Did The Fall of Atlanta Really Save Lincoln in 1864? (user search)
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  Did The Fall of Atlanta Really Save Lincoln in 1864? (search mode)
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Author Topic: Did The Fall of Atlanta Really Save Lincoln in 1864?  (Read 1083 times)
Badger
badger
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« on: July 12, 2014, 11:57:58 AM »

I'm rewatching The Civil War by Ken Burns, and they certainly play up the 1864 election (like most Civil War biopics seem to) as some great, even improbable, come from behind victory by Lincoln. A somehow 'close shave' Linoln survived only due to the timely capture of Atlanta only several weeks before.

That may satisfy the casual tv viewer, but we election afficianados know the truth: McClellan was utterly routed. The electoral tsunami exaggerates the scope of Lincoln's win, but the popular vote was still a substantial margin of just over 10 points.

The win of Atlanta certainly aided Lincoln, and surely flipped a few close states like NY, CT, & probably PA, but was it truly responsible, even largely so, for Lincoln's win? It seems like Lincoln still had more than enough support that he still would've won a comfortable (Obama 2012-ish) victory.

Thoughts?
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Badger
badger
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 40,237
United States


« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2014, 10:31:09 AM »

It certainly didn't hurt, but what really saved Lincoln was the Radical Republicans not running their own candidate like they threatened to do.

Good point. How much support could Fremont have realistially syphoned from Lincoln?

For that matter, Fremont withdrew and endorsed Lincoln only 3 weeks after Atlanta fell; how much cause and effect was there?
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