Abraham Lincoln Archives - Page 2 of 9

How Abraham Lincoln won New Jersey

February 17, 2025 12:07 amFebruary 16, 2025 3:42 pm

Abraham Lincoln won four electoral votes in New Jersey in 1860, with three electors pledged to a fusion ticket that would back one of three Democrats who had the best shot at winning after Election Day. There was no public...

How John Kean cut a deal for a no-bid contract with Lincoln

February 17, 2025 12:06 amFebruary 16, 2025 10:11 pm

Col. John Kean, the great-great-grandfather of Rep. Thomas H. Kean, Jr., was among the founders of the New Jersey Republican Party in 1856. Kean was an insider’s insider. He was the grandson of John Kean, who served in the Continental...

New Jersey Democrats had no horse in 1860

February 17, 2025 12:05 amFebruary 16, 2025 3:40 pm

Democrats never really had a candidate to run against Abraham Lincoln in 1860, but they still managed to get three electoral votes with four going to the Republicans. Northern Democrats were backing Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, Southern Democrats supported...

How a Jersey guy beat Lincoln for vice president

February 17, 2025 12:03 amFebruary 16, 2025 3:38 pm

An obscure New Jerseyan named William Dayton nearly knocked Abraham Lincoln out of his place in history. Dayton was elected to the New Jersey Legislature as a member of the Whig Party in 1837 and then became an associate justice...

N.J. Presidential Trivia

February 17, 2025 12:00 amFebruary 17, 2025 4:13 pm

Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Frank Lautenberg hold the record for the most appearances on a New Jersey general election ballot as a major party nominee: five times each. Roosevelt ran for Vice President in 1920 and President in 1932,...

Five N.J. veterans you should know about

November 11, 2024 12:01 amNovember 11, 2024 1:12 pm

One New Jersey war veteran whose legacy remains intact after more than a century was Major General George Washington Goethals, the namesake of the Goethals Bridge. Goethals graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1880 and was...

George Nethercutt and the N.J. connection

June 14, 2024 8:48 pmJune 14, 2024 9:08 pm

Giant slayer George Nethercutt, who died on Friday morning, defeated the sitting Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Thomas Foley, in 1994. There is, of course, a New Jersey connection. Before Foley, another Speaker of the House to lose...