Rare 1864 Presidential Campaign Connecticut Election Broadside

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/7/2017

A good war-date printed Northern 1864 Presidential campaign election broadside, 1p. 4to., boldly entitled: "Address of the UNION STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE upon the Constitutional Amendment Extending the Elective Franchise to Citizen Soldiers in the Field", Hartford, [CT], July 27, 1864, addressed to the "Freeman of Connecticut" in which the Union State Central Committee sought voter's support in ratifying an amendment to Connecticut's constitution in which her soldier's could case absentee ballots in the 1864 presidential election while absent in the field, reading, in small part: "…on the 15th day of August…you will be called upon to decide by your votes whether the Constitution of this State shall be so amended that the citizen soldier may be allowed to exercise the elective franchise…we trust that you will now say…that those citizens who protect your firesides from the invader's torch…shall be entitled to vote for those who may govern the country which they have periled their lives…two successive legislatures have passed the amendment which is now submitted for your ratification, thereby endorsing the principle laid down by Jefferson, Jackson, and other Democratic leaders…the same leaders of the same party who…this indeed was sound democratic doctrine when war was waged with Mexico in the interest of slavery…the same leaders of the same party…extended a freeman's privilege to soldiers in the wilds of Mexico…now den[ied] to those who are…fighting for freedom…if you reject the amendment, he understands you to say…that to enter the service…is a positive disqualification to vote…but if you accept the amendment, you tell him that he has thereby acquired a new and more exalted titled to the highest privileges of a freeman and a free government…". Signed in type by the chairman of the committee James G. Batterson and endorsed by all of that state's county representatives. Near fine. A major issue in the 1864 presidential election was whether soldiers in the field, absent from their normal place of residence, could vote. Democrats, whose platform called for a negotiated peace, feared the effect of the 'soldier vote.' They argued that voters, including soldiers, could constitutionally exercise their franchise only where they resided. In Connecticut, Democrats opposing the Amendment referred to voting soldiers as "the armed cohorts of despotism" [Benton, page 177]. This broadside counters, as asserted by "Jefferson, Jackson, and other Democratic leaders of the olden time, that the elective franchise follows the flag under which the soldier fights."

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