The 1864 presidential election conventions of the parties are considered below in order of the party's popular vote.
National Union Party nomination National Union candidates: • Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States • Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General from Illinois
National Union Party presidential candidates gallery File:Abraham Lincoln O-77 matte collodion print.jpg| File:Ulysses S Grant by Brady c1870-restored.jpg|
National Union Party vice presidential candidates gallery File:President Andrew Johnson.jpg| File:Vice-President of the United States Hannibal Hamlin.jpg| File:Benjamin Franklin Butler politician - Brady-Handy (3x4 cropped).jpg| File:Daniel Dickinson NY.jpg| File:Maj. Gen. Lovell Harrison Rousseau LOC cwpb.07108 (1).jpg|
Temporary split in the Republican Party As the Civil War progressed, political opinions within the Republican Party began to diverge. Senators
Charles Sumner and
Henry Wilson from Massachusetts wanted the Republican Party to advocate constitutional amendments to prohibit slavery and guarantee racial equality before the law. Initially, not all northern Republicans supported such measures. Democratic leaders hoped that the radical Republicans would put forth their own ticket in the election. The
New York World newspaper, particularly interested in undermining the National Union Party, ran a series of articles predicting a delay for the National Union Convention until late in 1864 to allow Frémont time to collect delegates to win the nomination. Frémont supporters in New York City established a newspaper called the
New Nation, which declared in one of its initial issues that the National Union Convention would be a "nonentity". The
New York World also published
false information (further purported by
Samuel S. Cox) to limit Lincoln's popularity.
National Union Party Before the election, some War Democrats joined the Republicans to form the National Union Party. With the outcome of the Civil War still in doubt, some political leaders, including
Salmon P. Chase,
Benjamin Wade, and
Horace Greeley, opposed Lincoln's re-nomination on the grounds that he could not win. Chase himself became the only candidate to contest Lincoln's re-nomination actively, but he withdrew in March when a slew of Republican officials, including some within the state of Ohio upon whom Chase's campaign depended, endorsed Lincoln for re-nomination. Lincoln was still popular with most members of the Republican Party, and the National Union Party nominated him for a second term as president at their convention in
Baltimore, Maryland, on June 7–8, 1864. The party platform included these goals: "pursuit of the war, until the Confederacy surrendered unconditionally; a constitutional amendment for the abolition of slavery; aid to disabled Union veterans; continued European neutrality; enforcement of the
Monroe Doctrine; encouragement of immigration; and construction of a transcontinental railroad." It also praised the use of black troops and Lincoln's management of the war. With incumbent vice president
Hannibal Hamlin remaining indifferent about the prospect of a second term in office,
Andrew Johnson, the former senator from and current military governor of
Tennessee, was named as Lincoln's vice presidential running-mate. He had been governor of Tennessee from 1853 to 1857 and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857. In his congressional service, he sought passage of the
Homestead Bill which was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862. When the Southern slave states, including Tennessee, seceded, he remained firmly with the Union. He was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his state's secession. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as military governor of Tennessee after most of it had been retaken. In 1864, Johnson was a logical choice as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign, especially to ensure the electoral votes of the border states. Others who were considered for the nomination, at one point or another, were former Senator
Daniel Dickinson, Major General
Benjamin Butler, Major General
William Rosecrans,
Joseph Holt, and former Treasury Secretary and Senator
John Dix. File:Major General John Charles Fremont of General Staff Regular Army Infantry Regiment, in uniform) - Rockwood, photographer, 839 Broadway, N.Y LCCN2017660616 (3x4 crop- B&W).jpg|
Radical Democratic Party vice presidential candidates gallery File:Gen. John Cochrane - NARA - 528252 (cropped).jpg| The
Radical Democratic Convention assembled in Ohio with delegates arriving on May 29, 1864.
The New York Times reported that the hall which the convention organizers had planned to use had been double-booked by an opera troupe. Almost all delegates were instructed to support Frémont, with a major exception being the New York delegation, which was composed of War Democrats who supported
Ulysses S. Grant. Various estimates of the number of delegates were reported in the press;
The New York Times reported 156 delegates, but the number generally reported elsewhere was 350 delegates. The delegates came from 15 states and the
District of Columbia. They adopted the name Radical Democratic Party. A supporter of Grant was appointed chairman. The platform was passed with little discussion, and a series of resolutions that bogged down the convention proceedings were voted down decisively. The convention nominated Frémont for president, and he accepted the nomination on June 4, 1864. In his letter, he stated that he would step aside if the National Union Convention would nominate someone other than Lincoln for president.
John Cochrane was nominated for vice president. ==General election==