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Via the provisions of the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, if the offices of the President and Vice-President are vacated the President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes acting President. If Atzerodt did not chicken out, or if Lewis Powell and him switched places, Lincoln and Johnson would be dead, leaving Lafayette Foster of Connecticut as Acting President from April 1865 to March of 1866.

Given all this, who would run for the Democrats and Republicans in the special election of 1865? Would Grant run that early, if not him which other Radical Republican would take office? Who is the sacrificial lamb the Democrats put up?
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