The election of 1864 was held in the midst of civil war — a national crisis of a magnitude our country had never seen before and has not seen since. One German-born commentator was shocked when the nation went ahead with elections. But Abraham Lincoln knew that if they allowed the flames of the Civil War to engulf the elections of 1864, the very republic he fought to preserve would also risk ruin. He said, “We cannot have free Government without elections, and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us” (Nov. 10, 1864).…