Andrew Johnson's Legacy, Sans Being On The Ticket

One of the biggest mistakes, albeit in hindsight, Lincoln is thought to have made is making Andrew Johnson his running mate. There have been timelines on if Lincoln kept his original VP Hannibal Hamlin. Let's assume he does, and Lincoln is still shot. Andrew Johnson had a lot of symbolic promise for the unity Lincoln wanted to represent: he was a self-made man who'd remained loyal to the Union despite being a Southerner, showing quite a bit of courage. Though a slave holder, Johnson held a contempt towards the rich plantation class given his poor background. Had he never been chosen as Lincoln's running mate, never been president I believe we would've looked upon him a lot more fondly. But what would that legacy be of an Andrew Johnson who wasn't president in the shadow of Lincoln, instead a Democrat during the administration of Hamlin. And the potential successor to Hamlin, as without his opposition to Johnson it's not a guarantee Ulysses S Grant would decide to be the Republican nominee.
 
Was Seymour as reluctant in 1868 as he was in 1864? Or was that Thomas Seymour who turned it down in 1864? It's possible JOhnson could be the Democratic nominee in 1868.

He was elected OTL to the Senate but died before taking his seat; he might get elected to the Senate OTl earlier and be known as a moderate Democrat who tried to be known as a peacemaker who wanted to help bring the South back into the fold.

Grant might still be the nominee - he was also a former Democrat. Part will depend on who the VP is who succeeds LIncoln, Grant might well run a couple years earlier if it's Daniel Dickinson, who was proposed and who died in 1866.
 
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