To Save the Union “in Behalf of Conservative Men”: Horatio Seymour and the Democratic Vision for War

In the fall elections of 1862, the Democratic Party scored a series of dramatic victories across the Northern states. Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois all returned a majority of Democrats in their congressional races. In the single most dramatic outcome, New York—the leading contributor of men, materiel, and money to the war effort—elected Democrat Horatio Seymour as its new governor. All told, the Republican vote declined 16 percent from 1860. Explaining these results, President Lincoln cited the lost ballots of absent soldiers and a backlash against the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation fomented by hostile and