Under the condition of schism in the Republican ranks, his chances seemed at first fair. But on September 21st, Generals Frémont and Cochrane, the nominees of the radical Republicans, withdrew from the contest, and the reunion of the Republican party on the Baltimore platform was effected. It was thus a question whether the overwhelming electoral vote for Lincoln and Johnson, two hundred and twelve to twenty-one for McClellan and Pendleton, meant the approval of Lincoln's views and acts in Reconstruction, and it certainly behooved the President to exercise some caution in so interpreting it, especially as there was no such wide difference in the popular vote, the McClellan electors having received 1,835,985 votes to 2,330,552 for the Lincoln electors. There is no question, however, that the President still believed in the correctness of his method and was determined to pursue the course upon which he had entered. [Sidenote: No change in the views of Congress caused by the Presidential election.] [Sidenote: The refusal of Congress to count the electoral vote from any "State" which had passed the secession ordinance.] Neither was there any sign manifested that Congress would desist from pressing its views of its own powers in the matter. Both Houses had refused to admit members from the reconstructed "States," and now they passed a joint resolution, on February 4th, 1865, which prohibited the counting of any electoral votes for President and Vice-President in the election of 1864, from "States" which had passed the secession ordinance. Elections had been held in Louisiana and also in Tennessee, and this resolution was intended to prevent the counting of the votes which the persons chosen electors for Louisiana and Tennessee should send in. The resolution was sent to the President for his signature. He {22} hesitated for several days, but approved it at last on the day that Congress counted the electoral votes, February 8th. In doing so, however, he addressed a message to Congress informing the two Houses that he had signed it out of deference to their views, and saying that "in his own view, however, the two Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth article of the Constitution, have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal; and it is not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the matter. He disclaims all rights of the Executive to interfere in any way in the matter of canvassing or counting electoral votes, and he also disclaims that, by signing said resolution, he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution." The recitals of the preamble referred to read thus: "Whereas, the inhabitants and local authorities of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,