Sometimes we have for members come to the museum and supports us. Really appreciate everybodys support. Jonathan white is an assistant professor of american studies christopher at Newport University where he serves as the universities prelaw advisor. He is the author of most recently emancipation, the union army, and the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. He is currently at work on the three books including lincolns advice for lawyers, the final please join me in welcoming jonathan w. White. [applause] thank you so much for having me. Can you all hear me in the seats . R i love having an opportunity to come to new york city. This is only my search roots. I spent two weeks about eight years ago and i spent two weeks at the New York Historical society. I love going there to do research. I stopped to buy with my daughter for stopped abide with my daughter and we had to stop and get a portrait with her by the statue. She has been to more civil war sites that most people see in a lifetime. When she was born, we did not have a name for her. I announced her name as Mary Todd Lincoln white. Half of my friends believed it. The here to talk about election of 1864 and is the 150th anniversary. Is the most important. Thes sealed the doom of confederacy and set the stage for the destruction of slavery. Americans are doubted it would be held at all. You will see a lot of new yorkers and this talk. Francis liebert, who was a professor at columbia ifiversity, wrote and said we come triumphantly out of his war with a president ial election, i shall call it the greatest miracle in all of the course of events. That miracle did take place. On november 8, 1864, americans, both civilians and soldiers, voted for president. It was an on believable feet. The first time in our history there had been a popular election like that. Lincolnt clinton said to wellwishers, we cannot have free government without election. If the rebellion could force us to postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. Lincoln had reason to feel confidence. He had just won two days earlier by a landslide. Won 55 of the popular vote in that election. Most of maize and glee, he won the soldiers vote. Most importantly, he one of the soldiers vote. He would fight to win. There was a grand celebration at cooper union not far from here and the organizers of the celebration sent a letter. Since his statue is right over here i had to bring bryant into this. To attend aso busy said already have a prior commitment. He said to the organizers, i shall be present with you in spirit. And will take place in the rejoicing conspired by the glorious result of the late election which it should be to our among republic. He concluded that short note by claimant lincolns reelection would do more to hassan at the close of the war than 20 battles. From these perspectives, from libers and William Cowan bryants the election appears like a miracle. In a lot of ways, its a was. It was a remarkable event. Is important when we look back at it, that we not lose the sense of contingency. For much of the campaign, lincolns reelection was far from certain. By late august, oh lincoln was convinced he would lose. 20 third, he handed it is little note to himself now known as the blind memorandum and he essentially said it has been, clear to me i will lose the election because but clear to me that i will lose the election. And so, i am paraphrasing but lincoln said i have to do what i can the twin election day and the inauguration to restore the union and i will work with the president elect. He took as little memory random and folded it up and sealed it to a cabinet meeting. He had all of his members sign it. Lincoln was forcing them to sign ando winning the war restoring the union with the president elect. Lincoln ended up winning. In a later meeting, he opened up and show the members what they signed up to and they had a little bit of a laugh. It gives you a sense that in the election was on the shore. I want to capture a sense of what it looks like for americans. It gives you a sense and what the eu that in the election was unsure. Look back to what new yorkers were thinking about on july 30, 1864. Last week, i went to my library at Christopher Newport university and i got out the newspapers. Newspapers at the from this day 150 years ago to see what new yorkers were reading about. I will give you a sense. Opened up a new york newspaper 150 years ago today, you wouldve read a smattering of all more news, a rebel raid, Troop Movement which is very close to where i live now, and positive. S seemed you wouldve read about missouri warfare in and kentucky. Most alarmingly, you wouldve read about the northwest conspiracy. I do not know how many of you are familiar with this, but Union Military authorities had just uncovered or so they claimed a massive plot in the old northwest and today we know it is the midwest. They had on covered in this the fair werehere suppose it secret societies all over the place being run by democratic leaders. They were organizing with confederate agents in canada and they were getting money and guns and the plan that did the secret societies had were we are going to take all of the guns and go to union pow camps and break in and give these guns to themderate pows and arm and we are going to overthrow the union and the loyal northern government from within. Breaking news on july 30, 1864. If you were a new yorker, these were the stories you wouldve been reading about. If you opened a the new york you would have found a recipe for blackberry brandy for soldiers. I wanted to try to make it before i came to tell you how it was but i do not have time. You could have read about a philadelphia match. About a baseball match. 2912. Lphia won, you know i will never see a score like that from my hometown boys. Excerpts fromead graduation speeches from colleges around new york. If you turn to the police blog are, you wouldve read about the arrest of an irish immigrant whose offense was having two wiv was set forhild september. If you turn to the new york herald, you would have found a list of things to do in new york. You could have gone to a concert in central park. You could have seen a list of musicals and plays going on on broadway. Music and theater was not your thing, you could go to a museum which was promoting giants and dwarfs for your viewing pleasure. If you wanted to see the police blog, you would have read about a massive jewel heist. If you turn to the classified of the most important northern could havewomen purchased for . 50 a selfinterest envelope a secret that every married woman should know. E very next ad was for this divorce is legally procured in another state without publicity. I gave this talk as a trial run to my wife tonights ago. She was generally paying attention of the when i got to this line she sat what is the secret that every married woman should know . I said i have no idea. Charge a lotould more than . 50. On the whole, the news that new yorkers were rating was positive. But new yorkers did not know what had taken place on july 30, 1864. Kept going and went into pennsylvania. Confederates went to a city and demanded money from the residence and the residents turned over the money and they demanded more and said if you do not, we will burn down your town. The confederates kept demanding more money on till it there was a nonleft and the none left and the confederates burned down in the town. Further south near petersburg, there was the battle of the crater. Weeks leading up to july 30, there were pennsylvania coal miners in ulysses s. Grants army and they said we could dig under petersburg and pack the tamil full of dynamite and pack and be tu and pack the tunnel full of dynamite and did they did this. At 4 00, they lit the fuse. Some guy goes into the tunnel, wait. The fuse, and they nothing happens. Some poor guy had to crawl back in. He saw the fuse had gone back out and read lies. There is a massive explosion. It created a huge crater. It is still there today. The union troops should have gone around the crater when they they wentbut instead, into it. When they got to the other end, they found they cannot scale of the wall, so they were stuck. Many were killed. By the time confederates gained their bearings, dave found they could go into this pit. If any of you have seen cold mountain, this one the opening scenes. Even further south, Union General sherman was stuck outside of atlanta unable to capture the stronghold. Was actually a pretty awful day for the union. In the following days, new yorkers would open up their newspapers and read about the terrible news. There is a very famous new york lawyer. He recorded in his diary and said it is the hottest day of the burning summer. Icording to my sensations, stayed indoors until tonight. Steaming with perspiration. A newspaper reported that the box or that had taken place a petersburg and strong and back to his diary describes what took place was he weluded with this note have no right to expect speedy victory in this war or to ask that rebellion to be suppressed so we have suffered more than we have done. Captured howuly 30 the summer of 1860 four felt too many people in the north. , awfula long, hot summer. Of 1864, ulysses as a grant and robert e lee had palmore each other outside had pummeled each other outside. Of all of that carnage, lincoln was reelected by the Republican Party for president. He was put on a platform pledging a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. If any of you have seen it turns you know how out. Even though his nomination was unanimous, she was not necessarily wellliked by everyone in his party. The radical wing of his party was doing everything it could to get rid of him before his renomination, only goods secretary lincolns secretary was using his position to use patronage putting people into useful positions who might be able to help get rid of lincoln. After lincoln was nominated a Major General named john fremont refused to drop out. The first republican candidate. Fremont was threatening to divided the party if lincoln would not drop out over the race. The democrats had been planning to hold their convention on july 4. What better day, and the democrats saw how badly the war was going. They decided it maybe we should wait and see how much worse it gets before we choose our nominee and also write our platform. They waited until the last three days of august. One of that convened on august 29 in chicago, they chose to nominate George B Mcclellan for president and George H Pendleton for Vice President. George mcclellan had been a very popular army officer. He was loved by his soldiers. They absolutely adored him. The democrats hoped they could win over some of the soldiers votes. Mcclellan was a moderate candidate. He was also proslavery. The Vice President ial nominee was the more controversial one. George h pendleton, who was depicted in the spielberg sam, if you want to see spielberg film, if you want to see one of the copperheads, pendleton was one. He was proslavery and antiwar. What the democrats hoped they could do was balance of their ticket. Well have a prowar candidate for president and an antiwar known as a copperhead for vice aesident and we can have broad appeal to a lot of different democratic voters. The democrats wrote their platform. They made one huge miscalculation in their platform. If you read in the platform, a huge indictment of the Lincoln Administration. War a failure. Keep in mind the summer has been going very badly. Lincoln thinks he is going to use so they call the war a failure. The timing could not have been worse for the democrats. The very day after they and adjourned, William Sherman captured atlanta. Of atlanta sent a thrill through the north. From that point forward, it was pretty clear to most observers that lincoln was going to win. There is a general overview of the election. What i want to do now is tell you a little bit about the research in my book and research no one is really done before. On lincoln focuses and his reelection in 1864. 19 northern states has to legislation also rising soldiers to vote away from home. This legislation two different forms. And some states, soldiers could vote in the field and they set up polls. Other states did it through absentee balloting. Example, the governor had vetoed a law in 1863 off verizon soldiers to vote because he said our state constitution requires people to vote in new york. The legislature thought he will veto if we do it all again. We will less load soldiers feel out their ballots and they will mellow them home as a someone at we will let ballots fill out their in the field and they will mail them home and someone will send them in. There were parts of my book that i wrote when i was 21 years old and i hope you do not notice which parts i wrote when i was younger. Studying under a professor named mark neely. He is one of the most important historians. She is a wonderful historian. Class. Aking a civil war i wanted to do an independent study with him. Of 2000,the fall during the bush versus gore fiasco. One day i want to market and said i want to do an independent and i gave study him idea and he said it was not a good idea. I went back and he gave me a few topics that i could do as an undergrad and in the middle of nowhere in pennsylvania. One of them was the soldier vote. I had never heard of it before. I never knew soldiers had insulted. Id never heard of contested elections before bush versus gore. Seemed like an interesting topic to me. I did not know at the time that mark had been planning to walk on the soldier vote on a book he was writing. He very graciously gave the subject to me. As a student, i published three articles out of it. And now finally my book. I was thrilled to dedicate the book to mark milley. Sorry for the tangent. As i mentioned earlier, 80 of the soldiers who voted voted for lincoln. Historians have generally looked at the statistics and said it is pretty obvious, the soldiers supported him as a patient and the soldiers supported lincoln. Support emacs a patient tion and theancipa soldiers supported lincoln. I can only briefly summarize my findings tonight but the main thrust of my book is to show how democrats and the army were intimidated and cold worst into intot cursed coerced silence and they use colors of measures to try and teach the soldiers that they needed to fight in a war. Lincolnsar began, argument is it is a war of union and soldiers who enlisted would say i am enlisting for the union. They had to teach them they had to fight for emancipation. There is a lot, of soldiers on opposing emancipation, speaking out against it. The War Department use a lot of gorgy to force them to not against emancipation. Warassistant secretary of was a man named charles dana. He recalled in his memoirs years after, he said all the power and influence of the War Department was employed to secure the reelection of me mr. Lincoln. Recollection is substantiated by historical evidence i found from the election of 1864 is so. The secretary of war was a man named edwin stanton. He used in mans power to bring voters into line to make sure they voted for lincoln or did not speak to badly about the president. Stanton dismissed dozens of offers during the summer and fall when they spoke out against lincoln. In one occasion, stanton dismissed almost two dozen at one time. One of the u. S. Senators from new york was a man named at one of morgan and have a onetime served as governor of new york. He went to stanford and said there are some clerks who are out there for mcclellan. Them. N dismissed 20 of one of the clerks went to stanton and complained. Stanton said when a young man receives his pay from an administration and spends his evenings denounce him inoffensive terms, he cannot be surprised if the administration prefers a friend on the job. Stanton made very little effort to hide this sort of partisanship. He learned all about one officer who was wagering bets against the republican governor which was illegal. Soldier is betting against the republican. Once danton when a stanton learned he said i reduced him to a captain and ordered him salved. In other words, i am sending him to the front. I found this quote two weeks ago. Is youthe hardest things always find a great things after the book is there it is. Democrats noticed what was going on. Thatcame to believe stanton was taking the vindictive actions so he could control the officers in a way that will not only influence their votes, but influence of the votes of the enlisted men serving under them. Democrats learned they needed to keep quiet if they opposed lincoln in the field. I found a letter from a colonel named durbin ward. I found a letter he wrote where he said i am driven to be cautious because publicly speaking my political opinions might cost me my commission. I found a massachusetts artillery stumble sent a private letter r tiller artillerist who send a private letter. He said i might be called a copperhead. He said perhaps a poor guy like me might be shot. Other forms of intimidation took place as well. I found a newspaper article about something that took place near west point. There were a bunch of soldiers and cut debts and the democrats wanted to go to a rally. And the democrats wanted to go to a rally. The superintendent found out in the previous superintendent had been dismissed because the Stanton Foundation was a democrat. The new superintendent found out the soldiers are going to hear a democratic meeting. When the soldiers came about, they were put into the guard house. The next morning, they were made ch. Dig the training dit republicans who went to republican rallies faced no such intimidation. One of the things add to heart of my research our cart Court Martial records. They have not been mined enough by historians. Thousands of records. I found a number of democratic officers who were courtmartialed for speaking ill of lincoln during election season. Cspan, somes with of the language is colorful. I want to give you a couple of examples of things people were courtmartialed for. There was a lieutenant named Edward Austin and he was courtmartialed and dismissed from the service for saying he than stab lincoln finer hell. I found a missouri r tiller lerist who said in that lincoln was a damned son of a bitch. There are a lot of these and my favorite columns from a captain, he was the captain of the 114th illinois. He was courtmartialed and dismissed from saying he would rather sink to hell then free the negroes. Know, again, you think of things later. I think that wouldve been a great title for my book. These guys and many more like them were courtmartialed. Some of them deserved it for some of the things they said. Saul went beyond the excerpts does a summa went beyond the experts i gave you. Some went beyond the excerpts i gave you. Not to criticize the militaryofficial policy. It was ineffective. It taught people to keep their opinions to themselves. So the most egregious favoritism involved for lowes. Furloughs. Permitates did not soldiers to vote in the field and so republican governors from the states wrote letters to secretary stanton and though letters are still as a war of Congress Asking will you please furlough republican soldiers to vote and we will lose if you do not. Stanton was happy to oblige. I found a doctor from indiana and the doctor was dealing, taking care of wounded soldiers. He wrote a letter about one your and he said, should give him a furlough to vote because his vote will be as much value than his service might otherwise render the government. In other words, his bullets will be more important than his ballot. Officers throughout the the union army to granted furloughs to republican soldiers and they were allowed to go home and vote. Democrats were kept in the field. I want you to think about this for a moment. Some of the soldiers had not been home for many months if not several years. To go home toough vote was a huge thing because it meant you got to see your parents or siblings or wife or children. Now, some people, some democrats are going to rightly complain about this. I found a commissioner who reported that democrats were threatened to be sent an illinois soldier noted that his regiment was cold to see whod vote for lincoln if they got to go home. I found one soldier from New Hampshire and he was a sharpshooter and he wrote a letter to his brother and said i shall be as black as the darkie to get a furlough to go home for the it was an abbott that to refer to republican to go home. T to refer toepithe the republicans going home to vote. I am willing to vote the black republican ticket is i can go home. Not also just were willing to sacrifice their principles. One soldier wrote i suppose i might have gotten home if i would have said i should have voted for old abe, but never. Ell, for those soldiers who did vote in the field they found it was not necessarily easy to vote the democratic ticket. Many democrats complained they cannot find a balance in the field and others complained they cannot read a democratic newspapers or campaign literature. You know how important it is to read both sides. I found one private from the 75th ohio named rufus miller. When he found that there were no exclaimed ballots, he i would rather vote for geoff davis than Abraham Lincoln. You have to love the way they talk to back again. He was courtmartialed for saying that in camp. Another new york soldier such a partisanshipsm or is shown from lincoln and by many officers in the army that hundreds of soldiers have been literally prescribed from voting from a cloned by their officers and have been obliged to find mcclellan ballots from other sources. Historians often point out that lincoln won eight of percent of the soldiers vote as they have 80 of soldiers vote. Many Union Soldiers supported lincoln and emancipation. There is no doubt about that. I do not think their support of lincoln was as universal. That 80 statistic is deceiving. Clearly, i show in the book that many democratic soldiers were intimidated or coursed for lincoln. Voting more importantly is the soldiers who did not vote. Any chose not to vote in difficult before because they saw lincoln as an abolitionist and they saw their own party as disloyal. August eight is q4, the Democratic National convention in their platform called the war a failure. If you are a soldier who has been fighting for two or three years, are you going to vote for a party who says that what you are dont is a failure . Voter turnout among the soldiers is something no historian has consider before with a look at the election. Waseveals a lot of what going on. I found a wonderful letter from a corporal named george buck. With the 20th michigan volunteers. He sent a letter to george b quitllan, the candidate just lost. This is what he had to tell mcclellan. The candidate who had just lost. He said some soldiers were offered a promotion if they would vote for lincoln. He said democrats were reduced at theranks or a place front if they chose to vote for you. We have seen that testimony elsewhere. He knew of hundreds of soldiers who voted for lincoln under protest and hundreds more of your more ardent supporters who do not vote at all. There are over 300 men in my regiment eligible to vote on the only 188 ballots were cast. That was the evidence that book show that people were supported not to vote for mcclellan. I found republicans who admitted as much. I found one soldier who supported lincoln, but he was wast and at the way stanton acting, secretary of war stanton. He noted the tyranny and persecution that stanton practices against subordinate officers. He said any soldier who does not a great would does with the Administration Must be who does not agree with the Administration Must be gotten rid off. He gave examples. He said he was scarcely credit the number of cases as this. Cases of spite. Sitting a bad tempered child. Democrats, it was quite easy for republican soldiers to vote. I found an account of by a confederate and this was a confederate from maryland. He and his men captured some Union Soldiers just prior to the election. They forced the soldiers to take off their blue uniforms and that the ferrets but on the uniforms as they got lincolns ballot and they went up to the polls and voted for lincoln. They do not support to lincoln but they wanted to prove a point. One wrote after this saying no one could object to us after voting for lincoln. Sort of evidence suggests there was a great amount of pressure and even version coersion. Ist who one artiller said if i was a civilian i would say what i thought of it but at present, i better keep quiet. What does this all mean . I lovei have to say, Abraham Lincoln. I think he is our greatest president. Ive written several books. I would not devote all of this time to lincoln if i do not think he was worthy of the study. And certainly, i think his reelection was the best thing that couldve happened was that it led to the death of the confederacy and the ultimate extinction of slavery. Is important to understand the mechanisms of how the election took place. It was mostly a free election but not entirely a free vote. I think having this broader understanding helps us better understand how politics worked during the civil war and questions and issues related to Civil Liberties. Whenever scholars and tv pundits talk about Civil Liberties in wartime, they talk about the effect that war has on civilians. All that said, lincoln would have been reelected even if stanton had not gone to these great measures and the months leading up to the election. Emergedond, the pattern in the summer and fall of 1864 had also taken place earlier in the election. I do not get into this in my chapters inave two my book. What i found was after lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, the War Department and the state department were taking the same kind of measures. I think this is important because it shows us how honest lincoln was about emancipation. Lincoln and new there were a lot and heiers who opposed was going to go to Great Lengths to try to teach them that emancipation was a cause worth fighting for. I appeared to be coming to critically on the Lincoln Administration during the summer and fall of 1864, let me close with 2 positive observations about the significance of of the soldier vote. The first is this. Per mating soldiers to vote was an incredible innovation. We take absentee balloting for granted today. In fact, theres one state, oregon, requires all votes and voters to vote by absentee. You can request a ballot and go vote and no one will think anything of it. Notntee balloting was century. The 18th i found one example during the american revolution, new york soldiers were allowed to vote absentee and it never became a policy. 2 statesr of 1812, passed legislation, pennsylvania and new jersey. In jersey repealed its law 1815. When the civil war began, pennsylvania was other only state allowing soldiers to vote. Soldiers voted in pennsylvania in 1861 and there was a tremendous amount of fraud. There was one regiment that cast more than 900 ballots even though there were not 900 men in the regiment. The state Supreme Court struck that law down. What republican politicians , we have gotize hundreds of thousands of men making to the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefield for their nation. J of all people deserve the right to vote. Essay of all people deserve the right to vote. Beginning in 1861 and up to 1864, states through the north passed legislation enabling soldiers to vote. This was a remarkable expansion of democracy in america. It sets the precedent. Finally, i will close with this. Policy the republican for permitting soldiers to vote during the civil war had a wide ranging implications. If a voting is based on service to ones country and you have 200,000 africanamerican men serving in the union army during the civil war, surely they, too, deserve the right to vote. I think it is a connection between the northern states passing laws allowing soldiers to vote and the 14th and 15th of amendments being ratified. The republican policy of granting soldiers the franchise is tremendously important for the calming of last suffrage. With advance, i am happy to entertain any questions. Thank you so much for coming out on this beautiful evening. [applause] i think there will be a microphone. If you will go to the mic. Thank you. It was excellent. The union high command was very politically diverse. Democrats and howard was an abolitionist. Butler was a war democrat, antislavery. Affect thes Election Union high command . It is a great question. Secretary of war stanton got a letter i want to say in september where he got word that there were several democrats and the highest as shall law and of of officersechelon who were going to use their influence. The letter asked stanton to use his remedy to handle them. One brigadierd general who was dismissed for opposing emancipation. A guide named james spears. At first he tried to Commission Someone to write an op ed against emancipation and then he wrote one himself. Coln a hand wrote on his dismissed. Lincoln was very fairminded and lincoln believed lincoln wanted a fair vote. He said as much. We have his words. As far as i know, he did not to get rid of any of the democrats like hancock. You mentioned butler. Democrat whowar moves into the radical republican camp by the end of the war. Soldiers, about 5000 who he brought to manhattan. She was worried there was going to go people here. He figured out he cannot put to them and the city because people were not go for it. They were in a boats around the coast of manhattan ready to go into the city should there be upheaval. He was an ardent guy and he was going to go to Great Lengths. For the new york soldiers, he kept them on the new jersey side of the water. Theirur ready turned in absentee ballots. The law stipulated if they went to new york among their ballots would be void. Have two questions. Stephen pendleton, the democratic candidate for vice ,resident George Pendleton he as everyone else must have been aware of the pressure that was exerted on democrats in the army. On this have any influence any motivation influence him when he became senator in the 1880s . With Civil Service reform . Yes, with Civil Service reform. You mentioned a labor. Lieber. Is he the same Francis Lieber wrote the code about first question is George H Pendleton. Isid not mention it but he famous today as the father of Civil Service reform. I think it was eight and 83 that the Civil Service reform act was passed. I think it was 1883 that the Civil Service reform act was passed. Soldiers would write to politicians after they had been dismissed and say look at what just happened to me. One of his closest allies was an was congressman who actually kicked out of the union camp for trying to peddle democratic tickets. Domight have been a but i not know definitively. Francis lieber is probably most famous today for having written general orders 100. This was basically a code of war that would guide union war policy when waging war. Same man. Thank you. The question that cons up that lincoln wanted a fair election, but as far as commander in chiefs go, hughes probably the strongest we ever had. He was probably the strongest we ever had. He knew what stanton was doing. With all of the court marshals, and what lincoln know did the president know and when did he know it . Following that, do you have any evidence of what lincoln thought of all of these courtsmartials . A great question. I do not know. Lincoln and did not keep a diary, so i do not know his most intimate thoughts. If he ended upll having to approve a lot of these. Sentencedsoldier was to be executed, lincoln would have to approve. I found one soldier who deserted who was sentenced to be ethic executed and lincoln appeared to allow the execution to go forward. The soldier is not a listed in the name of men executed. Lincoln approved a lot of the dismissals. Theres a very famous case that took place in 1862, a major ined john key and he served maryland. He was rumored to have heard or overheard to have said, we do not really want to hurt the south that it badly, we just want to bring them to a point that it they will surrender and we can protect slavery. When the lincoln heard about that, he called key and to the White House Office and he talked to him about that this was a key said, yeah and i stand by it. He thought it was ok. Lincoln said, you seem like a competent officers but i cannot allow you to be talking like that because it will make the man think of the war is not worth fighting. Lincoln not only dismissed key from the army, he had his private secretary john hake anonymously right and editorial an editorial talking about how this was the right thing to do. Lincoln understood the popular sentiment. He knew how to use of the newspapers to get his point across. , many of theases ones i found, lincoln upheld the punishment because he thought it was essential. Lincoln was not invented this detriment did if vindictive the way stanton was. A lot was not done by courtmartial so many do not come across lincolns desk. I just do not know. Thank you. You for an excellent lecture. What if any significance do you attach with respect to lincolns presidency the fact he was a practicing lawyer for many years . And how do you reconcile that or view that in the light of the position that was taken with respect to the suspension of [indiscernible] i have to thank you for that letter. They mention in the introduction that i have a book coming out. It is a wonderful little gift that i highly recommend for all of your lawyer your friends. Only be 12. 99. Lincoln was a brilliant lawyer. Began a practicing law around 1837. One of lincolns major approaches to the law was trying to bring peace to neighborhoods. Lincoln believed it was important if it all possible to settle out of court. He thought the litigation was a bad think and if it could be avoided. I found while o i found one a letter where lincoln wrote and said his client, if you can settle with this other person, i will not charge you anything. That is how much lincoln wanted to settle out of court. Think lincoln abroad to that sort of approach, wanting to work with people and wanting to bid to resolve issues. And ultimately, he was trying to resolve issues between 2 bigger neighbors, the union and the confederacy. Your question was about the orbeous of h right. Sure. I do not know if it lincolns practice as a lawyer prepared him necessarily for that specific issue. I will briefly summarize. I wrote a book about this called Abraham Lincoln and treason in the civil war. Seven states had our seceded before lincoln became president. The upper south seceded. Maryland was on the verge of secession so lincoln thought. He looked at the situation at fault i cannot allow maryland to secede because if they do the National Capital will be surrounded by an enemy nation. He sent a private letter to his commanding general, a man named wilfordl scott to scott. Couldnt the military arrest civilians and attain them indefinitely without charges. Lincoln faced this decision on article one, section nine of the constitution which says the privilege of the writ of war be as corpus lincoln look at the situation on said, i have a rebellion my hands and i think Public Safety requires it. Look atal theorists that clause of the constitution and said clearly that is a legislative power because it is an article one of the constitution and the clause that had to do with congress. Lincoln a look at the situation and set the constitution is silent. It does not say who can suspend it. Not only that but congress was out of session. Handles not supposed to come back until december. He fell do i just wait until they come back and by then the rebellion could be over. Lincoln claimed the Constitutional Authority to act as an executive with a greater authority. I wanted to give a background for those who may not be familiar. Lincolnsnow if practice as a lawyer, he never wouldve dealt with a case quite like that. I do agree with you that i think he was a deep constitutional thinker. You read lincolns speeches from his 1838 address and 1857 drug scott speech. Lincoln is thinking about fell worse to the constitution. He gave them a plausible reading. Lincoln is thinking about the words to the constitution. I have a what if question. What if atlanta had not fallen on september 1 . What if a johnston had stayed in Austin Office and not been removed by davis . And atlanta stays up until the election . Do you think it would have resulted in lincoln at losing the election . If lincoln does lose the election, what would that have resulted in . Administrationan resulted in a lost war for the north . A great question. The what ifs are the hardest because we do not know. I will give my best shot. Lets assume that atlanta does not fall and link them not win. There were a few union victories. Letassume that mcclellan wins. Was argument latched to winning the war and restoring the union. For generations, his stories about mcclellan was not to that. There was a famous article that was based on Better Research that said mcclellan wavered and was not as strong on the union as we ought. That myth has been debunked. Mcclellan would have done what he couldve done to restore the union, but mcclellan would not to theobably cap emancipation proclamation and plates. He wouldve been fine with trying to win the war and letting the south keep slavery. Wouldve had a lot of peace democrats who voted for hamill who wouldve said wait a second, the platform says this war is a failure in the platform says we want to let the convention of the states and negotiate with the south auo that to us. How mcclellan wouldve handled that is impossible to know. I have read several letters by democrats, these are soldiers who say i want to vote for mcclellan, but what if he wins and then dies . Get a peace democrat. There were people who thought mcclellan might get knocked off and aps democrats would come and say we wronged you and you should go in peace. Y answer is all over the place i hope that helps. Actually, my question has been answered as i stood in line. Is what was lincolns attitudes for the coer cion of others of his administration for coursing the soldiers and demoting them in court marshaling them . However, the answer seems to be he did not exactly reject this practice, but he did not condone it either. Abe wasnt, beloved really a politician. He knew how to handle any controversial situation. However, i am satisfied with the fact he never condoned it and did not reject it. And by the way, speaking of you, i always thought i was in new yorks premier civil war historian. [applause] thank you for what lecture. Pressure for an excellent lecture. Ally, if it was a secret ballot, then why the secret ballot is known as an all strong a ballot, and we did not get that until after the civil war. In the civil war they did not make the ballots to way they do today. The parties were to print their own ballots, often on distinctively colored paper. So when you voted, you walk to the ball with a yellow ballot or a pink ballot, and everyone knew how you were voting you poll with a yellow ballot or a pink ballot. And you put the ballot in a clear glass bowl. There was no secrecy. And that is why the intimidation was so powerful. Just one observation. We know that president obama dismissed a general for his criticism of biden and others. Military,y is in the even today, did they express any opinions in a contradiction to canada day express any opinions in contradiction to policy . I know there is a prescription on political criticism. In thecivil war, articles adopted by congress before the war, there was the fifth article of war, and that prohibited resizing the president or the congress or the governor of your state criticizing the president or the congress or the governor of your state. Is, if you oppose a policy like emancipation which was very controversial, and if you consider yourself a citizen first these were people that consider themselves as citizen soldiers. They would fight for a. And go home, they were not professionals. They never believed that they lost their right to free speech. When they are courtmartialed, they made that claim. They said they never lost their speaker freely because they are american citizens. The army held otherwise. In a contemporary context, officers can say whatever they want. Cant say whatever they want. You are right about that. Back to a remington, it is not unreasonable that he did not intervene. To Abraham Lincoln, it is not unreasonable that he did not intervene. Thanks for eliminating this littleknown dimension of the civil war. Question. That lincoln, during the summer, was pessimistic about his chances in the war. I assume the election only took place in the northern states. , obviously the republican swept in the north in the first election. So what happened between the first election and the second one that caused lincoln, who is generally a astute observer, to think that he had a better chance of winning. That is a great question, and i will answer both parts, because you asked if it took place in the north. There were elections held in Confederate States that were undergoing lincolns reconstruction plans. Voters in tennessee and arkansas. In tennessee, the military governor of tennessee was andrew johnson. And he was the republican candidate for Vice President. He issued a notice that voters an oath that voters had to take which was very long. It required them to pledge that they opposed an armistice to negotiate with the south. The democratic platform is said that we stand for an armistice to negotiate with the south. That was required to vote essentially made it impossible for democrats to vote in tennessee. That was the first part. Can you repeat the second part . Why was lincoln so pessimistic . I think he was pessimistic because of how badly the war was going. Imagine 60,000 casualties in about a 30 day span. That is a lot of families who are going to be disheartened. That was the sentiment in the summer of 1864. See the war going well, and it is not until the fall of atlanta and the shenandoah valley. It was after that point that lincoln became a competent. And art jim confident. And then there were state elections all went republican. Those were the bellwether elections. They knew that that was how the president ial election would go. So by october the can was confident that he would win. It was only in the summer that he thought he would lose. Thank you so much. [applause] war. 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