By the emerging civil war blog. Good afternoon. Its my pleasure to introduce ray andrew redd, a native of washington county, pennsylvania. He holds a bachelors degree in history and english from Waynesburg University and masters degree from the Indiana University of pennsylvania. His certification is in secondary education and is also from Indiana University of pennsylvania. Holds a masters degree in Library Science from the university of pittsburgh. Hes currently the director of the library at Waynesburg University. Hes the author of the Gettysburg Campaign guide, a study guide. His essay, the point of no return is part of the turning points collection. It is on the 1864 president ial election and the doom of the confederacy. Currently, gettysburg churches became battlefield hospitals, an introduction to civil war medicine is what hes currently working on. In 2016 he received permission from the Pennsylvania Historical Museum commission to create a memorial marker for the home in cansen burg, pennsylvania. He was the medical Service Director during 1862 and 1863. This was dedicated on november 11th of 2017. He was reenacted civil wars and a federal service captain and most importantly as president Abraham Lincoln. With that, please welcome ray andrew redd as the next speaker. I would 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 cannonsberg at his boyhood home, which is now the borough building. 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 markup like this for letterman hospital. Thank you for the donations that came in from several different states outside of pennsylvania. Today were going to look at. We are going to look at this as if this is 2018 and were going to look back on it and see some stereo types that have come forth in the past several decades. Were going to look back on it and say, well, of course i 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 are plenty of doubters to his reelection of 1864. How does that relate to the doom of the confederacy . Did the confederates say we give up, hes in the white house, its over, march 4th, 1865, its done . No, theyre 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. So were going to look at some of the things we know. Was lincolns election to the presidency a turning point in the civil war . We debated back and forth what is the 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 m mcmcclellan . If he had won this election would the confederacy be saved . Were they all hoping for mcclelen to be president of the United States . Was there any promise of that . Did he say i will save the confederacy or im going to make my policy such that were not going to have a war with confederacy anymore. So the choices are going to be very clear in this collection and ill tell you right now neither lincoln or mcclellan are going to change minds in this campaign. The whole goal of the election was get the polls filled up with your voters, sort of like 2018 coming up. No one is changing minds. Its like whoever shows up at the polls are going to make the next election possible. Looking back at it, you look at the electoral college, 212 electoral votes for lincoln. Is that a surprise . Probably not. We look at lincoln and the second inaugural and the assassination and the monuments and say of course he should have been president a second time. Mcclellan, what did he have . He won delaware, new jersey, kentucky and that was it. Got to tell you 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 office on the job four years and only 39 of the vote came from the north. So when you look at that, 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 a ballot box on campaign or in the camps and these soldiers have to vote. Were going to find out and this will be one of those things where its 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 was the army of the potomac ever his army that they would vote for the presidency. Also at that figure it looks like a lot of Democratic PartyUnion 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 armies, theres going to be Republican Voters, democratic voters, theres going to be voters who did not vote for me in 1960. Theres also going to be some districts in louisiana, they were 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 it should be no surprise that this electoral map of 1864, two new states joined the union in 1864 that did not vote in 1860. We have the state of nevada, brand new, during the middle of the civil war. Kansas now has a state constitution thats organized and lincoln is going to win both of them. So we can see here that, wow, 212 votes for lincoln in the electoral college, of course hes going to be reelected. So theres some assumptions here that we have to look at and and. 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, youve got two plans. Youve got the abolitionist 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. Youre going to find one out of ten voters in the south saying ive always been loyal to the union. Theyre going to be struggling over the reconstruction vote. Were going to look at the confederates vote, how they looked and treated Jefferson Davis, how they felt about the politics at the time and whether they thought they had hope after the second inaugural of lincoln. Were going to look at lincolns enemies, who despised him. We know that mcclellan called him the original gorilla and did more soldiers 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 sort of our perspective of 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 that looks like this. He writes it on the inside, folds it twice. He takes it to the next Cabinet Meeting. He lays it out, says, okay, sign this. Hes at a Cabinet Meeting and 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. And 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 it, he 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 lesarned is in the hands of the radicals and he is on for ben wade. Gideon wells gets it next. Ed bates passes it to ed usher. Usher gives it back to lincoln and theyre living in suspense. Is lincoln going to say youve got your names here, sort of like a contract, and ive got to tell you what you signed on for. He doesnt do that. It goes into his coat pocket, he holds onto it and then he starts his meeting. So this is called the blind memorandum because who is blind . The cabinet people signed a blank piece of paper, what they thought the message was inside, but he didnt tell us what it was. It starts like this. This morning was 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 im withdrawing my name from the republican ballot. Theres three people, four actually that say ill take that job. And were going to talk about those guys that are all republican saying 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 abolition slavery, look under hell for me because thats where ill go. Now, did lincoln actually give up his reelection on august 23rd, 1864 . Its a blind memorandum, hes got all the cabinet members signed on. Whatever is in the paper, theyve got 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 and well say november of 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 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. 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 of 1864. Lincoln accepted or said you can put my name for candidacy in 1864, he said that in january. The convention is going to be in baltimore in june of 1864. He will get nominated and this is the plank he doesnt attend the convention, doesnt make any speeches there. This is the plank that theyre 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 front. 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. Theyre committed to an armocist, saying he will claidee a ceasefire. And theyre going to invite russia, theyre going to invite england, theyre going to invite 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 stop shooting each other, youre all going to 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 v versailles. And they say any decisions about slavery, go back to the states. Were not going to have the Supreme Court do any sessions on it, no decisions, no legislation. Whatever we have to say about slavery, the states will decide it for themselves. So weve got some foregone conclusions with the renomination of lincoln. Now, what he knows that we dont think about much, theres been so sitting president since 1840 thats 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 secede himself. Lincoln was only the second republican candidate for the presidency. The Republican Party was born 1856, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and they had one candidate so far who lost and the second one, lincoln won the presidency but he only had 39 of the vote in the north. He wasnt on the ballot in the south at all. So weve got b. J. Tubman and company, brandys wines, gins and cigars. I dont think we do politics that way these days, but at this point they rented hoeltss and they had the brandy, wine, gin and cigars and said who is most likely to win. So when lincoln is saying i dont think i can win this, his friends are coming up to him and saying i dont think so, abraham. Its not happening for you. Heres the challenges and the challengers. We have to remember theres no primary season. With our own politics it starts almost a year in advance, january, february, march, it grinds on throughout the primary. Theres none. They have the nomination in june, they have the vote in the fall. And 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 23rd, 1864 when lincoln says i dont think im going to be reelected, the election starts in 30 days. Hes not reading in the future 60 days or 75 days in advance. He says in four weeks the balloting is going to start in maine, new hampshire, work down to the point where theres going to be ballots cast in october and then in november and then well know in november. But the balloting for the presidency starts in the last week of september. Who is available if he wants to if the republicans want to split . And there is a talk at the time that the Republican Party there were going to be two. There was going to be linkicoln and the challenger to lincoln and then the democrat. Ohio senator secretary of treasury sam chase, great friend 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 was looking at chase like, do you know know who is sick . Roger be tanning, Supreme Court justice. If you 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 chase said something for about 90 days about i want to be president of the United States by july when roger tanning starts to get sick on his death bed, he zips it. Hes the type of guy, im looking at the future and i would rather be chief justice of the Supreme Court than live in the white house. If lincoln gets reelected hell probably like me enough to make me chief justice, which lincoln did. John c. Freemont, weve talked about him a little bit. He was the candidate in 1856. Lincoln put him on the back waters of the military. He didnt have any outstanding qualifications other than he was an avid abolitionist. He work with the committee on the conduct of the war. They were very enthusiastic about him. Lincoln had chastise him back in 1864 when freemont tried to freed some slaves. Lincoln said you cant do that, i can only do that and im not doing that yet. Horrace greenly, one of the premier papermen at the time. He said i could do that job. Im a bright, articulate man, everyone loves me and he has a type of appearance with big w whiskers and a tall hat and people liked to read his work. Theyre all going to say well get the voter that Abraham Lincoln cant get, the democrats. And those individuals who are saying no 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. And lincoln knew that right away. Well look at that a little bit. So june 7th, 1864 theyre in baltimore. Remember, this is the city that had a conspiracy to assassinate lincoln in 1861. They rebrand the Republican Party saying its going to be really difficult for a democrat to vote in the Republican Party, so dont we just change the name of the Republican Party . So democrats will feel okay with voting for a republican. Its now called the National Union party as of june 7th and 8th, 1864. They are 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. 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 republicans. Theyre also looking for voters out on the border states. The Union Sympathizers that have moved from, lets say, tennessee into kentucky because they were being persecuted for not being confederates, the republicans are running on a platform of unconditional surrender. There is no defeat here. The confederacy must cave in. And theyre also running on a platform that there will be a 13th amendment. Now, lets take a step back and say what did lincoln know about the 13th amendment . Theres been two. The first one appeared in january 1861. It was called the corwin amendment and this was an attempt to bring south carolina, mississippi, alabama, texas back into the union. The first 13th amendment appeared in front of congress in 42 words. No amendment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize or give to Congress Power to abolish or interfere within any state with domestic institutions thereof, 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. Its going to be a good amendment, lets do it. Heres a guy who within 500 days is going to issue the emancipation proclamation and hes endorsing the 13th amendment. Who is lincoln talking to when he says if it keeps the union together, i will sign the 13th amendment . I believe hes talking about North Carolina that hasnt seceded, virginia, maryland, delaware, kentucky, and missouri that are still in the union in january 1861. Now, take a step aside. Is this a turning point that this amendment does not get ratified . Lets pretend for a minute and go to charleston, south carolina, december 20th, 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 susession ordinance will take effect at 12 01 on 1861 when Abraham Lincoln raises his hand. Give yourselves 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 come back into the union with that as part of the constitution . Virginia and North Carolina and kentucky and missouri would say thanks very much. We didnt want to have to join the confederacy. So thats an issue thats in lincolns mind and the eep emancipation proclamation is going to be very large and very much on the table in the election of 1864. We know that the second 13th amendment has 32 words in it. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States or any other place subject to their jurisdiction. So theyre thinking about, you know, foreign conquests, and the west. 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. The 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 lincoln in 1862 says weve conquered nashville and we need a 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 and people say thats pretty good. He sent him back to be military governor and now hes on the ticket. A democrat, 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 commit 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 uneducated and theyre all manual laborers and things like that. Thats going to be an issue with him and the committee of the conduct of the war and also for his near impeachment in about two years. Who are the enemies of lincoln saying give us another candidate besides lincoln . Ben wade, committee on conduct of war, henry winter davis, same thing from maryland. Congressional reconstruction asked for 50 of the voters, lincoln says 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 is outside of washington, d. C. Hes turned back by july 13th. Jefferson davis says, okay, i think this is working. Were going to make those northerners who are happy with lincoln so angry about this war that they will vote for mcclellan. The calvary officer goes to chambe chambersburg and says give me all your green backs. You dont have it because the people decided were going to take the money and send it some place else. The calvary is here just like it was in 1864 and he burns it down. He lights it up and walks away from it. When you start burning cities, then the voters are going to turn against the guy in the white house. Thats the plan. Summer of 1684, the casualty lists of the wilderness, what grant is doing, is tearing this nation apart. There is the atlanta campaign. Atlanta isnt conquered until september 3rd. We have the congressman from the state of ohio and hes going out on the stump and saying you who is 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. Hes captured by burnside in ohio, put on trial and they find him guilty and burnside wants to lock him up, get him off the map. Lincoln says youre going to make a martyr of that guy. Lets send him to the confederacy. So they take him down to kentucky, tennessee, and just drop him off. If he loves the confederacy so much, let him live in the confederacy. Confederates get tired of this guy. He leaves from charleston, south carolina, gets on a ship, goes to canada. He lives in canada for 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 i would love to do that. And 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. The head of the new york tribune puts this not in the paper at this point, but he gets a message to lincoln and to seward and other new yorkers 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 23rd, 1864. Horace who wants to be a candidate, said before lincoln writes the 23rd memorandum, in his newspapers, and lincoln is always reading the newspapers, our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country longs for peace shudders at the prospect of fresh con skripnew 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 hes going to get reelected, and part of this is the numbers that are coming in. Im going to be were going to change not the numbers, but what they mean a little bit. Battle of the wilderness, 17,666 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, 2,075 new graves in virginia. 4,016 we need beds, 2,258 are now somewhere in the confederate prison system. Battle of north anna, 1,462 new hospital beds. The battle of cold harbor, 1,845 new graves in virginia, 9,000 new hospital beds, 1,816 disappear in the confederate prison camps. These are the totals that abraham linking 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, war wariness oh, i did that. Lets move on. Here we go. August of 1864, even the republican establishment are coming to the white house and saying i dont think so, abraham, its not your turn this time. The chairman of the Republican National committee, he has the duty to report to Abraham Lincoln, pennsylvania, indiana, theyre going to be lost in november elections. Youre not going to pick them up. The very close newspaper editor, he tells seward, he says get the message through to the president voters want peace and they may reject lincoln just on the peace platform. Mcclellan has a peace platform, lincoln doesnt have one. Alexander mcclure, pennsylvania editor, Republican Party leader, reflects on the election of 1864 in 1876 when hes writing his history. He says at no time from january 1st, 1864 through september 3rd, 1864 was there a time that lincoln excuse me, that mcclellan could not have defeated lincoln. January 1st to september 3rd, 1864, if the election had been held, he said we would have had president mcclellan. The 1863 republican predictor of the election, some of the things we know. There was a manifesto where three diplomats said we need cuba because is west is getting closed off to us and were going to ask payne to sespain to sell. This is in 1854. The Republican Party starts gathering around that. We have the wig party, which is the National Progress of economics party. We hate immigrants party, free soil, we only dont want slavery in the west, and any unaffiliated abolitionists in the Republican Party. And lincoln has to be elected by these guys. 1856 we have the civil war in kansas. 1860, republicans receive 60 , good number, but thats only in the north. The final entire nation only gets 39 of all the other states. 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 and virginia, kentucky and belle in missouri all go to one of the split candidates. Now, when we look at 1862, the midterm elections, the last before the 1864 election. The republicans erosion of the electorate, the voters are walking away from the Republican Party at the national, at the state and at the local levels, Republican Voters arent showing up at the polls. Also, what does the confederacy do in this fall of 1862 during the elections . They invade maryland, they invade kentucky, they invade missouri. The idea that were going to show the north its not invulnerable, its very vulnerable and they should change the okay paccupant of the house. Farmers arent happy. They now have to ship their grains not on the ohio, not on the mississippi river. They have to put them on railroads, which are now charging a whole lot of money, and it has to go out through the great lakes. The tariff, the issues 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. Its getting expensive. There is a group that is going to help lincoln somewhat. This is called did union leagues, the most recent book is entitled the most complete political machine that lincoln does have his friends who do write letters to the editor, who sometimes are newspaper editors and fight back against the copperheads, back against the Democratic Party, and in this political machine that is all volunteer, he didnt dream this up and say youve got to do this for me. This is the wideawakes in the 1860 election that were the bodyguards. These were these guys plus more. The emancipation issue is going to be a problem. Weve talked about the confiscation hacks this weekend, the malitia act when the First American soldiers are brought into the army. People dont like that and voters are wary about trained black soldiers. The preliminary emancipation act, and for a guy who said im okay with the first 13th amendment, for him to do this in 1862, voters are saying we didnt see that coming. He says one thing and 500 days later hes doing Something Else entirely. So the election of the 1862 will reveal that states have to make strong provisions to gather votes from the soldiers while theyre on campaign. Lincoln and the republicans studied this and say our numbers are down in 1862, where were our voters . And people say a lot of them were in the army. And the soldiers dont vote. And lincoln says take care of that. So many of the states, about twothirds of the states in the north provided provisions for soldiers voting. The question is that theres also democratic voters in blue uniforms and will they vote also . And is the army of the potomac mcclellans army and will they go for mcclellan . Theres a few bad things said about lincoln. The reconstruction as a campaign issue, weve touched upon the 10 plan and the 50 plan. We wont get into the radical republicans. Heres the platform. 1864. Hannibal hamlin from maine, hes an abolitionist and he is dismissed from the ballot and Andrew Johnson is on. General benjamin butler, i can be president , too. Im a lawyer. Im a successful general. Im an abolitionist. Think about me if you have to change from lincoln, i could 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. The 13th amendment, some people said i would vote for lincoln just because of that. The abolitionists are going to vote for him because of the africanamerican soldiers, it is now the homestead act which we mentioned earlier this morning. Thats an issue. The veteran soldiers who are done at the army, theyre saying it would be nice to have a farm in iowa, i could go there. Immigration is an issue and france and mexico is a problem that lincoln is trying to face down. What are the democrats doing . In the convention of the Democratic Party, we are going to see that mcclellan says two things, i endorse the democratic platform, but theres parts of it i cant run on. And people are saying which parts are those . Well, one is his Vice President ial candidate, which was put on the ballot, a copperhead, who wants the war to end and the states to decide the slavery. He says i really dont like that guy. Im a soldier and i have to obey the government, but i dont like that guy. Even though he and i can agree about a few things in terms of slavery. So in this election lincoln sees this, things have to go wrong for the democrats and things have to go right for the republicans, and by august 23rd, 1864, hes not seeing anything going right for the republicans. No victories in 1864 in the spring or summer. Early almost takes washington, d. C. Mobile, alabama, august 5th, is a good sign. One of the turning points that tips this election we feel is when sherman enters atlanta in september 1864. Cedar creek, you can see the landslide of Union Victories are coming just at the right time after the august 23rd, 1864, blind memorandum. So theres a Tipping Point here on the bottom righthand side, abraham, the first, his secret life is a best seller. And let me see. Things we havent mentioned. Yes, he helped write the Democratic National conventions platform, preserve the federal union and the rights of the states unimpaired. The states will decide whats going on with slavery. Many people admired mcclellan and 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, so the democratic soldiers who are voters are going to say he was my hero once, but i cant stand his Vice President ial candidate and the platform, i cant vote for that. Even people in new york who were democrats saying we finally got someone we can vote for as a democrat and theyre saying the rest of it i dont buy into it. So what are the confederates thinking at this point . Is this their doom . Alexander stevens, hes the Vice President of the confederacy. Hes 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 vermont, rob the banks. They were going to set fire to new york city on election day. They also had 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 just, yep, do that, do that. Hes 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, the piece on the boat where they were talking about how they could settle with this and lincoln and some individuals in washington, d. C. Say theres no way even after he is elected. What does Jefferson Davis want . He says peace without independence is failure. Confederacy, i will not accept peace in which there is no confederacy. Confederacy has to outlast the war. Believes that earlys invasion, give the union more of that. He favors terrorism on election day in new york city. We have the st. Albence rate of vermont on october 1864. You might know a little bit more of the inferno that they have incendiary bombs in new york at that time. They walked out of the hotel. If they wouldve just raise the window and let a breeze come through and indeed that would have been a good thing for Jeff Davidsons point of view. Lets see here, weve got the confederacys last resort in jeff davis is mine. What if you want to do . He tells lee if lincoln wednesday selection then i will find more troops. And how does he do it . He has a turning point. He decides to recruit African Americans in the Confederate Army. He says, i will send emissaries to new york and we will emancipate some lives in change in exchange for military service. So, confederate independence must outlast lincolns reelection, thats what hes thinking. So, the bottom line is what are the other possibilities . He saying also that there is going to be fraud if lincoln winds its fraud, he will never permit elections which would be on tampered with. That indeed the newspapers are lying about four pillow, they are lying about their craters, our soldiers will never do that, they are African Americans. He says, we will not submit, at all, under no circumstances, the confederacy must last. Let me go back. Yes, weve talked all about this. Strategies, we talked about election fraud. So southern strategies. Thats the soldiers vote. We touched down that. With the defeat 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, a slave set state, sent troops to maryland. Kentucky, missouri, all slave states, 200,000 individuals went in the union army and they were voters. Hundred and 50,000 African Americans from the south became one entered the military but they were not voters. So, the southerners her reject the confederacy, do they want to see lincoln as president . They are saying, well weve got Andrew Johnson as the number two man, hes a war democrat, he is a southern unionist. They like lincolns 10 plan of reconstruction. They despise the 50 plan in congress. Well the bottom line here is the votes are going to tally up one the soldiers votes are going to come in, three quarters of them are going to go for lincoln with the defeat of lincoln lead to the independence of the south . No. If mcclelland had to become president , at this point, most people are saying the generals are going to win this war regardless of what mcclelland does. The war and within six days of the inauguration and people, stories are looking back and saying the generals at this point are going to win the war no matter what mcclelland wants. If we have one on march 4th, 1865, president mcclelland, lincolns policies are there. If the august 23rd memorandum comes to fruition and hes not president , every things in place, that mcclelland has to finish this war out. Jefferson davis is saying, well it wasnt really a landslide. Youve got to cheer up just because lincoln is president. Alexander stevens says, look we are outmanned, out supplied and there are people in the confederate government saying, you know, if we have the army will disappear like frost on the morning sun if we ever have an armistice. So, as you can see, we have to take apart the election a little bit. We had to make sure that we set aside obvious facts that we had and saying, lincoln had to be reelected and he, himself, on august 23rd said, i dont think im going to win this election. What happened . What had to change to get an impact on the white house . Thank you. Wow applause she spent 2019 book the president s they not the best and worst chief president s. Through conversations with noted president ial historians. Tonight on American History tv, beginning at eight eastern, Richard Norton smith, Douglas Brinkley and bedford, contributed to the book talk about the president s historical rankings at a form recorded last spring at George Washingtons mountain burden. The book is now available in paperback in the book. Watch American History tv now and over the weekend on cspan 3. Up next on lectures in history, university of nevada las vegas professor Michael Green talks about abraham l