AH Challenge: African-American President before 1914

When could the U.S. have a black VP before 1914?

with out big early POD...... never.

my POD for black rights:
Daniel Dickinson is Lincoln's VP not Johnson, Dickinson is harder on the south and 14th Amendment passes in 1866 not 1868, so the 15th Amendment passes in 1867 not 1870, real enforcement of these and other laws. Blacks are in Congress in large numbers from the south, the US Government stops Jim Crow, most of the south has strong black GOPers in power (old Miss in run by blacks) in the election of 1912 a young TR picks George W. Murray for VP....
 
Andrew Johnson being murdered the same night as Lincoln is the best chance for the Federal Government to ensure that Civil, and especially voting rights for former slaves become and stay real.

I think the Democrats has huge problems.

I think it is possible that they might cease to exist.

I see eventually a political system being divided between Republicans and Populists.

I suspect that African Americans might normally vote Republicanm because of history. Putting a black guy on the ticket as VP might be the best way for Populists to seek that element of the electorate.
 
Technically, the POD says African American, so...

the Great Trek hits a snag earlier and more comprehensively (say the Xhosa are better armed or more able to hurt the Trekkers). Boer discontent with British rule simmers and in the course of the 1830s and 1840s, many wealthy Boer families choose to move to the United states. They settle mostly in Indiana and Missouri, later in Kansas and Arkansas. Boer communities take up collections to allow others to follow. Nonetheless, these communities always stay small.

In 1888, Indiana sends Republican John Cornelius Verwoerd to the House of Representatives for the first time. Verwoerd is a lawyer, third son of a Boer settler who owns a timber company and mining and shipping interests. He has already spent a term in the state legislature and lost a campaign to be made governor. His further political career is meteoric. In 1896, while serving as the Indiana representative on the Republican National Committee, he is offered the nomination as vice president to William McKinley and accepts. After a largely uneventful tenure during which Verwoerd develops a close bond with President McKinley, he becomes President following McKinley's assassination.

I know, I know....
 

Baskilisk

Banned
John Wilkes Booth doesn't kill Lincoln. Lincoln issues that the former slaves be given immediate citezenship and be given equal rights to whites. The South is put under strict occupation and doesn't vote until 1889. Menawhile, Lincoln selects a former slave as his vice-president for his thrid term. Lincoln dies of typhoid fever and viola!
I really doubt that Lincoln would have been elected with a black VP. Not at that time.
 

Baskilisk

Banned
Technically, the POD says African American, so...

the Great Trek hits a snag earlier and more comprehensively (say the Xhosa are better armed or more able to hurt the Trekkers). Boer discontent with British rule simmers and in the course of the 1830s and 1840s, many wealthy Boer families choose to move to the United states. They settle mostly in Indiana and Missouri, later in Kansas and Arkansas. Boer communities take up collections to allow others to follow. Nonetheless, these communities always stay small.

In 1888, Indiana sends Republican John Cornelius Verwoerd to the House of Representatives for the first time. Verwoerd is a lawyer, third son of a Boer settler who owns a timber company and mining and shipping interests. He has already spent a term in the state legislature and lost a campaign to be made governor. His further political career is meteoric. In 1896, while serving as the Indiana representative on the Republican National Committee, he is offered the nomination as vice president to William McKinley and accepts. After a largely uneventful tenure during which Verwoerd develops a close bond with President McKinley, he becomes President following McKinley's assassination.

I know, I know....
Haha, clever. Unfortunately, this is the most plausible one so far. other than a black cabinet member becoming president after a train accident or something.
 
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