Cabinet members sign the blind pledge. She also talked about how important the soldier was to the outcome of the election. Election. N the 1864 this talk was part of a symposium hosted by the emerging civil war blog. All right, i am not going to adjust the microphone, because we spent some time getting it adjusted for meg. I apologize if i look like i am hunched over. [laughter] i hate to stereotype, but i am sure that meg looks like a mildmannered middle school math teacher. Ironically that is exactly what , she is. [laughter] as she has educated by day, by night she has been working on her degree in military history. She is just about to wrap up her masters degree. In one of the most courageous acts i have seen from anybody, basically she is reinventing herself. It has been a great adventure for her to discover the American Civil War from the perspective of a serious scholar, but also from the perspective of somebody who is loved it nearly four dearly for years. It is my pleasure to bring all the way from california one of our contributors to emerging civil war. She will be releasing the next book in our emerging civil war book series later this fall, the aftermath of battle, which answers that very important and poignant question what did they , do with all of the bodies . Definitely looking forward to that. In the meantime she will pick our brains with what she considers the most pivotal event of 1864, the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. Meg thompson. [applause] good morning. I am meg thompson and i am from california. Sometimes people ask me what california has to do with the civil war . That is not the topic, but i have an answer. In 1861 it was a new state. There were not a lot of native sons and daughters. When the war broke out, people turned around and went back east to the states they originally came from and volunteered to fight. It is interesting how it fell out. Northern californians usually fought for the union and Southern Californians usually fought for the confederacy. More is known about the union californian units. They became the 69th, 71st, and 72nd, 160 pennsylvania volunteers. All told, california divided provided more troops per capita than any other state in the civil war. California also sent monthly over 5 million in gold to purchase war bonds. More than any other state. And they gave more money than any other state, in gold, to the Sanitary Commission for the entire duration of the war. I would say that california gave both blood and treasure to the war. That had a great deal to do with it. One of the things that has come across really clearly from yesterday to today is how important it is to look at primary documents. Primary documents for historians are looked at by a process known as a close reading. Close reading is a careful, briefned examination of a text. It is interpretive in nature and focuses on the specifics. Try to put the passage you are reading into such context as possible. Reading. As a historian, you need to know a lot about the general to understand the specific. Lets look at an example. Here is a general point of view. Generally gives an order to jeb stuart in 1863. What theto find out union army is up to. This does not sound like an unusual order to stuart. He has done it before. He can do it again. He takes his troopers out for a ride around to gain information. None of this seems strange or character. The problem is, generally is he, ill physiologically and had actually had a heart attack at this period. He was still grieving the death of his daughter anna. Anna had been born with a large disfiguring birthmark on her face, and a childhood accident had left her blind in one eye. This added to her further disfigurement. Those of you who are fathers and mothers know that if you have a child like that they are special to you. Lee knew that she would need him in a way that his other children did not. And then she died and she was and he was not there. He was additionally still missing stonewall jackson. He was less than his usual self. To suggest that he might have been a tad grumpy is not a stretch. Lieutenant George Campbell brown overhears lee expressing that he is uneasy and irritated by stuarts conduct, that he is blaming him for the defeat at gettysburg. Brown claims that he dressed steward down upon his return to the army of northern virginia. Everybody pretty much knows that. You have seen gettysburg, you know that. And knowing all of this, is a historians job. It is necessary information to be able to perform a close reading. Particularly if that close reading is lees famous letter to stuart written after gettysburg. The sentence in the letter, the energy and promptness of yourself and your command elicits my high admiration. This takes on a new depth of meeaning when placed in the context of gettysburg. Especially the words energy and promptness. This is exactly what lee had been exasperated by in july. This is the sort of picky detail that a historian looks for in a close reading. Lets turn to the subject at hand. The first close reading is a lincolns blind memorandum. I am a schoolteacher, and School Teachers give out handouts, so i do have a handout. [laughter] included in this is a copy of the blind memorandum in lincolns own hand. There are two copies, the front part with the text in the back where the cabinet members signed it. While i was doing research for this topic, i looked at the usual suspects. Lincoln biographers. These guys do not give very much page time to an explanation of the letter that lincoln wrote on august 23, 1864. Lincoln folded and sealed the letter without revealing the contents to the members of the cabinet. He asked them to sign their names on the back. Because they signed their names without reading the document, it has become known as the blind memorandum. Signed it blind. It seems like a strange thing for a president to do. Had they read it, however there , might have been startling reactions. The text of the blind memorandum is this morning, as well as in some days past, it seems to me exceedingly probable that this administration will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to so cooperate with the president elect as to save the union between the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured the election in such grounds that he cannot possibly save it afterwards. So we asked why would the , president write this . Comply andcabinet sign it . No one has disclosed by signing it, they were date stamping an offer to the next president elect. Lincoln was not only offering his cooperation, he was offering the cooperation of his cabinet. Read the blind memorandum now, we have the benefit of hindsight. It is easy to insert the name George Mcclellan into each place lincoln only wrote he. It is hugely important to remember that on august 23, 1864, lincoln did not know who was opponent would be. Mcclellan had not been nominated. The peace platform had not been written or accepted. The Democratic Convention was not held until august 29. Lincoln made an educated guess but nothing else. I feel lincolns motive for having his cabinet date step this memorandum date stamp this memorandum, he was prepared to do what he thought was best for the country, even if he only had a few more weeks in office. Maybe lincoln envisioned himself and the president elect standing together in the field. Doing all that could be done trying to end the war before the , inauguration in maybe he march. Envisioned having to do it alone. It is a fairly dramatic gesture. It is probably not even constitutional. But is it what it seems on the surface . What were lincolns real aims . We have to ask what else lincoln might have meant if he truly felt he was going to be defeated. The document is deeper. This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this administration will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to to what . Is it possible that lincoln is making an offer of cooperation to whoever the next president is, or might it be something less altruistic . Is it Something Like it will be my duty to step aside as president . So the republican or the union party might nominate someone who has a better chance of winning . That is what Lyndon Johnson said he was doing after the tet offensive in 1968. The other possible choices for the republican party, it becomes clear that nobody, not John C Fremont or salmon chase was better suited to lead the country than Abraham Lincoln. What are the other options . This morning, it seems exceedingly possible that this administration will not be reelected, then it will be my duty to abandon the emancipation proclamation . Lincoln was well aware of the that wasusness generated by the emancipation proclamation. 1860 four, advisers were still trying to get the president to back away from that proclamation. He answered those wellmeaning folks in this manner. Will be damned for time and eternity if i return to slavery the black men who are fought for this country. So no, he is not going to change his mind about emancipation. So then it will be my duty to open up negotiations with the confederacy . Lincoln was adamant that he would accept peace under two and only two circumstances, one, the restoration of the union, and two, the south had to agree to abandon slavery. Isnt this what the war was about . The south is not going to say, oh, yeah, thats good advice. They will never accept these provisions. There had been peace talks already, but lincoln had always made his feelings as clear as the water in trout pools. It was union and emancipation and it would never be anything else. This morning, as in some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this administration will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to suspend elections . Again, no. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that at any time of the console to postpone or cancel the election of 1864. Rather just the opposite. To amendaged states their constitutions to provide for absentee voting. He worked with the army and the navy to allow elections to occur. He ordered his commanders to allow the flow of Campaign Materials into union camps and aboard ships. Lincoln is quoted as saying after the fact we cannot have a free government without elections. If the rebellion could force is to forgo or abandon national elections, it can claim to have already ruined us. This was in keeping with his interpretation of the constitution. He felt that there was no greater principle in that document than the election in which the people, as in we the people, determine their representatives. So it really was about altruism. Nothing else would work. None of these options guaranteed none of these other options would work. None of these options guaranteed that the states would once more be united and that slavery would be forever eradicated from the land. Lincoln considered that he might lose the election, but he did not consider, even for a moment, the idea of giving up the two things that he started the war in the first place. Union and slavery. I mentioned the mysteriousness of the blind memorandum. All instances of greatness seemed to have something a little bit mysterious about him. I think a close reading of the blind memorandum shows why he was such a great resident. His faith in the people, his sincerity to his dedication for emancipation, and Abraham Lincoln knows that the war has gone too long and has been too bloody. Nevertheless he believes in himself and the men who fought the war. He refuses to allow the soldiers to feel that they would lose. His fold his soldiers had not fought and died in vain. It was almost 150 years ago to this day when the blind memorandum was finally shared with the cabinet. They were stunned to see that he had offered their cooperation. These 60 simple words give it give the world and on unfettered look into the soul of one of the greatest president s. So, that is the blind memorandum. Thed close reading address to be ohio regiment. This is august 22, 1864. You have a copy of that as well. As important as it was to keep people in the field, it was still important to keep the capital, washington, well guarded. They were the volunteer militia units from ohio. Their commander had volunteered to help in this endeavor. Interim, in the reorganized its militia system , and renamed its state troops. Is really important. They renamed them the national guard. Lincoln took them up on the offer, and that resulted in more men being sent from ohio to guard the capital. By august, most of them were returning home. The president spoke with three of the regiments in august of 64. He spoke to the ohio one 64th, 166, and 168. He had already had the nomination of the republican convention. But, again, nobody knew who would carry the banner for the democrats, only that it would be someone powerful enough to upset the incumbent. We know that it was mcclellan, but again there had not been a , Democratic Convention yet. The timing of the speeches is crucial to understanding the importance of the words that lincoln chose to address these soldiers. It is not an antimcclellan speech. Ok . This particular speech was written on or about the same day as the blind memorandum. The future was looking dim for lincolns reelection. There had been no significant battlefield successes since gettysburg. Grants plan had resulted in nothing but high union casualties. The republican bosses were concerned that the voting public, which at that point were white men, had not gotten behind the emancipation proclamation. Even though there were now black soldiers now serving in the union army, for the first time in history. There would be some form of voting made available for soldiers serving in the field. As of 1862, only wisconsin was allowing men to vote somewhere other than their local district. The war was going to extend through the elections of 1864, and this was going to force states to come to grips with an impossible decision. Should they deny their soldiers fighting in the war the right to suffrage because they were away from home . Or should they pass laws and create systems to allow those soldiers to vote in absentia . At this point in time, candidates did very little personal campaigning. Lincoln was no exception. He did take every chance to speak to the soldiers, however. This speech was a farewell gift. Lincolns short speeches there are three of them became more than just thank yous. He begins the speech to the 166 ohio with the general words of thanks that he gave to all the soldiers that month. He told the soldiers i suppose , you are going home to see your families and friends. The service you have done and this great struggle in which we are engaged, i present my sincere thanks for myself and the country. Perhaps the most important words e are going home to go going home. They were voters, and they could be spokesman for the union voter cause. Lincoln continues. I always feel inclined when i say anything to soldiers to impress on them with a few brief remarks the importance of this conflict. It is not merely for today but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our childrens children that great free government that we have enjoyed all of our lives. I beg you to remember this. In this passage, lincoln reminds people that they are part of a larger whole. Their work affected not merely themselves but future generations. Who will, it is hoped, be able to enjoy the benefits of a unified country just like they have. He reminds the soldiers of his own humble beginnings. Lived inemporarily this big white house. I am living witness that any of your children can live here just as my fathers child has. I ask that through your industry and enterprise and intelligence that people will have all of their desirable human aspirations. The soldiers were very likely to be family men. The eminence of their departure for home and the comforts of family conveniently created a point of emphasis for lincoln to press concerning the lasting importance of the war effort. He reminded them that he was only a temporary occupant of the office of the president. Any child might have the chance one day to be president himself, through hard work and enterprise. This is a particularly telling part of the speech. It gives lincoln a chance to bring up the coming election in a veiled way. He artfully guides their thoughts through the prospect for the party and the union. This free government, which we have enjoyed, is now in jeopardy. But it can be saved with the judicious cast of a ballot. Lincoln finishes with a reminder. We must not lose our birthright. The nation is worth fighting for to secure such an inestimable jewel. Lincoln turns attention away from his own ambitions and pins the emphasis on the soldiers vote. The soldiers had honorably served the union cause in their 100day defense of the capital. With that work being done, the president makes a campaign plea. By calling the attention to the needs of the nation and the nations future, lincoln places significant weight behind the idea that their service for the cause of union and freedom entailed one additional task. Go home and vote for the president in the november election. That vote will secure the jewel of liberty for generations to come. So those are the two close , readings that influenced my paper. So lets talk for a few minutes about the soldiers voting. That lincoln felt was so important. To did not know if he would be he did not know if he would be reelected for a second term. There had been no Major Military victory since july 1860 three. The emancipation was not universally popular, or he did not feel it was. It created a disturbing backlash in many areas. Congressional democrats were looking for any chance to discredit the administration, and they had successfully raised the specter of racial equality. N 1862 through state elections and it gained some votes. They hoped to use the same issue again and add to it fears that lincoln would never consider an end to the war unless slavery were abolished. Nation inly, the civil war, there are over a million men of voting age underarms. Under arms. In 1962, only one state a lot of soldier to vote outside of his home state. But by 1964, 19 other northern states had created and passed legislation allowing their soldiers to vote in the field. America had never faced the dilemma of absentee voting. Much was uncertain. They did not know how to manage soldier voting. They did not know what effect military voting might have on lincolns reelection. And they were not sure about how the soldiers felt. The enthusiasm in the war was beginning to wane by late 1863. The peace democrats and the copperheads were campaigning vigorously in a manner described by historian even alan johnson historian David Alan Johnson as antilincoln. He said another four years of lincoln