During this period Congress was divided politically as follows: Thirty-seventh Congress. Senate-11 Democrats, 31 Republicans, 7 Americans, House-42 Democrats, 106 Republicans, 28 Americans, 2 vacancies Total, 50 66 178 Thirty-eighth Congres Senate-12 Democrats, 39 Republicans .Total, 51 183 Election of 1864 Democratic National Committee: Chairman, AUGUST BELMONT, of New York. DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. Chicago, Ill., August 29, 1864. Chairman pro tem., WILLIAM BIGLER, Twenty-three states participated in this convention. Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri were the only Southern States represented. One ballot was sufficient to nominate a candidate for President, George B. McClellan receiving 2021, and Horatio Seymour, 28 votes. McClellan's nomination was, on the motion of Mr. Vallandigham, of Ohio, made unanimous. For Vice-President, George H. Pendleton was nominated on the second ballot by a unanimous vote. The following is the result of the first ballot: Resolved, That in the future, as in the past, we will adhere with unswerving fidelity to the Union under the Constitution as the only solid foundation of our strength, security, and happiness as a people, and as a framework of government equally conducive to the welfare and prosperity of all the States, both Northern and Southern. Resolved, That this convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity or war-power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired-justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to the ultimate convention of the states, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the federal union of the states. Resolved, That the direct interference of the military authorities of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware was a shameful violation of the Constitution, and a repetition of such acts in the approaching election will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with all the means and power under our control. Resolved, That the aim and object of the Democratic party is to preserve the federal Union and the rights of the states unimpaired, and they hereby declare that they consider that the administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution--the subversion of the civil by military law in states not in insurrection; the arbi trary military arrest, imprisonment, trial, and sentence of American citizens in states where civil law exists in full force; the suppression of freedom of speech and of the press; the denial of the right of asylum; the open and avowed disregard of state rights; the employment of unusual test-oaths; and the interference with and denial of the right of the people to bear arms in their defense-is calculated to prevent a restoration of the Union and the perpetuation of a government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed. Resolved, That the shameful disregard of the administration to its duty in respect to our fellow citizens who now are and long have been prisoners of war and in a suffering condition, deserves the severest reprobation on the score alike of public policy and common humanity. Resolved, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily and earnestly extended to the soldiers of our army and sailors of our navy who are and have been in the field and on the sea under the flag of our country, and, in the event of its attaining power, they will receive all the care, protection, and regard that the brave soldiers and sailors of the republic have so nobly earned. Republican National Committee: Chairman, MARCUS L. WARD, of New Jersey. Thirty-one states, including eight Southern States, were represented at this convention. Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President, by a unanimous vote, on the first ballot. Missouri voted for General U. S. Grant, but changed to Lincoln. For Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, was nominated on the first ballot. The vote as first cast was Johnson, 200; Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, 150; Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, 108; and 61 votes were scattered among seven others; but before the vote was declared, many changes were reported, leaving the final vote stand: Johnson, 494; Dickinson, 17; and Hamlin, 9. The following is the platform as adopted : REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. 1. Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against all their enemies, the integrity of the Union and the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that, laying aside all differences of political opinion, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. 2. Resolved, That we approve the determination of the government of the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that we call upon the government to maintain this position and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor, to the complete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to the country and its free institutions. 3. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause and now constitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and |