UNITED STATES. 



789 



MR. PRESIDENT : The National Union Convention, 

 which closed its sittings at Baltimore yesterday, ap- 

 pointed a Committee consisting of one from each 

 State, with myself as Chairman, to inform you of 

 your inanimous nomination by that Convention for 

 election to the office of President of the I 

 States. That Committee, I have the honor of mis- 

 informing you, is present. On its behalf I have also 

 the honor of presenting you with a copy of the reso- 

 lutions or platform adopted by that Convent; 

 expressive of its sense, and of 'the sense of the loyal 

 people of the country, which it represents, of the 

 principles and policy that should characterize the 

 administration of the Government in the present con- 

 dition of the country. I need not say to you, sir, 

 that Convention, in thus unanimously nominating 

 you for reelection, but gave utterance to the almost 

 universal voice of the loyal people of the country. 

 To doubt of your triumphant election, would be little 

 short of abandoning the hope of a final suppression 

 of the rebellion and the restoration of the Govern- 

 ment over the insurgent States. Neither the Con- 

 vention nor those represented by that body enter- 

 tained any doubt as to the final result, under your 

 administration, sustained by that loyal people, and 

 by our noble army and gallant navy. Neither did 

 the Convention, nor do this Committee, doubt the 

 speedy suppression of this most wicked and unpro- 

 voked rebellion. (A copy of the resolutions was 

 here handed to the President.) I would add, Mr. 

 President, that it would be the pleasure of the Com- 

 mittee to communicate to you, within a few days, 

 through one of its most accomplished members, Mr. 

 Curtis, of New York, bv letter, more at length the 

 circumstances under wh'ich you have been placed in 

 nomination for the Presidency. 



In reply, the President said : 



Mn. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN* OF THE COMMITTEE : 

 I will neither conceal my gratification nor restrain 

 the expression of my gratitude that the Union peo- 

 ple, through their Convention, in the continued effort 

 to save and advance the nation, have deemed me not 

 unworthy to remain in my present position. I know 

 no reason to doubt that I 'shall accept the nomipation 

 tendered, and yet, perhaps, I should not declare 

 definitely before reading and considering tt.iat is 

 called the platform. I will say now, however, that 

 I approve the declaration in favor of so amending 

 the Constitution as to prohibit slavery throughout 

 the nation. When the people in revolt, with the 

 hundred days' explicit notice that they could within 

 those days resume their allegiance without the over- 

 throw of their institutions, and that they could not 

 resume it afterward, elected to stand out, such an 

 amendment of the Constitution as is now proposed 

 became a fitting and necessary conclusion to the final 

 success of the Union cause. Such alone can meet 

 and cover all cavils. I now perceive its importance 

 and embrace it. In the joint names of Liberty and 

 Union let us labor to give it legal form and practical 

 effect. 



On the same day the members of the National 

 Union League, having been in session at Balti- 

 more on the previous day, called upon Mr. Lin- 

 coln. The chairman of the deputation said : 



MR. PRESIDENT : I have the pleasure of introducing 

 to you the representatives of the Union Leagues of 

 the loyal States to congratulate you upon your re- 

 nomination, and to assure you that we will 'not fail 

 at the polls to .give you the support that your ser- 

 vices in the past so highly deserve. We feel honored 

 in doing this ; for we are assured that we are aiding 

 in reelecting to *.he proud position of President of the 

 United States oae so highly worthy of it one among 

 not the least of whose claims is that he was the eman- 

 cipator of four millions of bondmen. 



In re^ly, Mr, Lincoln said ; 



GENTLEMEN: I can only say in response to llie re- 

 marks of your Chairman, 1 suppose, that I ;n. 

 grateful for the r> ifiaenoe which has been 



accorded to me, both by the Convention and I 

 National League. I am not insensible at all to t! 

 sonal compliment there is in this ; yet I do not allow 

 myself to before that any but a small portion of it i- 

 to be appropriated a- a jK-r-onal compliment t 

 The Convention and the nation, I am assured, are 

 alike animated by a higher view of the inter* 

 the country for th 'id the great futur 



that part I am entitled to appropriate as a compli- 

 ment is only that which I may lay hold of as being 

 the opinion of the Convention and of the League, 

 that I am not entirely unworthy to be intrusted with 

 the place I have occupied for the last three year~. I 

 have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude 

 that I am the best man in the country; but I am 

 reminded in this connection of a story of an old 

 Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once 

 that " it was not best to swop horses when crossing 

 streams." 



Subsequently, on June 14th, the Committee 

 of the Baltimore Convention addressed a letter 

 t:> Mr. Lincoln, informing him formally of his 

 nomination, to which he replied as follows : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION. WASHINGTON. Jnne 27, 1864. 

 Hon. WlUt'im D-nnison and others, a Committee of the 

 ial Union Convention: 



GENTLEMEN : Your letter of the 14th inst., formally 

 notifying me that I have been nominated by the Con- 

 vention you represent for the Presidency of the 

 United S'tates for four years from the 4th of March 

 next, has been received*. The nomination is grate- 

 fully accepted, as the resolutions of the Convention 

 called the platform are heartily approved. 



While the resolution in regard to the supplanting 

 of republican government upon the Western Conti- 

 nent is fully concurred in, there might be misunder- 

 standing were I not to say that the position of the 

 Government in relation to the action of France in 

 Mexico, as assumed through the State Department 

 and endorsed by the Convention, among the meas- 

 ures and acts of the Executive, will be faithfully 

 maintained so long as the state of facts shall leave 

 that position pertinent and applicable. 



I am especially gratified that the soldier and tho 

 seaman were not forgotten by the Convention, as 

 they forever must and will be remembered by the 

 grateful country for whose salvation they devote 

 their lives. 



Thanking you for the kind and complimentary 

 terms in which you have communicated the nomina- 

 tion and other proceedings of the Convention, I sub- 

 scribe mvself vour obedient servant, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



On Jan. 12th the following call was issued 

 for the assembling of a National Democratic 

 Convention : 



XEW TOEK, Jan. 12th, 1864. 



At a meeting of the National Democratic Commit- 

 tee, held in New York this day, it was unanimously 

 voted that the next National Democratic Convention, 

 for the purpose of nominating candidates for the 

 Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States, 

 be held at Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, July 4th, 



By a vote of the Committee at a meeting held Sept 

 Tth,' 1863. the number of Delegates for each St;.- 

 fixed at double the number of its electoral 



AUGUST HKLMONT, Chairman. 



FREDERICK 0. PRINCE, Secretary. 



In June a further notice appeared, post- 

 poning the assembling of this Convention until 

 Aug. 29th. The elil-ct of this postponement 



