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How a Racist Newspaper Defeated Lincoln in New York in the 1864 Election
Dirty Tricks
Racism in New York was rampant during the 1864 presidential campaign, and the anti-emancipation newspaper New York World used every dirty trick in the book to slander Abraham Lincoln and derail his reelection bid, including spreading rumors of a mixed-race orgy sanctioned by the Republican Party. In his new book, The Civil War in 50 Objects, historian Harold Holzer tells the story of how Lincoln almost fell for it.