Presidential Election Of 1864 Essay

Abraham Lincoln had been elected as the President in 1860. In his first term, he used resources to end slavery through emancipation. The Civil War was an outcrop of the emancipation of slaves throughout America. Under his leadership, the Civil War had cost the Union many millions of dollars in terms of sustaining the war machinery. In 1863, the first day of January, he issues the Emancipation Proclamation that set thousands of slaves free. The paper analyzes the way various newspapers covered the election campaign of Abraham Lincoln.
The first paper, the Abingdon Virginian that was published on June 5th 1863 talked of the campaign as the most significant one after the Washington election. The campaign was evoked intense feelings among the populace at the time when the Civil War was at its peak. Politicians from various divides in the United States increased animosity between the factions with the fear of the war. The copperheads, who were also the democrats or peace democrats, were in support of the forging of an agreement between the warring factions, the industrial north and the agricultural south. The paper predicts that Lincoln will be nominated and on Independence Day, that is the 4th of July, there was a high chance that there will be a large demonstration due to his popularity. The paper shows that Lincoln is the favorite presidential candidate regardless of the propositions by copperheads.
The Yorkville Enquirer published on 3rd June 163 pointed that the presidential election of 1864 would be clouded by intense emotions of excitement and bitterness. Radical persons wanted a revolution and the paper predicts that there will be war and bloodshed in the north. The paper refers to the black people as “niggerheads” and the tongue patriotism was a term used to ridicule Lincoln and his supporters and the Union. The paper is written by the supporters of the Confederacy. It expresses the fear that Lincoln will become the President for the second term given the rising popularity of his movement. The Confederate states fear that even the Copperheads are revolutionists and they share the same sentiments with niggerheads. They believe that the president will not share authority with the Southerners given the way he treated Chases and Vallandighams.
The Smoky Hill and Republican Union cited the support and popularity that Lincoln had enjoyed during his tenure. The paper supports the fact that he should be reelected. The war cannot stop until the Southerners accept that Lincoln is the de facto president of the United States. The paper cites that Lincoln was elected in 1860 as the overall president of the United States, but the Southern States have rebelled his rule and authority. Gulf States, Louisiana, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia had opposed the rule of Lincoln. The places had massive numbers of slaves and they are not heeding to Lincoln’s authority with regards to Emancipation. The paper insists that for peace to prevail in the United States, certain things are a must. Lincoln must be the de facto president. The southern states and its people must accept his authority and give in or the Civil War will continue ravaging the nation. The papers present different perspectives of the Northerners who support the Union and Emancipation Proclamation and the Southerners who support the Confederacy and slavery.

Works cited

The Smoky Hill and Republican Union, Junction City: Kansas. November 21, 1863, Web. 7 April 2015.
The Abingdon Virginian, Abingdon: Virginia. June 05, 1863. Web. 7 April 2015.
Yorkville Enquirer, Yorkville: South Carolina. June 03, 1863. Web. 7 April 2015.