What would have been the result of the 1868 US Presidential election if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated?
 
What would have been the result of the 1868 US Presidential election if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated?
I still say that Grant is a shoe in for President, but I think the Vice-Presidency is more open for interpretation.

Then again it would kinda be amusing if Grant ended up as VP instead.:p
 
Perhaps Johnson heads the Democratic ticket as someone from the South with proven loyalty? Not that it might win him the most votes.
 
It's going to be a lot harder for Tilden to fool voters into thinking he's continuing Lincoln's legacy if he's still alive and campaigning on Hayes's behalf, but you know, butterflies.
 
It's going to be a lot harder for Tilden to fool voters into thinking he's continuing Lincoln's legacy if he's still alive and campaigning on Hayes's behalf, but you know, butterflies.
Are you thinking of the 1876 election? IOTL, 1868 was when Grant won his first term (and I think he'll do it ITTL too.)
 
What would have been the result of the 1868 US Presidential election if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated?


No reason for it to be any different from OTL.

Grant, a national hero, would still be the obvious choice, and (contrary to what one occasionally hears on this forum) there isn't the slightest reason to think that Lincoln would seek a third term. He was an old Whig, and they traditionally didn't even believe in second terms, let alone third ones. He might not have even run in 1864 had the war been over by then. So Grant it is.
 
Would Lincoln run for a third term? No reason why he couldn't. I suspect he'd be too tired of the job to want to, but if he felt he had unfinished business, who knows?
 
Conservative Hypothesis: Lincoln retires and Grant, a (former Democrat) popular war hero, is nominated with one between Schuyler Colfax, Benjamin Wade, Henry Wilson and Reuben Fenton as vice-president. He defeats Seymour and runs the country as OTL. Lincoln is before or later nominated to Supreme Court.
Changing Hypothesis: Lincoln leads to reconciliation with Southern states, promoting integration but without harsh military occupation, granting more funds for Reconstruction and not barring some of them from vote (in 1868 Texas, Virginia and Mississippi were still under militar administration). He fears Radical Republicans (as John Frémont) and Southern Democratic extremists, so he decides to continue the experience of Union Party. People as Grant, Johnson, Salmond Chase and Francis Blair would be all members of the party: I can see Grant be nominated with Blair as running mate (two popular war hero, one from North, one from South). Without Johnson, Blair and probably Winfield Hancock, Moderate Democrats unites behind Thomas Hendricks and nominates him against George Pendleton (Seymour's declination is accepted), with Sanford Church as vice-president. Radical Republicans bolts and runs with a Frémont-Wade ticket. Grant wins in a landslide. Union Party will become a big-tent centrist party while Democrats will be able to rebuild themselves and win in 1876 (without military occupation of South, Tilden would win). Radical Republicans, initially strong thanks its Congressional members, will collapse due corruption scandals and will divided between Liberals (that then reunite with Unionists) and Radicals, that under Benjamin Butler will make an alliance with Greenbacks and Populist movement, becoming the main rural leftwing party.
 
With the transcontinental railroad under construction, Lincoln might run for a third term with Grant as VP. Grant would take the helm when Lincoln retires in 1872. The railroad was opened in 1869, and for its time, was an accomplishment on the scale of the moon landing a century later. Remember, Lincoln subsidized railroads to build to a standard gauge.

Andrew Johnson is forgotten in history. Lincoln mitigates the Republicans' desire to "punish" the South as Reconstruction proceeds. With some states not yet-readmitted, a Republican majority in 1868 is pretty much guaranteed.
 
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With the transcontinental railroad under construction, Lincoln might run for a third term with Grant as VP.

Impossible as they are both from the same State.


Grant would take the helm when Lincoln retires in 1872

Why would Lincoln break the no third term tradition when his party has a national hero ready to take up the mantle?
 
Has anyone considered that Seward might run? Had Lincoln not been killed, Seward would remain a leading Republican and he'd have the favor the popular President of the United States.
 
Does Lincon survive because the assassination attempt is never made, or because the attempt is made and fails? If the latter, then it's reasonable to suggest that Lincoln's attitude to reconciliation with the South might shift. And in either case, he would survive to see the first years of the KKK while still president. It might not make him a Radical, but it could lead him to setting more preconditions for Southern readmission to the Union, including more rigorous institutional protections of black rights - Moderate Republicans in the North ought to hope for blacks to enjoy freedom and prosperity in the South, than be driven north into their constituencies by Democrat-affilliated terrorists.
 
We must remember Lincoln would have had nearly a full term ahead of him had he lived. He probably would not have run for a third term, but if he did and Seward was VP, age would be an issue and Grant might be the front runner in 1872. Otherwise, the OTL Grant/Colfax ticket for 1868 is as good as any.
 
Has anyone considered that Seward might run? Had Lincoln not been killed, Seward would remain a leading Republican and he'd have the favor the popular President of the United States.
Then again it would kinda be amusing if Grant ended up as VP instead.:p


Seward/Grant would be interesting, especially if Seward dies as OTL.

Grant, a (former Democrat)


I'll be honest, I am really not sure voting once in your life for a democratic president makes you a former democrat.
 
Consider Seward's age. He was born in 1801. Given Grant was so much younger, the VP spot might have been appropriate. If Seward dies in October, 1872 as in OTL, Grant runs as an incumbent. He may already be on the ballot with a new, younger VP.
 
Consider Seward's age. He was born in 1801. Given Grant was so much younger, the VP spot might have been appropriate. If Seward dies in October, 1872 as in OTL, Grant runs as an incumbent. He may already be on the ballot with a new, younger VP.

Or it's possible that, as in 1860, Seward doesn't have enough support to win the nomination and the convention chooses Grant. Grant might have a different VP though. Without the drama of the Johnson impeachment, during which time it looked like Ben Wade would become President, it's possible that Wade is chosen as VP over Colfax.
 
Are you thinking of the 1876 election? IOTL, 1868 was when Grant won his first term (and I think he'll do it ITTL too.)

Obviously 1876. Hayes may have won because of a sketchy deal, but Tilden also did some incredibly shady stuff and parts of the South had already began to suppress the black vote after troops left.
 
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