ELECTION SURPRISES: LINCOLN'S 1864 RE-ELECTION VICTORY

» StateOFranklin - Just a thought.

It seems odd that those opposing Lincoln on the grounds he could not win the war chose 2 failed generals to run against him. I realize many thought that Fremont was unfairly fired, but McClellan was a pretty obvious failure. Did the Dems. believe that McClellan would sue for peace? Or did they honestly believe he would prosecute the war so zealously that it would be over sooner?

YMOS
JB

-- posted by StateOFranklin

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» Mugwump53 - Interesting Point

I never thought of Lincoln's opponenets as two failed generals, although they were. Fremont was only a general for such a short time that no one really thought of him in that respect. Most thought of him first and foremost aas the famous explorer or as a politician (he had been a senator from California and the first Republican presidential cnadidate in 1856).

But you are very correct in pointing out that both Fremont and McClellan were failures fired by Lincoln. Interesting point.

As to McClellan, no there was no thought that he would prosecute the war so vigorously as to end it sooner. Some, maybe most, Democrats did expect
that McClellan would follow the party platform and sue for peace. McClellan, to his credit, publicly disagreed with the party platform, but no change was officially made. At any rate, McClellan lent his name and popularity to the Democratic campaign.

McClellan was picked by the Democrats because he was the most popular well-known opponent of Lincoln available.

Thanks for an interesting point of view.

Mugwump

-- posted by Mugwump53

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» FortBrooke1824 - Again another excellent article

you write extremely well and i envy you. You are in my opinion 100% correct in the Lincoln article. If i could find fault i would point it out but i find nothing outstanding job.

-- posted by FortBrooke1824

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» Mugwump53 - Re: Again another excellent article

In response to message posted by FortBrooke1824:


Thanks again. I am enjoying your posts very much.

-- posted by Mugwump53

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