By August , Republicans across the country were experiencing feelings of extreme anxiety , fearing that Lincoln would be defeated . The outlook was so grim that Thurlow Weed told the president directly that his " re-election was an impossibility . " Acknowledging this , Lincoln wrote and signed a pledge that , if he should lose the election , he would nonetheless defeat the Confederacy by an all-out military effort before turning over the White House : Lincoln 's re-election prospects grew brighter after the Union Navy seized Mobile Bay in late August and General Sherman captured Atlanta a few weeks later . These victories relieved Republicans ' defeatist anxieties , energized the Union-Republican alliance , and helped to restore popular support for the administration 's war strategy . The 1864 Democratic National Convention met at the end of August , nominating General George McClellan as their presidential candidate . The divided Democrats adopted a platform calling for peace with the Confederacy , but McClellan himself favored continuing the war . McClellan agonized over accepting the nomination , but after the Union victory in Atlanta , he accepted the nomination with a public letter
1864 Democratic National Convention
1864 Democratic National Convention
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln