoln and the Party Divided''
online
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1864 establishments in the United States
1864 United States presidential election
1868 disestablishments in the United States
American Civil War political groups
Defunct political parties in the United States
Defunct political party alliances in North America
Political parties disestablished in 1868
Political parties established in 1864
Political party alliances in the United States
Republican Party (United States)