Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1864'
(Tuesday, November 8, 1864, during the 1864 presidential campaign) — Near the end of the American Civil War, National Union (Republican) President Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected to a second term today, soundly defeating Democratic challenger Major General George B. McClellan of New Jersey.
Lincoln and his running mate, Andrew Johnson, the former Senator from and current Military Governor of Tennessee, received 55.02% of the national popular vote. McClellan and his running mate, Rep. George H. Pendleton of Ohio, received 44.96%.
Video: 'Election of 1864: The Civil War in Four Minutes'
The National Union (Republican) ticket was officially elected on Dec. 7, 1864, when the nation’s presidential electors met and cast 212 Electoral votes for Lincoln-Johnson and 21 votes for McClellan-Pendleton.
As the American Civil War was still raging, no electoral votes were counted from any of the eleven Southern states.
Video: 'The Election of 1864 Explained'
The electors’ votes would be tabulated and certified on Feb. 8, 1865, during a joint session of Congress.
Lincoln’s victory made him the first president to win re-election since Andrew Jackson in 1832, as well as the first Northern president to ever win re-election.
Lincoln and Johnson would be inaugurated on March 4, 1865 (the beginning of Lincoln’s second term as president and Johnson’s first term as VP, succeeding incumbent VP Hannibal Hamlin).
