A New Birth of Freedom: The Consequences of President Hannibal Hamlin

A New Birth of Freedom: The Consequences of President Hannibal Hamlin

May 23, 1864


President Abraham Lincoln was not in the best of moods at the moment. The battle at Spotsylvania had delayed Grant and Meade's advance into Virginia, and would buy the rebels some time to try and mount another desperate defense. Lincoln was also trying to fight two battle at once. The battle against the south, and the battle for reelection. He had no doubt that he would win the race, but he also knew that George McClellan would try to make the race a living hell for everyone. Despite all of this, President Lincoln was not the most frustrated person in the room. That honor would go to Vice President Hannibal Hamlin.

Lincoln and Hamlin had a cordial relationship, but both would be lying if they said they were close to each other. Hamlin sat across from Lincoln with an expression that did very little to hide his anger. Hamlin had demanded to see Lincoln, and Lincoln knew what it was about. There had been talk of replacing Hamlin on the presidential ticket. Specifically replacing him with the military governer of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson. The two men stared at each other for several long, tense, moments before Hamlin began to speak.

"Mr. President, I would have never thought that you of all people would betray me."

Lincoln began to reply before he was cut off by Hamlin.

"You would jeopardize everything we have fought for, just so you can cozy up to those traitorous Democrats." said Hamlin angrily, "We are so close to victory. We cannot destroy ourselves now, at this crucial time in our history."

Hamlin continued on his rant for several minutes, not noticing Lincoln's growing frustration. Before Hamlin could continue, Lincoln slammed his hand onto the desk.

"Mr. Hamlin, calm yourself!", Lincoln yelled with authority. "The war is almost won, we must begin to think about our future, and that future is reconstruction!"

Lincoln calmed himself before he continued speaking.

"We cannot hope to reconcile with the south if we take on the role of conqourers, we need to show that we are unified."

Hamlin spoke once again before Lincoln could continue.

"How can we show unity when we cannot even create a coherent presidential ticket!", Hamlin yelled. "Our party must show unity, or the rebels will think we are weak! This Johnson fellow may be loyal, but he is still one of them!"

The two men argued continuously for hours, both refusing to budge on their arguments. No one is quite certain about everything that was said in that room. But, by that following morning Hamlin had guaranteed his place as Vice President. Some say he did it through pure anger, others think he somehow won Lincoln's respect, a few say he just annoyed Lincoln until he relented. However he did it one thing was for certain. American history had come to a crossroads were Hamlin and Johnson stood, and it chose to walk with Hamlin.

The people of the time would be forgiven if they thought the Vice Presidency was the highest office Hamlin would hold. But that would change on one dark night in April of 1865, when a group of conspirators would change America forever.
 
Last edited:
Thought I'd give this a bit of an opening story. I was wondering what you think might happen in such a situation as this. How would Hamlin be as a president and how he would effect future presidents and American history as a whole. Let me know what you think about it, and thanks for reading. I'm not the best writer, so feel free to expand on the story if you wish. I don't think I'd be able to expand on it and keep it interesting myself. So really do what you want with this story.
 
Last edited:

kernals12

Banned
A New Birth of Freedom: The Consequences of President Hannibal Hamlin

May 23, 1864


President Abraham Lincoln was not in the best of moods at the moment. The battle at Spotsylvania had delayed Grant and Meade's advance into Virginia, and would buy the rebels some time to try and mount another desperate defense. Lincoln was also trying to fight two battle at once. The battle against the south, and the battle for reelection. He had no doubt that he would win the race, but he also knew that George McClellan would try to make the race a living hell for everyone. Despite all of this, President Lincoln was not the most frustrated person in the room. That honor would go to Vice President Hannibal Hamlin.

Lincoln and Hamlin had a cordial relationship, but both would be lying if they said they were close to each other. Hamlin sat across from Lincoln with an expression that did very little to hide his anger. Hamlin had demanded to see Lincoln, and Lincoln knew what it was about. There had been talk of replacing Hamlin on the presidential ticket. Specifically replacing him with the military governer of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson. The two men stared at each other for several long, tense, moments before Hamlin began to speak.

"Mr. President, I would have never thought that you of all people would betray me."

Lincoln began to reply before he was cut off by Hamlin.

"You would jeopardize everything we have fought for, just so you can cozy up to those traitorous Democrats." said Hamlin angrily, "We are so close to victory. We cannot destroy ourselves now, at this crucial time in our history."

Hamlin continued on his rant for several minutes, not noticing Lincoln's growing frustration. Before Hamlin could continue, Lincoln slammed his hand onto the desk.

"Mr. Hamlin, calm yourself!", Lincoln yelled with authority. "The war is almost won, we must begin to think about our future, and that future is reconstruction!"

Lincoln calmed himself before he continued speaking.

"We cannot hope to reconcile with the south if we take on the role of conqourers, we need to show that we are unified."

Hamlin spoke once again before Lincoln could continue.

"How can we show unity when we cannot even create a coherent presidential ticket!", Hamlin yelled. "Our party must show unity, or the rebels will think we are weak! This Johnson fellow may be loyal, but he is still one of them!"

The two men argued continuously for hours, both refusing to budge on their arguments. No one is quite certain about everything that was said in that room. But, by that following morning Hamlin had guaranteed his place as Vice President. Some say he did it through pure anger, others think he somehow won Lincoln's respect, a few say he just annoyed Lincoln until he relented. However he did it one thing was for certain. American history had come to a crossroads were Hamlin and Johnson stood, and it chose to walk with Hamlin.

The people of the time would be forgiven if they thought the Vice Presidency was the highest office Hamlin would hold. But that would change on one dark night in April of 1865, when a group of conspirators would change America forever.
I hope this means radical reconstruction
 
Why would Hamlin (or any radical) object to Andrew Johnson's nomination? As far as they knew in 1864, he was on their side.

OTL, some of them were not too sorry about Lincoln's assassination, because they thought that Johnson - judging from his recent utterances would be tougher on the South than Lincoln. Needless to say they were in for a rude awakening, but in '64 all that was still in the future.
 
Top