For a more detailed account of the Civil War, see this thread.
With the election of John P. Hale four years ago, the American Republic was plunged into one of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind. Through this crisis, President Hale has attempted both to preserve the Union and to strike a fatal blow to the institution of slavery. Though Hale has been criticized both as a tyrant and as a weakling, depending on one's opinion of the war effort, the President's image has benefited from recent military victories in Tennessee and Virginia, particularly from General Winfield Scott's campaign to liberate Washington D.C.
Hale was easily renominated by the convention of his own Liberty Party, where he had faced opposition from party hard-liners who feel he has not done enough to combat slavery. Hale's prospects for victory were initially slim; in addition to the ponderous nature of the war effort, Hale had to contend with the competing candidacy of General Scott, who seemed likely to split the pro-war vote and hand the election to the Democrats. When anti-war "Copperhead" Franklin Pierce was nominated by the Democratic Convention, however, many Whigs began to reconsider their opposition to Hale. A new "National Union" convention was called, attended by both Whigs and Libertyites; this assembly again nominated Hale for president, with General Zachary Taylor as his vice presidential candidate.
The fusion of the Whig and Liberty caucuses has proved highly advantageous to the president as he heads into the fall campaign. Hale is campaigning for a Constitutional Amendment to abolish slavery, the continued prosecution of the war, and - upon the presumed Union victory - a total "reconstruction" of the South. By contrast, Pierce is calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities followed by direct negotiations with the Confederacy, the recall of Hale's executive order granting freedom to the slaves in the rebel states, and Constitutional protection for the "peculiar institution". The Democrats have also tried to make an issue of the fact that Taylor, if elected Vice President, will continue to command the Union forces in the West; however, this has had the effect of drawing attention to Taylor's service to the Union cause, which has thus far been highly successful.
Will the nation have "free soil, free labor, and free men" or "copperhead" government? The choice is yours.
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