Voting By Mail in 1864

The
election of 1864, in which President Abraham Lincoln sought a second term,
prompted a debate about voting by mail, seditious conspiracies, disinformation,
and vote tampering. Our nation’s present controversies are not unprecedented.

As late as August 23, 1864 Lincoln expected
that the voters would reject him. He required, on that date, members of his
cabinet to pledge that each would support a new president and “so cooperate
with the Government President elect, as to save the Union between the Election
and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that
he cannot possibly save it afterwards.”

Throughout his first term, Lincoln
had fought not only the military war against Confederate armies, but also
Northern Democrats and members of his own Republican party. Some Democrats,
called Copperheads, demanded immediate peace with the South; a separate bloc of
the party supported the war, but wanted Lincoln removed. A faction of
Republicans, called Radicals, wanted immediate abolition of slavery and the
promise of future vengeance against the South. One of Lincoln’s former cabinet
members, Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, had been, since 1863, exploring a
challenge to Lincoln’s re-nomination.

Union military success was uncertain as late
as the summer of 1863. The battle of Gettysburg on July 1–3 stopped Gen.
Robert E. Lee’s invasion of northern states. On July 4, troops commanded by
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg, opening
the Mississippi river to Union commerce. Gen. William T. Sherman did not
capture Atlanta until September, 1864 and did not complete his March to the Sea
through Georgia until December 22.

Quincy historian Carl Landrum, a
century after the 1864 election, wrote of Adams County attitudes, “Many wanted
an end to the war, and were willing to call it quits with an easy settlement
for the South.” Landrum found in local newspapers reports of “secret
organizations… part of a movement organized in the Mid-West to aid the southern
army in the event it succeeded in getting this far north.” There were reports
of “treasonable shouts” of support for the Confederacy in such rural Adams
county towns as Stone’s Prairie (today’s Plainville, Illinois).

The war had separated soldiers and sailors
from the communities in which they voted. Whether those men could vote, and
whether they would support Lincoln’s conduct of the war, were urgent questions
for both political parties. Moreover, Congress had established a controversial
conscription system, which allowed wealthier men to avoid service by paying a
substitution fee, to supplement voluntary enlistments.

The Democratic candidate for
president was Gen. George B. McClelland, whom Lincoln had appointed and then
removed as General-in-Chief, yet still considered popular among soldiers.
McClellan pursued his political campaign while remaining an active army
general.

Political
leaders speculated on the ramifications of these uncertainties. Voting by mail
was controversial. One scholar, Jonathan W. White, has written that leaders in
both parties “knew that the soldiers’ votes were crucial to winning the
election and that ‘hard work must be done’ to secure them…. Consequently,
Democrats from across the nation appealed to their party machinery in New York,
while Republicans petitioned the federal government for support in turning out
the army vote.” However, only white military men could vote; the thousands of
Black soldiers, while risking their lives, were excluded from the franchise
until ratification of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in
1870.

In Quincy, questions arose about the
integrity of the coming election. Landrum wrote about the concern of the

Quincy
Daily Whig,

which had endorsed Lincoln, about “fraud at the ballot box” and
its plea for vigilance until the polls closed. Adams county voters encountered
also a 19th century version of disinformation: German-language
handbills falsely warned of “another draft anticipated, one million men wanted,
no substitutions allowed”. The county adjutant general, in charge of the local
draft, said the statement was untrue.

In 1864 state law, not federal,
controlled voting rights. States such as Iowa, Wisconsin, and New York allowed
men serving in the military to vote by absentee mail ballot. Illinois, however,
did not extend that privilege until 1865; Adams County servicemen could vote in
1864 only if they returned to their communities. On February 21, 1863, the

Whig

criticized the “Copperhead Democrats” controlling the Illinois legislature
(presumably opposed to Lincoln’s re-election) for its refusal to enact a law
permitting military absentee voting. On October 31, the

Whig

deplored
“the Copperhead revilers [who] oppose [Lincoln]

on the shallow plea that
they can lawfully embarrass him as a citizen.”

For Illinois men, and others
serving in his forces, Gen. Sherman allowed voting furloughs. On
November 8, Lincoln won the election, carrying Illinois and Adams County. In
the Electoral College, he lost only Kentucky and Delaware. The military, in
this first U.S. election allowing mail voting, had strongly supported him.

Lincoln
had never considered delaying or suspending the election. As historian Larry T.
Balsamo wrote, two days after his victory, Lincoln told a visiting group,
“we cannot have free government without elections; and if the rebellion
could force us to forgo, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim
to have already conquered and ruined us.”

Sources:

Balsamo,
Larry T., “‘We Cannot Have Free Government without Elections’: Abraham Lincoln
and the Election of 1864,”

Journal of
the Illinois State Historical Society 94 (

Summer, 2001): 181-199.

“The
Generation of ‘Lily Livers. ’”

Quincy
Daily Whig

, February 7, 1863, 2.

“Jim Green in Quincy-His
Loyalty.”

Quincy Daily Whig

, October
31, 1863, 2.

Landrum, Carl, “Election
century ago also caused a flurry.”

Quincy Herald Whig

, November 1, 1964.

“No
Chance for Soldiers.”

Quincy Daily Whig

,
February 21, 1863, 3.

White,
Jonathan W., “

.”

Civil War History

(September,
2004): 291—317.