---
title: '1864: Abraham Lincoln v. George B. McClellan'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1864/
description: a wartime election held on 8 November 1864 between the incumbent Republican president, running on a "Union" ticket, and the general he had removed from…
section: US presidential elections
---

![Illustration: a pre-1914 imperial intelligence-dossier collage of colonial telegraph logs, sepia field photography and empire maps.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-pre1914.jpg)

[US presidential elections](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/)

# 1864: Abraham Lincoln v. George B. McClellan

At a glance

A wartime election held on 8 November 1864 between the incumbent Republican president, running on a "Union" ticket, and the general he had removed from command…

- **When:** 1864

On this page

- [Context](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1864/#context)
- [Campaign literature](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1864/#campaign-literature)
- [Techniques visible](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1864/#techniques-visible)
- [Sources](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1864/#sources)

On this page

**In one line:** a wartime election held on 8 November 1864 between the incumbent Republican president, running on a "Union" ticket, and the general he had removed from command, running on a Democratic platform that called for an end to hostilities; the surviving prints are mostly lithographs and broadsides, and most of the pictorial cartoons in this archive attack the Democratic ticket, a fact about what was catalogued here rather than a count of what each side printed.

## Context

The Republican (National Union) convention met at Baltimore in June 1864 and renominated Abraham Lincoln, with Andrew Johnson of Tennessee for vice president; its platform pledged to put down the rebellion "by force of arms", rejected any peace "except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender", and called for a constitutional amendment to end slavery [3]. The Democratic convention met at Chicago on 29 August 1864 and nominated George B. McClellan of New Jersey, whom Lincoln had replaced as commander of the Army of the Potomac, with Representative George H. Pendleton of Ohio for vice president [5]. Its platform declared, after "four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war", that "immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view of an ultimate convention of the States", and condemned the "administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution" [4]. McClellan's letter accepting the nomination expressed support for the war, and cartoonists on the Lincoln side made the gap between that letter and the platform a recurring subject; the Library of Congress notes a popular comparison of McClellan to an acrobat straddling two horses [5].

A third ticket, John C. Fremont for president and John Cochrane for vice president, was put forward by a faction of radical Democrats described by the Library of Congress as mostly Germans and abolitionists [5]. The National Archives lists electoral votes only for the two main tickets [1].

Lincoln won 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21 (233 in all, 117 needed), with McClellan carrying Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey [1]. The American Presidency Project records a popular vote of 2,220,846 (55.1 per cent) for Lincoln and 1,809,445 (44.9 per cent) for McClellan [2]. Lincoln was assassinated on 14 April 1865, and Johnson succeeded him [1]. Every object below was printed while Lincoln was president, so each is tagged with the Lincoln administration whichever side issued it.

![Illustration: a lithographic poster workshop with inked stones, colour-separation proofs and drying racks.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/graphics/lithography-workshop.jpg)

Illustration, not an archive object

## Campaign literature

| Candidate | Objects in the archive | Embedded below |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Abraham Lincoln (National Union / Republican) | 7 | 6 (the seventh, [Democracy. 1832. 1864.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/democracy-1864/), is catalogued but not embedded, to keep the sides equal) |
| George B. McClellan (Democratic) | 7 | 6 (the seventh, [McClellan and Pendleton](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mcclellan-pendleton-tickets-1864/), is catalogued but not embedded) |
| John C. Fremont (Radical Democracy) | 1 | 1 |
| Both main tickets in one object | 1 | 1 |

The two main sides are given the same space. Their material differs in kind: the Lincoln-side prints in the archive are mainly cartoons and broadsides aimed at McClellan and the Chicago platform, with one portrait banner for Lincoln; the McClellan-side objects are two portrait or banner pieces, two songs, and two cartoons aimed at Lincoln. The sample reflects what the holding institutions have digitised and what the archive's search found, not a measure of the volume either campaign printed. Fremont's side has a single hostable object, so it has no more than that here.

### Abraham Lincoln and the National Union ticket

![Currier & Ives banner with portrait roundels of Lincoln and Johnson, a Temple of Liberty and an eagle](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/grand-national-union-banner-1864.jpg)

*[Grand national union banner for 1864. Liberty, union and victory](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/grand-national-union-banner-1864/). Currier & Ives, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.* A portrait banner of Lincoln and Johnson under a "Temple of Liberty", flags and an eagle, titled "Liberty, union and victory"; the slogan is a [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) device (virtue words in place of a testable claim) and the flags, temple and eagle are [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) (borrowed symbolic prestige).

![Currier & Ives lithograph of a two-faced McClellan on a rickety platform](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chicago-platform-candidate-1864.jpg)

*[The Chicago platform and candidate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chicago-platform-candidate-1864/). Currier & Ives, probably drawn by Louis Maurer, October 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* A two-faced McClellan stands on a "Chicago Platform" held up by a devil, Jefferson Davis, Fernando Wood and Clement Vallandigham, while a Union soldier turns away and a club-wielding "Peace Democrat" drawn as a caricature of an Irishman speaks in dialect and uses a racial slur. It uses [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) (the two faces, the devil) and [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) (the stigma of Davis and the devil placed on the candidate). Content note: contains a racial slur and an ethnic caricature, shown as printed.

![Prang two-panel print, Baltimore against Chicago](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/platforms-illustrated-1864.jpg)

*[Platforms illustrated](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/platforms-illustrated-1864/). Louis Prang & Co., 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* Two panels contrast the Baltimore convention, with Lincoln, Liberty, Sumner, Grant and Farragut, against the Chicago convention, with Vallandigham, snakes the Library of Congress reads as Copperheads, Seymour, Wood and John Bull reading the London Times. [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) attaches the prestige of Grant and Farragut to one panel and the stigma of the snakes and the Confederate "Separation" flag to the other, and the labelling is [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/). Content note: one figure in the Chicago panel uses a racial slur.

![Nast broadside with vignettes around a portrait of McClellan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lincoln-chicago-platform-1864.jpg)

*[The Chicago platform](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lincoln-chicago-platform-1864/). Thomas Nast, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* Laid out like a platform sheet, the broadside sets each Democratic resolution beside a vignette that the Library of Congress describes as illustrating its reverse: bloodhounds, the 1863 draft riots, a slave auction, soldiers at the polls. This is [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) (selecting and ordering images so the pile reads one way) and [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). Content note: racial and ethnic caricature in the draft-riot and slave-auction scenes, shown as printed.

![Lithograph of McClellan straddling two horses in a circus ring](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/little-macs-feat-1864.jpg)

*[Little Mac's double feat of equitation](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/little-macs-feat-1864/). N. Bangs Williams, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.* McClellan straddles horses marked "Letter of Acceptance" and "Chicago Platform" while Pendleton in a dunce cap marked "PEACE!" urges him on; the print is [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) by ridicule and [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) in presenting only the inconsistency.

![Two-panel woodcut, Union and Liberty against Union and Slavery](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/union-and-liberty-1864.jpg)

*[Union and liberty! And union and slavery!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/union-and-liberty-1864/). Martin W. Siebert, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* Lincoln shakes the hand of a working man before a schoolhouse flying the flag; McClellan shakes the hand of Jefferson Davis before a slave auction. The two-panel choice is [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/), and placing Davis and the auction beside the candidate is [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/).

The seventh Lincoln-side entry, [Democracy. 1832. 1864.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/democracy-1864/) (Louis Prang & Co.), sets Andrew Jackson's 1832 rebuke to Calhoun against McClellan and Pendleton kneeling to Davis on the "Chicago Platform", and uses [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) and [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) in the same way.

### George B. McClellan and the Democratic ticket

![Currier & Ives banner with portraits of McClellan and Pendleton](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/grand-national-democratic-banner-1864.jpg)

*[Grand National Democratic banner. Peace! Union! and victory!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/grand-national-democratic-banner-1864/). Currier & Ives, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* The same publisher's banner for McClellan and Pendleton, titled "Peace! Union! and victory!", with clasped hands and a prosperous harbour below. The Library of Congress notes it is nearly identical to the Lincoln banner apart from the portraits and vignette. The slogan is [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) and the flags, temple and eagle are [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/), as on the Lincoln banner.

![Currier & Ives print of Lincoln asleep in a bed under a star-spangled sheet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/abrahams-dream-1864.jpg)

*[Abraham's dream!--Coming events cast their shadows before](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abrahams-dream-1864/). Currier & Ives, probably drawn by Louis Maurer, September 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* Lincoln dreams that Liberty, holding a severed Black head, kicks him out of the White House, and he flees in the Scotch cap and cloak of the 1861 Baltimore story with a scroll marked "To whom it may concern". It is [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) by ridicule of cowardice, with Liberty as the [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) of a national symbol against him. Content note: the print shows a severed Black head, as printed.

![Bromley lithograph of two trains, one running smoothly and one wrecked](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/abolition-catastrophe-1864.jpg)

*[Political caricature. No. 3, The abolition catastrophe. Or the November smash-up](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abolition-catastrophe-1864/). G.W. Bromley & Co., 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* A Democratic "Union" train carries McClellan and cheering passengers while the Republican train is wrecked on "Emancipation" and "Confiscation" beneath a "$400,000,000 public debt". The passengers' captions treat victory as settled, a [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) appeal, and use "Miscegenationists" and a racial slur as [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/). Content note: contains a racial slur, shown as printed.

![Lithograph of a Black soldier barring a wounded white veteran from a ballot box](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/how-free-ballot-is-protected-1864.jpg)

*[How free ballot is protected!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/how-free-ballot-is-protected-1864/). Joseph E. Baker, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* A Black Union soldier drawn in dialect caricature blocks a one-legged white veteran from casting a McClellan ballot while officials look away. The scene stages electoral intimidation as imminent harm ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)) and shows only the incident that supports the charge ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). Content note: racist caricature of a Black soldier, shown as printed.

![Cover of McClellan Campaign Songs, with portrait and song titles](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mcclellan-campaign-songs-pond-1864.jpg)

*[M'Clellan campaign songs, no. 1: Forward march for Little Mac; Little Mac and Pendleton; The head of the nation McClellan shall be; Little Mac is on de track](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mcclellan-campaign-songs-pond-1864/). Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress, Music Division.* The cover of a four-song book ("Forward march for Little Mac", "Little Mac is on de track" and others) with an oval portrait of McClellan; the titles invite the reader to join a procession, a [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) appeal.

![Song sheet 'Little Mac' from the Democratic presidential campaign songster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/little-mac-song-sheet-feeks-1864.jpg)

*['Little Mac.' (from the Democratic presidential campaign songster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/little-mac-song-sheet-feeks-1864/). J. F. Feeks, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.* A song that presents the "people's choice" as the soldiers' choice ("Old Abe must clear the track"), mocks Lincoln's Scottish cap, and ends each verse "then swell the votes". It uses [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) and, in its ordinary-soldier voice, [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/). The full text is transcribed on the entry.

The seventh McClellan-side entry, [McClellan and Pendleton](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mcclellan-pendleton-tickets-1864/) (Oakley & Thompson, Boston), is a coloured strip with McClellan's portrait, two "McClellan and Pendleton" panels and a "Union" shield, and uses [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) only.

### John C. Fremont and the Radical Democracy

![Currier & Ives banner for Fremont and Cochrane](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/radical-democracy-banner-1864.jpg)

*[Grand banner of the radical democracy, for 1864](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-democracy-banner-1864/). Currier & Ives, 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* A portrait banner of Fremont and Cochrane in oak-leaf roundels under an eagle with shield and arrows; the eagle and flags are [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). This is the only hostable object for this ticket, and it carries no slogan or attack.

### Both main tickets in one object

![H.H. Lloyd chart with portraits, platforms and a map](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/presidential-campaign-1864.jpg)

*[Presidential campaign, 1864. Candidates for President and Vice-President](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/presidential-campaign-1864/). H.H. Lloyd & Co., 1864. Public domain by age; Library of Congress.* A large sheet printing portraits of Lincoln, McClellan, Johnson and Pendleton with each side's platform, a war map and tables, framed by portraits of the earlier presidents with Washington at top centre; the framing is [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) for both tickets equally. The Library of Congress notes errors in its printed election table.

## Techniques visible

The same definitions apply to every object above.

- [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) (a loaded label so the audience rejects the target): the Lincoln-side prints label McClellan two-faced, tied to a devil or to Davis; the McClellan-side prints label Lincoln a coward and the Republicans "Miscegenationists" and abolitionists.
- [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) (borrowed prestige or stigma): the Lincoln-side prints place McClellan beside Jefferson Davis, a devil or a slave auction; the McClellan-side prints place Lincoln beside a severed head and the Republican ticket under a wreck labelled "Emancipation"; both banners borrow the flag, eagle and Temple of Liberty.
- [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/): the Lincoln-side broadside and two-panel prints, and the McClellan-side ballot-box scene, each choose the images that support one reading.
- [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/): the McClellan-side songs and train print treat victory as settled; none of the Lincoln-side objects embedded here is tagged with it.
- [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/): the two banners carry parallel slogans, "Liberty, union and victory" and "Peace! Union! and victory!".
- [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/): the McClellan-side ballot-box print stages electoral intimidation; no Lincoln-side object embedded here is tagged with it.

Scale differs: more of the pictorial cartoons catalogued here come from the Lincoln side, and that is a feature of the sample. Racial and ethnic caricature appears on both sides: the Lincoln-side prints caricature Irish figures and carry racial slurs in the mouths of Democratic characters, and the McClellan-side prints caricature Black figures and use slurs in captions. This page records what was printed and does not rank the two.

## Sources

1. National Archives, "1864 Electoral College Results", https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1864
2. The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara), "1864" election statistics, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1864
3. The American Presidency Project, "Republican Party Platform of 1864" (7 June 1864), https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1864
4. The American Presidency Project, "1864 Democratic Party Platform", https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1864-democratic-party-platform
5. Library of Congress catalogue records for the objects above, including summaries drawn from Bernard F. Reilly, *American Political Prints, 1766-1876* (G.K. Hall, 1991): https://www.loc.gov/item/2003674567/ (Lincoln banner), https://www.loc.gov/item/2003656577/ (McClellan banner), https://www.loc.gov/item/2003689255/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661665/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661666/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661667/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661668/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661670/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003689256/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661681/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661677/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2023783532/, https://www.loc.gov/item/amss-as108310/, https://www.loc.gov/item/95505794/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003656576/, https://www.loc.gov/item/2014645211/