Politics in 1864: The National Union Party

The news in 2021 is full of stories of political conflict. Republicans are split between Trumpists and Never Trumpers with economic and social conservatives scattered across the mix. Democrats are spread from moderates to liberals to progressives.

But as a student of American history, I have come to believe that most of the political controversies we have seen in the 21st century have been seen before—if not worse. Our political parties have been split—and even severed—in past election cycles.

Have you heard of the National Union Party? I hadn’t until I researched the 1864 election for my current work-in-progress.

The National Union Party arose in 1864 as an offshoot of the Republican Party. At the time, the Republican Party itself was relatively new. The Republican Party developed to oppose the expansion of slavery permitted under the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, a law passed by the Democrats in power at the time. In 1856, John C. Frémont was the first Republican Party nominee for president. In a three-way election that year, Frémont and Millard Fillmore (the Know Nothing Party candidate—another interesting political story of the mid-19th century) lost to Democrat James Buchanan.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the second Republican candidate for president, and the first successful Republican nominee. But during his first term of office, an offshoot of the Republican Party called the Radical Republicans decided Lincoln was incompetent, particularly as Commander in Chief during the Civil War. They did not think he could be reelected in 1864, and so the Radical Republicans formed a splinter party called the Radical Democracy Party. The Radical Republicans again nominated Frémont as their candidate for president in the 1864 election.

The larger group of “mainstream Republicans” (my description of this group) who supported Lincoln then renamed themselves the National Union Party and nominated Lincoln as their candidate. At the National Union Party convention in early June 1864, the party adopted a platform that called for the end of the Civil War, the eradication of slavery, and the adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation. With this platform, they hoped to draw Democrats and border state voters who supported the Union side in the Civil War.

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In another effort to attract Democrats to their ticket, the National Union Party nominated Democrat Andrew Johnson to be the vice presidential nominee, rather than Vice President Hannibal Hamlin who served during Lincoln’s first term.

But the 1864 national convention was the only convention the National Union Party ever held. By the time of the November 1864 election, Frémont dropped out of the race, fearing that a three-way race would result in the election of Democrat candidate Major General George McClellan. Then the Radical Republicans threw their support behind Lincoln, effectively reuniting the Republican Party, though on the ballot the Lincoln/Johnson ticket was still listed as the National Union Party. As we all know, Lincoln won reelection in November 1864.

And, as we all know, Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, just weeks after his second inauguration. Johnson assumed the presidency after only 42 days as vice president. Johnson was the second—and last—president to be elected on the National Union Party ticket.

After Johnson became president, political tensions rose again during the Reconstruction era, because Johnson did not support the efforts of Republicans to protect former slaves. Johnson became the first president ever to be impeached, though he survived by a single vote after his impeachment trial in the Senate. But he was weakened by the impeachment effort, and Radical Republicans pushed through the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution and several post-Civil War laws over Johnson’s objections.

And so the political conflicts continued. And continue.

Had you ever heard of the National Union Party?