973.7163 
 
 Oakfeaf, Joseph Benjamin 
 
 GOaljn 
 
 National Union Convention 
 
 
 of I86I4 and Why Lincoln 
 
 
 was not nominated by ac- 
 
 
 cS a mat i on 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
National Union Convention of 
 
 1864 and Why Lincoln 
 
 was not Nominated 
 
 by Acclamation 
 
£^*^e 
 
 National Union Convention of 
 
 1864 and Why Lincoln 
 
 was not Nominated 
 
 by Acclamation 
 
 % 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH BENJAMIN OAKLEAF 
 of the Illinois Bar 
 
 Privately Printed 
 
 CARLSON PRINTING CO. 
 
 Moline, Illinois 
 
 1924 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/nationalunionconOOoakl 
 
4 , 
 
 When the "Wigwam" Convention of 
 1860 adjourned there was a determined 
 army of men who marched out with a firm 
 conviction that victory would be theirs when 
 the smoke of battle should clear away, and 
 they were not disappointed. 
 
 The years passed and the time for calling 
 another convention was approaching. The 
 Republican Party had been in existence for 
 nearly eight years and the result of its policy 
 had been widespread, but the times had 
 changed. The conditions were such that 
 politics, so far as party name w r as concerned, 
 must be laid aside and the union of all 
 patriots was a thing desired in order to con- 
 tinue the policies promulgated at Chicago 
 in 1860. Someone must take the lead and 
 it fell to the lot of the Republican National 
 Committee to solve the vexed problem, 
 which they did by issuing a call on Febru- 
 
 3 
 
 
ary 22nd, 1864, under the name of the 
 "Union National Executive Committee" for 
 the convening of the "National Union Con- 
 vention" at Baltimore on Tuesday, June 7th, 
 1864, at 12 o'clock noon. The call was to 
 "All qualified voters who desire an uncondi- 
 tional maintenance of the Union, the 
 supremacy of the Constitution and the com- 
 plete suppression of the existing rebellion, 
 with the cause thereof, by vigorous war, and 
 all efficient means, to send delegates * * *." 
 The call was signed by the members of the 
 National Republican Committee, with Ed- 
 win D. Morgan, chairman. 
 
 The Convention met in the Front Street 
 Theater which was crowded to the doors 
 with delegates, visitors and distinguished 
 guests. Upon calling the Convention to 
 order, Mr. Morgan made a short address. 
 He referred to the nomination of Freemont 
 eight years before and to Lincoln four years 
 prior, but the word "Republican" was not 
 mentioned, nor was "Republican Conven- 
 tion" referred to by any of the speakers. 
 
Robert J. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, 
 was named as temporary chairman and he 
 delivered a strong union speech, and the 
 wisdom of the National Committee in elim- 
 inating the word "Republican" was appar- 
 ent when he said : "As a Union Party I will 
 follow you to the ends of the earth and to 
 the gates of death, but as an Abolition Party, 
 as a Republican Party, as a Whig Party, as 
 a Democratic Party, as an American Party, 
 I will not follow vou one foot." 
 
 Simon Cameron, who had been a mem- 
 ber of Lincoln's cabinet, was a delegate to 
 the Convention and very prominent during 
 all the proceedings and was on his feet a 
 greater portion of the time the first day of 
 the Convention, and a question scarcely 
 arose upon which he did not have something 
 to say, and he was seeking to direct affairs. 
 
 All the delegates seemed to be at sea as 
 to how to proceed with the organization of 
 the Convention. Much of the work was 
 
very informal for all were for Lincoln except 
 one set of delegates from Missouri. (Mis- 
 souri sent contesting delegates ; one set was 
 elected by the Radical Union Convention 
 and the other by the Unconditional Union 
 Party.) The Credential Committee decided 
 in favor of the Radicals (anti-Lincoln) and 
 they were seated. It was the wish of Lin- 
 coln that the Radicals should be seated for 
 he did not want it said that only those favor- 
 able to him were given any consideration, 
 and subsequently it was manifest that Lin- 
 coln acted wisely. The committee on per- 
 manent organization, at the evening session 
 of the first day, named William Dennison, of 
 Ohio, as President of the Convention. There 
 was much discussion whether or not dele- 
 gates from seceding states should be seated, 
 and, after some wrangling, they were ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 On the second day of the Convention, 
 after the reading of the report of the Com- 
 mittee on Resolutions, of which committee 
 Henry J. Raymond, of New York, was chair- 
 man, Mr. Delano, of Ohio, moved that the 
 
Convention proceed to the nomination of 
 President and Vice President of the United 
 States. Mr. Cameron came forward with a 
 substitute as follows: "That Abraham Lin- 
 coln, of Illinois, be declared the choice of 
 the Union Party for President and Hannibal 
 Hamlin, of Maine, be the candidate for Vice 
 President of the same party." The substi- 
 tute was laid on the table and before the 
 motion to proceed with the nominations was 
 put, Cook, of Illinois, said: "I move that 
 Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, be declared 
 the choice of this Convention. " After a 
 great deal of bantering pro and con, and a 
 variety of motions were made, all tending 
 towards the same end, but there was a great 
 deal of confusion ! Mr. Raymond realized 
 that things were in quite a tangle, and in 
 a well directed speech, brought order out 
 of chaos. He said, among other things, "It 
 is very well known that attempts have been 
 made, although I believe without success, to 
 convey the impression that the nomination 
 of Abraham Lincoln is to be rushed through 
 this Convention by some demonstration that 
 
will not allow the exercise of individual 
 opinion." The Convention saw the logic of 
 his reasoning and his conservative speech 
 was received with a great deal of applause. 
 The name of Abraham Lincoln was then 
 placed in nomination by Mr. Cook, of Illi- 
 nois, and no other nomination being pre- 
 sented, the roll of states was called and Lin- 
 coln received 484 votes and Ulysses S. Grant 
 22, which 22 votes were cast by Missouri. 
 The Missouri delegates had not taken a 
 prominent part in the Convention for they 
 went there with their hands tied and if they 
 had not been instructed to cast their votes 
 for Ulysses S. Grant they would have voted 
 for Lincoln. When Missouri w T as called Mr. 
 Hume, of Missouri, arose, and, after con- 
 sent had been given him to speak, said: 
 "It is a matter of much regret that we now 
 differ from the Convention which has been 
 so kind to the Radicals of Missouri, but we 
 came here instructed. We represent those 
 who are behind us at home and we recog- 
 nize the right of instruction, and intend to 
 obey our instructions ; in doing so we declare 
 
emphatically that we are with the Union 
 Party of this Nation, and we intend to fight 
 the battle through with it, and assist in 
 carrying its banner to victory in the end, 
 and we will support your nominees, be they 
 whom they may." He then read the resolu- 
 tion adopted by the Missouri Radicals at 
 their convention, and said : "In the spirit of 
 that resolution I cast the 22 votes of Missouri 
 for the man who stands at the head of the 
 fighting Radicals of the Nation, Ulysses S. 
 Grants 
 
 At the close of the call of the States Mr. 
 Lincoln had 484 votes, Grant 22 votes, and 
 Mr. Hume, of Missouri, moved to make the 
 nomination of Lincoln unanimous but the 
 convention insisted that he must change his 
 vote, which he said he could not do, and the 
 chair announced the result. Mr. Hume 
 again attempted to make the nomination of 
 Mr. Lincoln unanimous but he was met with 
 the cry "Change the vote" and he then said : 
 "I am authorized now to change the vote of 
 Missouri to Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois," 
 
and the secretaries then announced that the 
 vote was unanimous for Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 It was in Baltimore where it was reported 
 that a plot had been framed to assassinate 
 Lincoln on his way to Washington, and 
 three years later the Convention met there 
 to renominate Lincoln. The delegates and 
 guests of the Convention were treated with 
 great respect and no anti-Lincoln demon- 
 stration was in evidence, but it must have 
 been a surprise to many to find that a 
 great number of those who took such a 
 prominent part in the Chicago convention 
 were absent. Not a member of Lincoln's 
 cabinet was there. (If there he was seen 
 but not heard.) A great number of the 
 leaders of the 1860 Convention were absent. 
 Evarts, Greeley and Weed, of New York, 
 were missing. Giddings, of Ohio, was ab- 
 sent, and so were Judd and Davis, of Illi- 
 nois. But the Convention was not a con- 
 vention of politicians. It was a convention 
 of patriotic men of all parties who were 
 determined that Abraham Lincoln should 
 
 10 
 
succeed himself, and if Lincoln had not 
 interferred, the delegates from Missouri 
 who were for him would have been seated 
 and then the roll of states would not have 
 been called and he would have been nomin- 
 ated by acclamation. Both sets of delegates 
 from Missouri were satisfied with the final 
 result of the Convention, and thus passed 
 into history another convention which 
 played so important a part in the history of 
 our country. 
 
 11 
 
 LIBRfcm? 
 
 UNIVERSfTY OF WLWm 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63G0A4N C001 
 
 NATIONAL UNION CONVENTION OF 1864 MOLINE 
 
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