As the election of 1864 neared, the reelection of President Lincoln was very much in doubt: It had been a long a terrible war, that had not started well for the Union. The country had not elected an incumbent President for a second term since Andrew Jackson in 1832 — nine Presidents in a row had served just one term. During three months in the summer of 1864, over 65,000 Union soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing-in-action. Lincoln had staunch opponents in the Congress. Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus was ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney — an order Lincoln refused to obey.
So, what factors led to Lincoln's re-election in 1864?