Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 1864 Presidential Election 20240713

He is also from Indiana University of pennsylvania. He holds a masters degree in Library Science from the university of pittsburgh and the director of the elderly library at waynesburg university. Where he also is professor. He is author of the Gettysburg Campaign guide, a study guide. He essayed pint of no return as part of the turning points collection. It is on the 1864 president ial election. And the doom of the confederacy. Currently, from gettysburg churches become battlefield hospitals, a walking tour and brief introduction to civil war medicine is what he is currently working on and forthcoming later this year in 2018. In 2016 he received permission from the Pennsylvania Historical Museum commission to create a memorial marker for lettermans childhood home. This marker was dedicated on november 11th of 2017. Since 1993 he has reenacted in the American Civil War as a federal infantry man, medical service captain and most importantly as president Abraham Lincoln. With that please welcome rea andrew redd as the next speaker. [ applause ] id like to start by saying thank you for the donors that stepped forth this time last year when i made a small announcement about the Jonathan Letterman marker from Pennsylvania Historical Museum commission. We dedicated it in canonsburg, pennsylvania, in Washington County on his birth his boyhood home which is now the borough building. I might tell you again that were working on another one, the letterman hospital in gettysburg looks like its going to be purchased and used for retail purposes and im working with the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association to try to find a few acres where we can put up a marker like this for Jonathan Lettermans hospital. Thank you very much for the donations that came in from the go fund me page from several different states outside of pennsylvania. Today were going to look at no, point it over there. Or not. Backwards. There it is. Upside down and backwards. Okay. The point of no return. Abraham lincoln and the election of 1864. We are going to look at this as if this is 2018 and were going to look back on it and see some stereotypes that have come forth in the past several decades. Were going to look back on it and say, well, of course he was going to get reelected. Thats the impression that most people have. If you read any textbook or most popular treatments its like lincoln is elected in 64, who is going to doubt that . Were going to see there is plenty of doubters to his reelection of 1864. Now, how does that relate to the doom of the confederacy . Did the confederates say, we give up. He is in the white house. Its over. March 4th, 1865, its done. No, they are not doing that. Are any other of the individuals who didnt vote for him giving up and saying, well, just forget about it, hes there . No, thats not going to happen, either. Okay. So were going to look at some of the things we know. Was lincolns second election to the presidency is turning point in the civil war is this we debated that back and forth, what is a turning point, and also is it the doom of the confederacy like many people would think reading the story that is indeed the doom of the confederacy. Could we have had a president mcclellan . If he had won this election would the confederacy be saved . Were they all hoping for mcclellan to be president of the United States . Was there any promise of that . Did he say, well, i will save the confederacy or im going to make my policy such that were not going to have a war with the confederacy anymore . So theres choices that are going to be very, very clear in this election and i will tell you right now neither lincoln or mcclellan are going to change minds in this campaign. The whole goal of the 64 election is like get the polls filled up with your voters. Sort of like 2018 coming up, its not no one is changing minds here, its like whoever shows up at the polls are going to make the next election possible. Looking back on it, you look at the electoral college, 212 electoral votes for lincoln. Is that a surprise . Probably not. In our day and age at the look at lincoln, the second inaugural, the assassination, the monuments and say of course he should have been president a second time. Mcclellan what chance did he have, 21 electoral votes, not much at all. Mcclellan won new jersey, won delaware, kentucky and that was it. A note, lincoln at the beginning of the war said if i lose kentucky we will lose the war. Well, Abraham Lincoln lost kentucky twice. He lost it in 1860 and 1864 both. Lincoln when we look at the numbers 55 of the popular vote, wow, thats incredible. For a guy who has been in the office on the job four years and he won to get the job only 39 of the vote came off in the north. So when you look at that number its like Everybody Loves lincoln. This is going to be the first time that soldiers are allowed to vote. Soldiers on active duty in the United States never voted in the United States before for any president ial election. Lincoln and other people say, you know, for good reasons weve got to make sure the soldiers come home or we set up the ballot box on campaign or in the camps and these soldiers have to vote. We are going to find out and this will be one of those things where like, yes, of course thats got to happen. This is the way its going to be. We know whats been done. Three out of four soldiers in the union army voted for Abraham Lincoln. One out of four voted for mcclellan. So we think, well, was well, army of the potomac ever mcclellans army that they would not vote for him for the presidency. Also at that figure it looks like a lot of Democratic Party Union Soldiers voted for lincoln. If he hits three out of four he didnt know this in advance, he was rolling the dice. If we have voters in the army there will be republican voters, democratic voters, voters who did not vote for mow in 1860. Theres also going some districts in louisiana, theyre democratic in 1860 and in kentucky which he lost in 1860, theyre going to produce votes now in the general election and are they going to not vote for lincoln because theyre democrats . So should be no surprise that this is the electoral map of 1864. Two new states joined their union in 1864 that did not vote in 1860, we have the state of nevada, brandnew during the middle of the civil war, they bring nevada in, cast now has a state constitution thats organized and lincoln is going to win both of them. So we can see here that while 212 votes for Lincoln Electoral College of course hes going to be reelected. So theres some assumptions here that we have to look at and examine. We have to look at the Republican Partys previous losses in the campaign of 1862. They didnt win much, they just about broke even in 1862. New issue in 1864 is the reconstruction and as we pointed out several times today you have two plans, youve got the abolitionist plan where its five out of ten registered voters in 1860 in the south has to swear a loyalty oath. Lincoln says good luck with that. You are going to find one out of ten voters in the south saying ive always been loyal to the union. They are going to be struggling over the reconstruction vote. Were going to look at the confederates vote, how they looked and treated at Jefferson Davis, how they thought about the politics of the time and whether they thought they had hope after the second inaugural of lincoln. We will look at lincolns enemies who despised him. We know that mcclellan called him the original gorilla and the baboon, did more soldiers like that have that opinion . Can we actually say that this was a turning point and as one of the things weve sort of wrestled with today so far, your turning point might not be that persons turning point. The importance that we set on things are a sort of perspective the way we see the world. So were going to look at how lincoln was looking at the world on august 23rd, 1863. He writes a memo out on a piece of paper looks like this, he writes it on the inside, folds it twice. Takes it to the next cabinet meeting. He lays it out, says, okay, sign this. Hes at a cabinet meeting, he says you cant read whats in here, but i want you to sign the back. This document was found in his desk after the assassination and it went to the library of congress. So inside here are 60 words and on the back are the seven signatures of the cabinet on august 23rd, 1864. Ive got to read you their names. You might see them a little bit front and back, but who is there . The first person that gets this piece of paper to sign is william seward, secretary of state. He signs t passes it on to the department of treasury who has also been on the joint committee on the war that we talked about this morning. He passes it on to edward stanton, secretary of war that we learned is in the hands of the radicals, that he is a lap dog for ben wade on the committee on the investigation of the war. Gideon wells gets it next, signs his name, ed gates gets it, givers it to usher, usher gives it back to lincoln. Is lincoln going to say youve got your names here, sort of like a contract and i have to tell you what youve signed on for. He doesnt do that. Goes into the coat pocket, holds on to it and he starts his meeting. This is called the blind memorandum because who is blind . The cabinet people signed a blank piece of paper, what they thought the messages inside, but he didnt tell us what it was. It starts like this, this morning as for some days past it seems probable that this administration will not be reelected. They never saw that. They never saw what they signed on for. Fill in the blank at the end of that. Will not be reelected so i am withdrawing my name from the republican ballot. Theres three people, four actually that say i will take that job and we are going to talk about those nice who are all republicans saying, yeah, you need to leave and i need to get in there and make us win this war. And make us win the election. Also if he wants to fix the situation he might say will not be reelected then i am willing to withdraw the emancipation proclamation which is causing so many problems for so many voters. We know from a previous speaker that he said, look, the emancipation proclamation imagine hell, imagine the lowest part of hell and if i pull back on the emancipation proclamation and the abolition of slavery look under hell for me because thats where ill go. Now, did lincoln actually give up his reelection on august 23rd, 1864 . A blind memorandum, hes got all the cabinet members signed on, whats ever in the paper they have to do. This is whats in the paper that they didnt get to read. Then it will be my duty, the cabinet members, to cooperate with the president elect, george b. Mcclellan as to save the union. Between this election in we will say november 64 at this point and the inauguration march 4th, 1865. As he will have secured his elections on such grounds that he cannot save it afterwards. So were going to look at and say what happens if mcclellan had won the presidency, what would he be thinking when he put his left hand on the bible and raised his right hand on march 4th, 1865 . What was his policies going to be . Lincoln says if he wins it and it looks like he is, its over. Hes not going to be able to save the union. Well, will he save the confederacy . Is that possible at this point if you elect mcclellan as president . So lets look back at october and november 1864. Lincoln accepted or said you can put my name for candidacy in 1864, he said that in january 1864 the convention is going to be in baltimore in june of 1864, we will get nominated and this is the plank he doesnt attend the convention, doesnt make any speeches there, this is the plank that they are going to be writing for him that he has to run on. First of all, were going to finish the war, were going to continue the war until we have a military victory on all fronts, there also no armistice, there will be an end to slavery. Thats what hes standing on. The Democratic Party which meets in august, maybe it was july 1864 in chicago flip side of that. They are committed to an armistice on march 5th, 1865 when mcclellan becomes president. He will declare a ceasefire. All the guns will be silent the day after he becomes president of the United States and they and theyre going to invite russia, theyre going to invite england, theyre going to insight france, probably meet in paris, and those three powers are going to sort things out for the confederacy and for the union and say, okay, were going to put this all in place, you guys just stop shooting each other, were going to work this out and you all will be happy when we get done. Try to imagine them doing that and knowing what we know about world war i and the palace of versailles. And the democratic platform says, any decisions about slavery go back to the state. Not going to have the Supreme Court do any Court Sessions on it, no decisions, no legislation. Whatever we have to say about slavery, the states will decide it for themselves. So weve got the foregone conclusion with the renomination of lincoln. Now, what he knows that we dont think about much. Theres been no sitting president since 1840 that received a renomination. Washington, jefferson, madison, monroe, all twoterm people. Jackson was the last one in 1832, and since then americans have rejected the very notion that a president could succeed himself. Lincoln was only the second republican candidate for the presidency. The Republican Party was born in 1856, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and they had run one candidate so far who lost. The second one, lincoln won the presidency but he only had 39 of the vote in the north, no vote he wasnt on the ballot in the south at all. So weve got a. J. Tubman and company, brandies, wines, gins and cigars. We dont do politics at this point, but they hashed it out and said who is most likely to say, who is winning. When lincoln was saying, i dont think i can win this, his friends were coming up and saying, i dont think so, abe, it is not happening for you. Here is the challenges. They have no nomination season. They have the nomination on june, they have the vote in the fall. Also, i want to remind you theres no National Election day the first tuesday after the first week in november. Some states that control the way people ballot, they started the last week of september. So on august 23, 1864, when lincoln said, i dont think im going to be reelected, the election starts in 30 days. Hes not reading in the future. 60 days, 75 days in advance he says in four weeks the balloting is going to start in maine, new hampshire, to the point where there will be ballots cast in october and then in november, and then we will know in november but the balloting for the presidency starts in the last week of september. Whos available if the republicans want to split . And there is talk at the time that the Republican Party was going to be two. There was going to be the lincoln and theres going to be the challenger to lincoln, and then there will be the democrat. Ohio senator, secretary of the treasury sam chase, a great friend of the committee on the conduct of the war. Hes treasury secretary most of the time, but he works with lincoln and someone leaked that he was running on a third party. Lincoln doesnt fire him and he doesnt use the treasury at all after the midsummer of 1864. He sort of put him aside and he sort of is looking at chase like, you know who is sick . Roger b. Tanny, Supreme Court justice. If you, chase, want the presidency, you go for it. But if i do win, you could be chief justice of the Supreme Court. So what are you going to do . Salmon p. Chase says nothing for about 90 days about i want to be president of the United States. By july when roger tanny gets sick on his death bed, he zips it. Hes the type of guy, i would rather look at the future and be on the Supreme Court. If lincoln is reelected he probably will make me chief justice, which lincoln did. John c. Fremont, we have talked about him a little bit. He was a candidate in 1856. Lincoln put him in on the back waters of the military. Didnt have any outstanding qualifications other than he was an avid, avid abolitionist. He worked with the committee on the conduct of the war. They were very enthusiastic about him. Lincoln had to chastise him back in 1862 when fremont tried to free some slaves and lincoln said, cant do that, i can only do that and im not doing that yet. Forest greenly, newspaper editor, new york tribune, one of the premiere newspaper men at the time, he said, i can do that job and i can do it better. Im a bright, articulate young man, everyone loves me, and he has the type of appearance with big whiskers and a tall hat and people liked to read his work. Theyre all saying, were going to get the voter that Abraham Lincoln cant get, the democrats, and those individuals who are saying no to lincoln, i cant stand the guy, were going to pick up those voters. Were going to make them republicans for one vote and were going to get the presidency. Lincoln knew that right away. We will look at that a little bit. So june 7, 1864, theyre in baltimore. Remember, this is the city that had a conspiracy to assassinate lincoln in 1861. They rebrand the Republican Party saying, you know, it is going to be really difficult for a democrat to vote in the Republican Party. So why dont we just name the name of the Republican Party so more democrats will feel okay with voting for a republican. It is now called the National Union party as of june 7th8, 1864. Theyre looking for war democrats. Remember, lincoln won the election in 1860 with only 39 of the vote, which came from the north. They need to pick up at least another 20 from somewhere. Either theyve got to get more republicans to the polls or theyve got to have democrats who are enthusiastic about the war to come and vote republican. Theyre also looking for voters out of the border states. The Union Sympathizers that have moved from, lets say, tennessee into kentucky because they were being persecuted for not being confederates, were running the republicans are running on a platform of unconditional surrender, theres no defeat here, the confederacy must cave in and theyre running on a platform that will be the 13th amendment. Lets take a step back and say what did lincoln know about the 13th amendment. Theres been two. First appeared in january of 1861. It was called the kerwin amendment. This was an attempt to bring south carolina, georgia, mississippi, alabama, texas back into the union. The first 13th amendment appeared in front of congress and 42 words. No amendment shall be made to the constitution which shall authorize or give to Congress Power to abolish or interfere within any state with domestic institutions thereof slavery including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said state. Well, the president elect lincoln, how do you feel about this . Im for it. Ill sign that. It is going to be a good amendment, lets do it. Now, here is a guy within 500 days is going to issue the emancipation proclamation and he is endorsing that 13th amendment. Who is lincoln talking to when he says, if it keeps the union together i will sign that 13th amendment. I believe he is talking to North Carolina that hasnt seceded, virginia, maryland, delaware, kentucky and missouri that are still in the union in january of 1861. Now, take a step aside. Is this a turning point that this amendment does not get ratified . Lets pretend for a minute, go to charleston, south carolina, december 20, 1860, and say, hey, you guys are kind of anxious to get out of the union, why dont we do this . Why dont we just insert a clause and say, this secession ordinance will take effect at 12 01 noon on march 4, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln drops his hand on the bible and raises his other. Give yourself 90 days and keep your representatives and senators in congress, south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, texas, they all pulled out of congress. What would have happened if they would have had a chance to vote on the first 13th amendment . Would the south have come back into the union with that as part of the constitution . Virginia and North Carolina and kentucky, missouri would say, thanks very much, we didnt want to have to join the confederacy, but. So thats an issue thats in lincolns mind, and the emancipation proclamation is going to be very large and on the table in 1864. The Second Amendment says neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except for punishment of crime where of the party shall be duly convicted in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. So theyre thinking about foreign conquest. Any other and the west, you know, if we move off the continent or if we have more territories in the west, theyre excluding slavery from the west, which was one of the large issues in the 1850s. Republican National Nominating Convention in baltimore in june throws hamlin off the list of the vice presidency. Hes going to be replaced by Andrew Johnson. Hes an abolitionist and he has friends on the committee on the conduct of the war. Andrew johnson is going to be very attractive. Hes a democrat. Hes a loyal democrat. Tennessee seceded. Andrew johnson stayed in washington, d. C. And said, im still a senator from the state of tennessee in the United States Congress Even though everyone else has left and gone to the confederacy. He stays in congress for a small period of time, hes on the committee on the conduct of the war, and then lincoln in 1862 says, well, we have conquered nashville and enough that we need a military governor. Andrew johnson, why dont you go back, you had that job before you were senator, why dont you go back and be a military governor. He accepts. People say, thats pretty good. He sent him back to be a military governor and now hes on the ticket, a democrat, a war democrat who has been loyal, stayed in washington, d. C. He thinks that, yes, we should get the south quickly back into the union. The 10 plan by lincoln, thumbs up, but he will not permit to give any protection to former slaves. He says, why are they so special . Theyre not even citizens yet. We cant offer them too much because theyre you know, theyre uneducated and theyre all manual laborers and things like that. Thats going to be an issue for him and in the conduct of the war and his near impeachment in about two years. Who are the enemies of lincoln saying, give us another candidate besides lincoln. Then wade, committee on conduct of war, henry winter davis, same thing from maryland. Congressional reconstruction asked for 50 of the voters. Lincoln said 10 is enough. What is Jefferson Davis thinking about this time . Why dont you leave the valley and go up to maryland and see what you can do with washington, d. C. So during the Campaign Season after the nominating conventions are done, a Confederate Army invades maryland and is outside of washington, d. C. Turned back by july 13th. Jefferson davis says, okay, i think this is working. Were going to make the northerners happy with lincoln so angry about this war they will vote for mcclelland. General mccrossland leaves the valley, goes to williams burg, asks for huge give me all of your gold, all of your greenbacks. They decided to take all of the money and he burns chambersburg down entirely. He walks away, says it is okay. When you start burning cities like the union army has done sometimes, then the voters are going to turn against the guy in the white house. Thats the plan. Summer 1685, the casualty list summer of 1864, what grant is doing is tearing the nation apart. Theres the atlanta campaign. Atlanta isnt conquered until september 3rd. We have a colonel from the congressman from the state of ohio going out on the stump and saying, you who are waiting to be drafted, you should go to canada, you should not go to the draft. Thats against the law for him to say that. He is captured by burnside in ohio, put on sign and they find him guilty and burnside wants to lock him up, take him away. Lincoln said, no, you are going to make a martyr of the guy, send him to the confederacy. They take him to tennessee and drop him off. If he loves the confederacy, let him live in the confederacy, lincoln says. Confederates get tired of this guy a whole lot. He leaves from charleston, south carolina. He gets on a ship, go to canada. Lives in canada about two or three weeks, crosses the great lakes and he shows up in chicago at the Democratic National convention. They honor him, wont you please help us write our campaign platform. He says, id love to do that. So these individuals are swarming around him like he is why dont we run him for president . I dont know, he just got back from canada. Also, the idea that the enlistment drive in july comes up to about 500,000 new soldiers. Greeley, head of the new york tribune says and he puts it not in the paper at this point but gets a message to lincoln and seward and others that lincoln knows, if lincoln did not do something to meet this longing for peace, then lincoln and the republicans will be beaten out of sight in november. These are words that lincoln heard before august 23, 1864. Forest greeley who wants to be republican candidate for president says on august 18th before lincoln writes the 23rd memoranda, our country longs for peace, shoulders at the prospect of fresh conscription, of other wholesale devastation and new rivers of human blood. Thats on the new york tribune of august 18th. We now have the weight of the war on Abraham Lincolns shoulders. On august 23rd he doesnt think he is going to get reelected, and part of this is the numbers that are coming in. Now, im going to be we are going to change not the numbers but what they mean a little bit. Battle of the wilderness, 1766 casualties. 2,246 new graves in virginia. 12,037 new hospital beds needed in the hospitals in washington, baltimore, new york, philadelphia, pittsburgh, any place else. 3,383 soldiers disappear in the confederate prisoner of war camps, salisbury, bell island, newly opened andersonville. Continue on to spotsylvania, 2,725 new graves in virginia. 14,416 we need beds in the hospitals. 2,258 are now somewhere in the confederate prison city. Battle of north anna, 223 graves. 1,460 new hospital beds. 290 people disappear in the confederate prison. Battle of cold harbor, 1845 new gaves in virginia. 9,000 new hospital beds. 1,116 disappear in confederate prison camps. These are the totals that Abraham Lincoln says, nobody is going to like me for this war and im not going to be reelected. People are walking in the white house and saying this. Summer of 1864. Oh, i did that. I did that. Lets move on here. I did that. Okay. Here we go. August of 1864, even the republican establishment are coming to the white house and saying, dont think so, abraham, it is not your turn this time. Henry raymond, chairman of the Republican National committee, he has the duty to report to Abraham Lincoln. Pennsylvania, indiana, theyre going to be lost in the november election. Youre not going to pick them up. Weed, a close friend to seward. He tells seward, get the message to the president , voters want peace and they may reject lincoln just on the peace platform. Mcclelland has a peaceful platform, lincoln doesnt have a peace platform. Alexander mcclure, pennsylvania editor, politician, republican leader, reflects on the election of 1864, about in 1876 when he is writing his history. He says, at no time from january 1, 1864, through september 3, 1864, was there a time that lincoln excuse me, that mcclelland could not have defeated lincoln. January 1st to september 3, 1864, if the election had been held on any of those days, said we would have had president mcclelland. The 1860 republican victory as a predictor of the 1864 election, some of these things we know. Im not going through all of them right now. But there was a manifesto where three diplomats said we need cuba because the west is getting closed off to us, so were going to get it one way or the other way. Were going to ask spain to sell it to us or we will declare war on spain. This is in 1854. The Republican Party starts gathering around that. They had the whig party which is the National Progressive party. Nonothing, free soil parties, and any unaffiliated are in this party. 1856 we have the civil war in kansas. 1860, republicans receive 60 , a good number, but only in the north. The final hub of the entire nation, he only gets 39 of all of the other states. The Republican Party is young, disorganized, labeled a black party, labeled a Disunion Party in 1860. So we need 152 votes to be elected in 1860. He gets just enough for that. Breckenridge gets two states, virginia, kentucky and missouri go to one of the split candidates. What do we look at when we look at 1862, the midterm elections which is the last election before the 1864 election . Republicans see erosion of their electorate. The voters are walking away fro railroads which are now charging a whole lot of money and it has to go out through the great lakes. The morrell tariff, the issue that now imports are being very expensive and people are looking at the Republican Party and saying, you guys are all about the people who grow the economy such as bankers, but i dont see you caring a whole lot for farmers or factory workers. It is getting expensive. There is a group that is going to help lincoln somewhat. This is called the union leagues. The most recent book is entitled the most complete political machine that lincoln does have his friends who write letters to the editor, who sometimes are newspaper editors and who fight back against the copper heads, fight back against the Democratic Party. And in this political machine that is all volunteer, he didnt dream it up and say, you got to do this for me. This is the wide awakes in the 1860 election that were the body guards. These are these guys plus more. The emancipation issue is going to be a problem. Weve talked about the confiscation act here this weekend, the militia act when the First American soldiers are brought into the army. People dont like that. The voters are very wary about trained black soldiers. The preliminary emancipation act. For a guy who said im okay with the first 13 amendment, for him to do this in 1862, voters are saying, well, we didnt see that coming. He says one thing and 500 days later he is doing Something Else entirely. The election of 862 make strong provision that they have to gather votes while on campaign. They study this and say, the numbers were down in 1862, where were the voters . People say, a lot were in the army and the soldiers dont vote. Lincoln says, take care of that. So many of the states, about two thirds of the state in the north will provide provisions for soldiers voting. The question is that theres also democratic voters in blue uniforms. Will they vote also . Is the army of the potomac, mcclellands army, and will that whole army go for mcclelland. All right. Theres a few things, bad things said about lincoln. The reconstruction is a campaign issue. We touched upon the 10 plan and the 50 plan. We wont get into the radical republicans. So here is the platform. 1864. Hannibal hamlin from maine, he is an abolitionist. He is dismissed from the ballot and we put Andrew Johnson on. General benjamin butler, i can be president , too. I am a lawyer. Im a successful general, im an abolitionist. Think about me if you have to change from lincoln, i can do that job, and the south thinks im a beast. They dont like me. Thats qualification for the job, too. Things that the emancipation is going to do is provide issues. 13th amendment, some people said, i would vote for lincoln just because of that. Abolitionists are going to vote for him because of the africanamerican soldiers. Its now the homestead act which we mentioned before later this morning, earlier this morning, the homestead act is an issue. Veteran soldiers done at the army are saying, it would be nice to have a farm in iowa. I could go there. Immigration is an issue and france and mexico are a problem lincoln is trying to face down. What are the democrats doing . In the convention of the Democratic Party we are going to see that mcclelland says two things. I endorse democratic platform, but theres parts of it i cant run on. People are saying, well, which parts are those . Well, one is the Vice President ial candidate put on the ballot, a copper head just like vlandingham, who wants the war to end, he wants the states to decide the slavery. I dont like that guy. I am a solder and i have to obey the government, but i dont like that guy even though he and i can agree about a few things of slavery. In this election, and lincoln sees this, things have to go wrong for the democrats and things have to go right for the republicans. By august 23, 1864, he is not seeing anything going right for the republicans. No victories in 1864, in the spring or summer. Early in almost takes washington, d. C. , chambersburg is burned down. Mobile, antonio brown, august 5th is a good sign when they take alabama. One of the turning points that tips the election we feel is when sherman enters atlanta in sent 1864. Fisher schill has been mentioned as a turning point in the collection. It is. Cedar creek. You can see the landslide of victories are coming at the right time after august 23, 1864, a blind memorandum. Theres a Tipping Point on the bottom righthand side, abraham, the first, it is a best seller. Things we have not mentioned. Yes, valandingham helped write the platform, presearched the union and the states unimpaired. The states will decide what is happening with slavery. Many people admired mcclelland, said, ill vote for that guy, good soldier. People in the army saying, good soldier, i can vote for that guy, but i hate the democratic platform. Were in this war to win. We are not going to have an armistice. So the democratic soldiers who are voters are going to say, he was my hero once but i cant stand the Vice President ial candidate, and the platform, i cant vote for that. Even people in new york were democrats saying, we finally got someone to vote for as a democratic but the rest i dont buy into. What are the confederates thinking at this point . Is this their doom. Alexander stevens, hes Vice President of the confederacy. He is not agreeing with his boss, Jefferson Davis. He says, yeah, were getting it all wrong. We cant burn down northern cities. Theyre going to vote for lincoln because were burning down northern cities. Also, the confederates invade st. Albans, vermont, rob the banks, theyre going to set fire to new york city on election day. They also have plans to release prisoners of war from johnsons island off of erie, pennsylvania, and from camp douglas in chicago, and Jefferson Davis for the most part, yeah, do that, do that. He is going to try to make the voters so angry that they will get rid of Abraham Lincoln. You might think at this point of spielbergs lincoln and the piece alexander stevens, and the piece on the boat. They were talking about how far they could settle for this and lincoln and others say theres no way after he is elected. What does Jefferson Davis want . He says, peace without independence is failure. The confederacy and president of the confederacy, i will not accept a peace in which there is no confederacy. Confederacy has to outlast the war. He believes the early invasion, the burning of chambersburg give the union more of that. He fears terrorism in new york city on election day. We have the raid in vermont, october 18, 64. You might know a bit about the inferno, they had incendiary bombs at that time. If they would have raised the window it would have been a good thing for Jefferson Daviss point of view. Lets see here. We have the confederacys last resort in jeff daviss mind. What does he want to do . Tells lee if lincoln wins this election i will find more troops. How does he do it . He has a turning point. He decides to recruit africanamericans into the Confederate Army. He said, i will send emissaries to europe and we will emancipate some in exchange for military service. So confederate independence must outlast lincolns reelection. Thats what he is thinking. So the bottom line is what are the real possibilities . Oh. He is saying also that there is going to be fraud if lincoln wins, it is fraud. He would never permit elections which would be untampered with. That indeed the newspapers are lying about the pillow, theyre lying about the crater, our soldiers would never do that to africanamericans. He said, we will not submit at all, under no circumstances, the confederacy must last. Let me see. Should i go back . Yes, we have talked about all of this. Strategies, we have talked about election fraud. So three southern strategies. Lets do that. Thats the soldiers vote. We touched on that. Would the defeat of lincoln lead to the independence of the south . Thats a question we have to ask ourselves. The notion is that the confederates lost 200,000 men to the union army. Delaware, slave state, sent troops to the union army. Maryland, kentucky, missouri, all slave states, 200,000 individuals went into the union army and they were voters. 150,000 africanamericans from the south became entered the military but they were not voters. So the southerners who reject the confederacy, do they want to see lincoln as president . Theyre saying, well, weve got Andrew Johnson as the number two man. He is a war democrat. He is a southern unionist. They like lincolns 10 plan of reconstruction. They despise the 50 plan of congress. So the bottom line here is that the votes are going to tally up did i get there we go. The soldiers votes are going to come in. Threequarters of them are going to go for lincoln. Would the defeat of lincoln lead to the independence of the south . No. If mcclelland had to become president , at this point most people were saying the generals are going to win the war regardless of what mcclelland does. The war ends within 60 days after the inauguration and historians looking back on it say the generals at this point are going to win the war no matter what mcclelland wants. On march 4, 1865, if we have president mcclelland, lincolns policies are there. So if the august 23rd memorandum comes to fruition and hes not president , everything is in place that mcclelland has to finish this war out. Jefferson davis is saying, well, it wasnt really a landslide. Got to cheer up just because lincoln is president. Alexander steven says, look, we are outmanned, outsupplied and people in the confederate government says, you know, if we have an armistice the army will disappear like frost on the morning sun, if we ever have an armistice. So, as you can see, we had to take apart the election a little bit. We had to make sure that we set aside obvious facts that we had that said, oh, lincoln has to be reelected. He, himself, on august 23rd said, i dont think im going to win this election. What happened, what had to change to get him back in the white house. Thank you. [ applause ] cspan 2019 book the president s noted historians rank the best and worst chief executives and provides insight into notes president ial historians. Tonight at American History tv, contributors to the book talk about the president s historical rankings at a forum recorded at mt. Vernon. The book is now available in paperback and ebook. Watch American History tv now and over the weekend on cspan. Sunday night on q a, historian jeff gwynn discusses the book the vagabonds about the road trips taken by henry ford and thomas edison. They would take a car trip into the everglades. It would be a lot of exotic plants and animal life and it would be an adventure. It was pointed out to them that there is not really any roads there and it is dangerous and there is alligators and worse and people could die. But they knew better. The trip lasted a day and a half. There was a monsoon. There were snakes. There were alligators. They fled but they liked the idea. And so it came about they would take a trip once a year if they could. But with a little better planning so disaster would be less looming. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan q a. Up next on lectures in history, university of nevada las vegas professor Michael Green talks about Abraham Lincoln and the 1860 president ial election, describing the Political Climate and the background on the other candidates and the deliberations at the party conventions. The mr. Lincoln won the presidency over three other candidates wit just under 40 of the popular vote. Well, all right. So so we got lincolns ancestors over