OOC: I was implying that Cuba was the state of Lincoln, so
IC: Could you imagine the Russian Empire without its Crown Jewel? That would be insane. There’d be no way the empire survives much longer, it was on its last legs before the gold rush and the subsequent oil boom there.
Hannibal Hamlin was an antislavery senator from Maine at the time, he was a likely second pick for VP if Sumner had declined to balance the ticket regionally under Chase; Lincoln might even be more inclined to prefer Hamlin to Sumner. The real question is would Lincoln have been able to hold off Douglas in his home state of Illinois as he had been unable to in 1858, without which it’s difficult to see the election not get thrown to the House, where he stands virtually no chance
Ooc: whack. Idk how about Lincoln is eastern hispaniola/the Dominican republic?
Eh, the state of the Russian Empire before Alaska is greatly exaggerated. The Crimean War, while ultimately a status quo, showed Tsar Alexander
exactly what was necessary. The only reason Japan won the Russo Japanese War was because the Russians didn't have the morale or the daring the japanese did. Even during the Soviet Era- those twenty years of expansion and growth were never directed at Japan. The soviets fell apart because they had neither pride in the state they created (only in the dismantling the aristocracy) or anything to show for it, since while they were provided for, they had nothing of their own, or much more than the state gave. So they re-revolutioned and we got the Grand Republic of All The Russias we know today.
But in the aftermath of Crimea Russia's industrial power went through the roof well before the gold rush. Similarly the Russo-Japanese war, while it doomed the aristocracy, gave rise to one of the most professional armies in history.
All that said, I dont think without alaska the soviet era would be a time of prosperous economy or expansion. That hunk of snow practically powered their tanks. No alaska, and I dont think the soviets would last a month before being counter-couped.
Hell, the craziest thing is what we could do with an American alaska.
But as for us politics, I think Lincoln could've beaten Douglas in round two. His proposal of Popular Sovereignty was great for slave owners, not for or to abolishionist Illinois. Plus where lincoln was a moderate in favor of fazing out, Douglass was seen as weak and washed out. Plus after the 1850s, where neither Congress or Presidents had done much about slavery, the north was dying for a Fed. Who would do something, anything, to combat the slave power. And lincoln promised a man who'd be gentle in his demands but harsh in his order.