{"id":3231,"date":"2025-07-21T12:43:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/?page_id=3231"},"modified":"2026-07-20T12:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:50:28","slug":"unionism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/unionism\/","title":{"rendered":"Unionism"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>Unionism and Election of 1864<\/strong><\/h1>\n<blockquote><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The rebellion has been a rapid educator. Congress was the first to respond to the instinctive judgment of the people, and fixed the broad brand of its reprobation upon slave hunting in shoulder straps. Then came very temperate talk about confiscation, which soon came to be pretty radical talk. Then came propositions for Border State, gradual, compensated, colonized emancipation. Then came the threat of a proclamation, and then came the Proclamation. Meanwhile the Negro had passed along from a loyal spade and pickax to a Springfield rifle. &#8212;<a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/texts\/frederick-douglass-mission-of-the-war-1864\/\">Frederick Douglass, &#8220;The Mission of the War&#8221; (January 1864)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h1><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/lincoln-and-emancipation\/\"><strong>Timeline of Freedom<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>1861<\/strong> \/\/ Contrabands<\/li>\n<li><strong>1861-2<\/strong> \/\/ Confiscation<\/li>\n<li><strong>1863<\/strong> \/\/ Emancipation \/ Amnesty<\/li>\n<li><strong>1864-5<\/strong> \/\/ Abolition<\/li>\n<li><strong>1865 and beyond<\/strong> \/\/ Equality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2025\/07\/Teagle-March-2025.pdf\">The Gettysburg Convention (Nov. 18-19, 1863)<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2025\/07\/Gettysburg-Platform-with-Nine-Numbers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3233 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2025\/07\/Gettysburg-Platform-with-Nine-Numbers.jpg\" alt=\"Gettysburg\" width=\"869\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2025\/07\/Gettysburg-Platform-with-Nine-Numbers.jpg 869w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2025\/07\/Gettysburg-Platform-with-Nine-Numbers-300x138.jpg 300w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2025\/07\/Gettysburg-Platform-with-Nine-Numbers-768x354.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1 = Wayne MacVeagh (PA Unionist chair) \/\/ 2 = John Hay (White House aide) \/\/ 3 = John Nicolay (White House aide) \/\/ 4 = William Seward (Secretary of State \/\/ 5 = Edward Everett (Main orator, former VP candidate in 1860) \/\/ 6 = John Forney (PA editor, Unionist \/\/ 7 = Andrew Curtin (PA Gov, Unionist \/\/ 8 = Horatio Seymour (NY Gov, Democrat)\u00a0 \/\/ 9 = David Tod (OH Gov, Unionist)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where was Chase?\u00a0 He was trying to build the Unconditional Union party with &#8220;emancipation as its cardinal principle.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3424 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM.png\" alt=\"Chase article\" width=\"2082\" height=\"1446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM.png 2082w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM-300x208.png 300w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM-1024x711.png 1024w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM-768x533.png 768w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM-1536x1067.png 1536w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-8.37.58-AM-2048x1422.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org\/abraham-lincolns-contemporaries\/abraham-lincoln-and-salmon-p-chase\/index.html\">Lincoln and Salmon P. Chase<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/artsandculture.google.com\/story\/lincoln-s-gettysburg-addresses-house-divided-project-at-dickinson-college\/8AXxBerwOx8A8A?hl=en\">Lincoln and Sam Wilkeson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/texts\/anna-dickinson-perils-of-the-hour-1864\/\">Lincoln and Anna Dickinson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/lincoln-and-douglass\/\">Lincoln and Frederick Douglass<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Abraham Lincoln believed that to &#8220;save the union,&#8221; he first had to build a Union party.<\/p>\n<h2>Election of 1864<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/blind-memorandum-august-23-1864\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3679\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1584px) 100vw, 1584px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM.png 1584w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM-300x260.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM-1024x888.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM-768x666.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM-1536x1332.png 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-7.34.23-AM-346x300.png 346w\" alt=\"Blind memo\" width=\"1584\" height=\"1374\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/George_B_McClellan_-_retouched.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1145\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/George_B_McClellan_-_retouched-240x300.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/George_B_McClellan_-_retouched-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/George_B_McClellan_-_retouched-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/George_B_McClellan_-_retouched.jpg 1108w\" alt=\"McClellan\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Abraham Lincoln was re-nominated for president in June 1864 by the newly organized National Union Party with Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate. Yet on Tuesday, August 23, 1864, Lincoln wrote a secret memorandum that began, \u201cThis morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected.\u201d\u00a0 He then proceeded to sketch out a plan for cooperation with the next President-Elect in the event of his own defeat.\u00a0 He did not know for sure at that time, but he anticipated that his successful partisan opponent might be General George McClellan, who would in fact be nominated by the Democrats in late August 1864 as their nominee for president.\u00a0 He then folded the document and had his cabinet officers sign and date the back without reading the contents.\u00a0 Why did he write this secret memo?\u00a0 Who was his audience?<\/p>\n<h2>Tuesday, November 8, 1864<\/h2>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\"><b><span class=\"markkq9yqqfxf\" data-markjs=\"true\" data-ogac=\"\" data-ogab=\"\" data-ogsc=\"\" data-ogsb=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2569\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE-234x300.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE-234x300.png 234w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE-800x1024.png 800w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE-768x983.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE-900x1151.png 900w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2024\/03\/Deacon-John-Phillips-photo-FINDAGRAVE.png 1174w\" alt=\"\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>John<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"mark7kmvueljx\" data-markjs=\"true\" data-ogac=\"\" data-ogab=\"\" data-ogsc=\"\" data-ogsb=\"\">Phillips<\/span>\u00a0(1760-1865)<\/b><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Sturbridge, MA<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Baptist\u00a0<span class=\"mark0yynydd89\" data-markjs=\"true\" data-ogac=\"\" data-ogab=\"\" data-ogsc=\"\" data-ogsb=\"\">deacon<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Democrat<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Voting for Washington and Lincoln (1864) and in every election in between except for 1860, when he was too sick to vote<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">F.W. Emmons wrote Lincoln about the episode on November 9, 1864<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Phillips rode two miles with son Edward (age 79) to vote at town hall<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">AL responded on November 21, 1864 expressing his gratitude<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Phillips image was featured in Harper\u2019s, December 10, 1864 with short article<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unionism and Election of 1864 &nbsp; The rebellion has been a rapid educator. Congress was the first to respond to the instinctive judgment of the people, and fixed the broad brand of its reprobation upon slave hunting in shoulder straps. Then came very temperate talk about confiscation, which soon came to be pretty radical talk. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/unionism\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Unionism&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3231","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3231"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3427,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3231\/revisions\/3427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}