failed assassination of Lincoln

John Wilkes Booth goes up to Lincoln, as in OTL. He points the gun at the President's head, pulls the trigger... and the gun misfires.

What happens next?
 
KJM said:
John Wilkes Booth goes up to Lincoln, as in OTL. He points the gun at the President's head, pulls the trigger... and the gun misfires.

What happens next?

The gun explodes and kills them both ? Goes down as the most curious assassination in history

Grey Wolf
 
Henry Rathbone beats the living piss out of Booth, eventually throwing him off of the balcony onto the stage.
 

Xen

Banned
Melvin Loh said:
With Abe alive, then do his plans for Reconsutruction and greater equality for blacks go ahead untramelled ?


What exactly were his plans for reconstruction? Would he be somewhere between the Radical Republicans and Andrew Jackson? Does anyone really know?
 
Why Major Rathbone?

Seems to me that Old Abe, the Railsplitter, 6'4" semi-professional wrassler, might be able to do for the scrawny actor himself.

One thing that is certain. Lincoln's position that secession is invalid, and that, while ELEMENTS may have THOUGHT they were out of the US, the eleven states remained part of the US WITH ALL THE PERTAINING RIGHTS THEREOF, makes him a probably ally for the more moderate Southerners.
 
How about this twist. Booth draws the weapon, and turns the corner in towards the balcony. As he does, a scuffle ensues with a more alert body gurad and the gun goes off... and kills Mary. What effects does that have?
 
Xen said:
What exactly were his plans for reconstruction? Would he be somewhere between the Radical Republicans and Andrew Jackson? Does anyone really know?

It was Andrew Johnson. Pretty sure Jackson was dead by then. Easy mistake to make; two Tennesseean Dems named Andrew.
 

Xen

Banned
csa945 said:
It was Andrew Johnson. Pretty sure Jackson was dead by then. Easy mistake to make; two Tennesseean Dems named Andrew.


Yeah errr uhm oops I meant Andrew Johnson :eek:
 
Lincoln gains incredible popularity going onto a thrid term. In his third term General Lee is given the Vice Presidentcy, allowing the reconsturting south to love Lincoln even more. Afterwords the president gives up Poltics and retires to live out west.

Next?
 
The wierd thing is that when Lincoln was assasinated most Southerners didn't want him assasinated as his reconstruction terms were VERY lenient. Even more lenient then OTL which is hard to imagine.
 
Popularly said, but probably not true. The first-hand accounts I have seen of (White) southerners hearing of Lincoln's murder reported much excitement at the news.

Lincoln wanted to 'Let them up easy.' With Lincoln in the White House, Congress would have been the center of anti-Southern feeling. No Southern would be readmitted to the Congress, as each house is the judge of its own members.

Still, we could have expect earlier election of state officials (governors and state assemblies). Lincoln may not have wanted US troops to ensure Blacks could vote.

Perhaps there (white) state officials would have felt less-threatened than they did in OTL. Perhaps they would have gone further in civil rights in order to get back to Congress.

Or perhaps not.
 
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