Best V.P. (with decent chance of being chosen) for LIncoln in 1864?

Who was the best V.P. for LIncoln?

  • Salmon Chase

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • John Fremont

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Ulysses S. Grant

    Votes: 3 30.0%
  • Hannibal Hamlin

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Andrew Johnson

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • William Seward

    Votes: 4 40.0%
  • William T. Sherman

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Charles Sumner

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Benjamin Wade

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other - someone I'm not thinking of

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    10
While many claim LIncoln surviving would have made a big difference in the aftermath of the Civil War, there's one problem - whether Marfan's Syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome, or, let's face it, just the grind of having been President may have killed him anyway before his term was up - though other doctors say he was in good health.

With that in mind, who would be the best V.P. for LIncoln? Let's give him a couple more years, but give the V.P. a couple years, too - in case he wants to run in 1868.

To allow someone like Grant more time to make it, let's figure the Civil War will surely end a few months after - or ended a few months before, if you want - the 1864 Republican convention. (He was suggested even in OTL, but I honestly don't know how poeple expected that to work.) A general probably would have been possible anyway, but this makes it a little more likely.

I've eliminated most Democrats from the poll, as I know my limitations mean it's not very likely a Peace Democrat would be chosen, but I kept Andrew Johnson, just because he was the V.P. in OTL.

Finally, let's try to refrain from discssing whether LIncoln would have been as great a tthe peace. This is mostly to determine who would have been the best pick to continue in Lincoln's footsteps, with the skill that Lincoln had.

Personally, I wonder if Grant might have done a lot better if he'd served as V.P. first. Part of his problem was that he was too trusting. Given some time with Lincoln, learning the ropes, he might have avoided some of the bigger problems that he had. that's one reason I voted for him. Also, I read where John Fremont had begun to run but then withdrew; and he might have under this scenario, if the war was already run. Grant, therefore, might have been needed to bolster LIncoln's chances.

Of course, there might be some unknown I'm not thinking of; But, they couldn't be too unknown - Joshua Chamberlain, for instance, didn't make my list because I don't see how - at only 38 - he'd have been chosen, considering he'd never held office before. Although, who'd have guessed Franklin Pierce for President in 1852, either. :)
 
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While many claim LIncoln surviving would have made a big difference in the aftermath of the Civil War, there's one problem - whether Marfan's Syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome, or, let's face it, just the grind of having been President may have killed him anyway before his term was up - though other doctors say he was in good health.



And even an extra year or so could make a big difference.

If by early 1866 Lincoln has enfranchised literate blacks and coloured Union Army vets, then it is almost certainly too late for his successor (whether Andrew Johnson or another) to reverse this even if he wants to. This would have satisfied most Republicans in Congress, so the readmission of the South with at least a limited Black franchise will probably be a fait accompli. That done, the interim presidency of 1866-69 is likely to be just an historical footnote.
 
Another name mentioned was ex-Senator Daniel S Dickinson of New York - another strong "War Democrat". The most interesting thing about him is that he died on April 12, 1866, which, had he been President, would have brought the 1792 Presidential Succession Act into operation. The President of the Senate, Lafayette S Foster of Connecticut, would have become interim President until March 1867, and the next Presidential election would have been brought forward to November 1866 - presumably being won by Grant. So Lincoln's second term would have been shared between four Presidents. Subsequent elections, however, would have been in 1870, 1874 and so forth, unless/until another "double vacancy" brought the Act of 1792 into effect again.


BTW, who on earth are these people voting for John C Fremont in the poll? If they want a general, why not Grant or Sherman? The Pathfinder was an interesting guy, but as President, I suspect, might have been interesting in all the wrong ways.
 
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