How the Civil War changed how we vote
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What significant moment in US history does this episode focus on?
This is America in Pursuit, a limited-run series from ThruLine and NPR. I'm Ramtin Arablui. Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. that began 250 years ago this year. Today, we're going back to one of the most significant moments in US history, the Civil War, one of the bloodiest wars fought on American soil. At the heart of the war was the question of slavery and whether to abolish it. The Confederate South broke off from the Union because it wanted to keep slavery and the freedom to govern themselves. The Union in the North, led by President Abraham Lincoln, wanted to make slavery illegal and keep the United States together. A little less than two years into the bloody conflict, on January 1st, 1863, President Lincoln made a bold proclamation.
All persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.
How did the Emancipation Proclamation impact the Civil War?
The Emancipation Proclamation was a major flex in federal power. Lincoln spells out new terms of peace. The fighting would only end when slavery ended. This was a risky move because the union was gearing up for a presidential election, and not everyone in the union agreed with Lincoln's hardline views on abolition. and how to fight the war.
He's aware that by insisting on making emancipation a condition of peace negotiations with the Confederacy, he's giving political ammunition to the Democrats. The Democrats, the opposition, are saying, you're deliberately protracting the war to secure abolition. You could get peace if only you were prepared to think about reuniting the country on the Constitution as it once was, not on what you want it to be. So there was a lot at stake here. The election of 1864 is, in my view, the most significant election in American history, the most significant for democracy in American history.
What were the stakes of the 1864 presidential election?
The election would take place in the middle of the war. It would test the young republic's ability to hold an election in times of duress and shape the outcome of the war. Today on the show, Rund and I bring you the story of how the 1864 election changed how we vote and who we are as a country. That's coming up after a quick break.
The war begins, I mean, secession is met by Lincoln's determination to hold the Union together to resolve the question of whether, as he put it, a constitutional republic, a democracy, a government of the people can or cannot maintain its integrity against its own internal foes. I'm Richard Carwoodine. I taught for a number of years in Oxford University. I'm the Rhodes Professor Emeritus of American History.
After issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln briefly considers walking it back.
He thinks of abandoning emancipation as a basis for peace. But, but, he decides it would be an ignominious surrender. He can't possibly yield on that. He said, and I quote, it would be worse than losing the presidential contest.
Lincoln doubles down on his ideals as he gears up for the 1864 presidential election, an election where there are deep ideological and cultural divides.
On the one side, you've got the democratic opposition considering Lincoln and the administration and the federal army to be a tyrannical force willing to crush individual freedom in a pursuit of reunion and an unnatural emancipationist racial order. On the other hand, you've got Lincoln and the National Union Party pledging themselves to seeing the war right through to its conclusion. They're offering a vision of a reunified nation no longer stained by slavery. The country would be, I suppose, true to the egalitarian principles of the Declaration of Independence. It would emerge from the war with a richer democracy,
How did Lincoln's leadership influence the election outcome?
Initially, things looked good for Lincoln and his party, the Republicans. They were winning on the battlefield and the days of the Confederacy seemed numbered. They seemed to have the election in the bag. But as winter turned to spring, the Confederates began to push back hard.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What significant moment in US history does this episode focus on?
0:03–1:13
2
How did the Emancipation Proclamation impact the Civil War?
1:13–2:17
3
What were the stakes of the 1864 presidential election?
2:17–4:59
4
How did Lincoln's leadership influence the election outcome?
4:59–6:47
5
What challenges did soldiers face regarding voting rights during the war?
6:47–9:01
6
How did states adapt voting laws for soldiers in the field?
9:01–10:59
7
What controversies arose surrounding the legitimacy of the 1864 election?
10:59–13:27
8
How did the 1864 election shape the future of American democracy?
13:27–16:18