Changes

To further help Lincoln win reelection, absentee voting was instituted for the first time.  This enabled thousands of Union soldiers to vote by mail rather than show up at the polling booths in their home town.  Much later absentee voting was allowed for everyone, so they could vote by mail while away from their voting booth.

To further help Lincoln win reelection, absentee voting was instituted for the first time.  This enabled thousands of Union soldiers to vote by mail rather than show up at the polling booths in their home town.  Much later absentee voting was allowed for everyone, so they could vote by mail while away from their voting booth.

Lincoln showed his "moderate" political views by vetoing the Wade-Davis Bill in 1864, which would have imposed a very harsh reconstruction plan on the South demanded by the northern "Radical Republicans," which was a group of congressmen most determined to punish the South for slavery and the Civil War.  That Bill, which never became law, would have established virtually impossible conditions for Confederate states to rejoin the union, by requiring a majority in each State to take an oath of loyalty stating that they had always been loyal to the United States, before the State could be readmitted.  Lincoln, fearful of a backlash by Radical Republicans for blocking their bill, used a "pocket veto" to prevent this from becoming law.  A "pocket veto" is a procedure allowed under the Constitution whereby legislation is considered vetoed if the President does nothing within ten days and Congress has adjourned; doing nothing is a less controversial way of dealing with a crisis than doing something people do not like.

Lincoln showed his "moderate" political views by vetoing the [[Wade-Davis bill|Wade-Davis Bill]] in 1864, which would have imposed a very harsh reconstruction plan on the South demanded by the northern "Radical Republicans," which was a group of congressmen most determined to punish the South for slavery and the Civil War.  That Bill, which never became law, would have established virtually impossible conditions for Confederate states to rejoin the union, by requiring a majority in each State to take an oath of loyalty stating that they had always been loyal to the United States, before the State could be readmitted.  Lincoln, fearful of a backlash by Radical Republicans for blocking their bill, used a "pocket veto" to prevent this from becoming law.  A "pocket veto" is a procedure allowed under the Constitution whereby legislation is considered vetoed if the President does nothing within ten days and Congress has adjourned; doing nothing is a less controversial way of dealing with a crisis than doing something people do not like.

Lincoln then defeated McClellan in the election of 1864, aided by the exclusion of southern voters from the election (who would have voted against Lincoln).  McClellan dropped out of national politics after losing this election, but much later McClellan became Governor of New Jersey (1878-81).

Lincoln then defeated McClellan in the election of 1864, aided by the exclusion of southern voters from the election (who would have voted against Lincoln).  McClellan dropped out of national politics after losing this election, but much later McClellan became Governor of New Jersey (1878-81).