Republican Election Crimes -- Almost From the Beginning!

[Geoff R. Casavant]

I'm reading a book called What Ifs? of American History, an anthology of essays by several historians discussing pivotal moments in American history and speculating on what might have happened if events had unfolded differently.

The essay I'm currently reading discusses the so-called Northwest Conspiracy, a backwater of Civil War history I had not known of until I read the essay. Put simply, there was a strong Democratic backlash against the Republican excesses of the Civil War. There are descriptions of rampant Republican election crimes in 1862. For example, in one state federal troops burst in on a state Democratic convention and broke it up at bayonet point. Federal troops would also be posted at polling places and (these being the days before secret ballots) make it known that they "could not guarantee the safety" of anyone voting Democrat. Most chilling were accounts of dissidents essentially being renditioned to solitary confinement for the duration of the war.

I was floored by the wholesale destruction of the Constitution during the Lincoln administration. I expect if a few battles had gone differently, Lincoln might be remembered as one of the worst presidents rather than the best.

[Name removed]

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