Abraham Lincoln: The Enigmatic President

  The American Founding documents contend that people have a natural right to form and reform governments. The Declaration of Independence states, "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."  Under that principle, elections are sacrosanct. Despite a raging Civil War, the United States held elections on November 4, 1863. As Commanding General of the U.S. Army, Ulysses S. Grant had to set the policy for military voting. On September 27, he wrote the following letter (abridged) to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. "The exercise of the right of suffrage by the officers and soldiers of armies is a novel thing. It has, I believe, generally been considered dangerous to constitutional liberty and subversive of military discipline. But our circumstances are novel and exceptional. A very large proportion of legal voters of the United States are now either under arms in the field, or in hospitals, or otherwise engaged in the mi...

During the American Civil War, soldiers were allowed to vote by mail. This was the first instance of mail-in ballots in the nation's history. At the time, of course, only men had the right to vote. In the 1862 mid-year elections, many soldiers were given leave to return home to vote. It was detrimental to the war effort, so in 1864 the Union tried a new concept: mail-in ballots. Lincoln felt this was important to his reelection because a higher proportion of Republicans enlisted.  On September 27, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant wrote to the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton: The exercise of the right of suffrage by the officers and soldiers of armies is a novel thing. A very large proportion of legal voters of the United States are now either under arms in the field, or in hospitals, or otherwise engaged in the military service of the United States … they are American citizens, having still their homes and social and political ties binding them to the States and districts from which they come...