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What happens if Lincoln is not assassinated in 1865?

I'll give my take on it.

April 1865 - Lincoln escapes assassination in Washington D.C. at Ford's Theater. A famous actor is arrested for attempting to enter the president's box there by Lincoln's guard. He survives to continue out his second term.

Summer 1865 - Lincoln introduces his plans for Reconstruction. Like Johnson before he grants immunity to all former members of the Confederacy. All states being readmitted into the Union must adopt the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. Black codes continue to perpetuate in Southern state governments which ignore the requirements of slavery.

December 1865 - Lincoln supports Congress in the banning of former Confederate leaders back into Congress and the federal government.

February 1866 - Lincoln extends the powers and funding of the Freedmen's Bureau for another five years following this date with the support of Congress.

April 1866 - The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is passed with large support of Lincoln with expanded powers than in OTL. It grants equal protection under the law and also citizenship by birthright in the United States.

June 1866 - The 14th Amendment is added to the Constitution making the powers of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 a permanent factor.

November 1866 - Lincoln gets a homesteading bill passed by Congress to allow African Americans as part of the Freedmen's Bureau to allow former slaves to settle in the west with support of the Federal government.

1867 - The Lincoln administration supports the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and embraces all of the changes made such as dividing the South into five military districts and new state constitutions for the 14th Amendment being ratified. Confiscated Confederate lands are also greatly divided among freed slaves and their families as a result as well.

1868 - Before leaving office, Lincoln gives power to the army occupying the South to investigate and prosecute members of the newly formed Klu Klux Klan before leaving office. By the early 1870's these new powers will eventually destroy and dismantle the terrorist group with thousands of arrests in coming years.

November 1868 - A stronger Republican president who is more prepared than Ulysses S. Grant is elected with the support of outgoing Lincoln.

February 1869 - With the support of Congress, Lincoln signs into law the newly created Fifteenth Amendment allowing all males the right to vote.

March 1869 - Lincoln leaves Washington D.C. as the new Republican administration takes office. He returns home to Springfield, Illinois as a hero and returns to a quiet life. Before the year is out, Lincoln travels on a good will tour across the country. The former president visits major cities in the East California, dedicates the transcontinental railroad he helped to form, and eventually plans to leave for a tour of Europe the following year.

May 1870 - Lincoln gives a speaking tour of various countries in western Europe. He visits Ottoman Palestine including Jerusalem, parts of North Africa, and sails around the world to the Dutch East Indies. The trip lasts about a year. In this time, Lincoln publishes his speeches in a best selling series of books.

Late 1870 - All former Confederate states have created new state constitutions and been admitted into the Union again.

1871 - Lincoln returns to Springfield, Illinois to reopen his former law practice with partners. Many of the clients who come are Freed slaves seeking his help with many political or civil issues. As an attorney, Lincoln uses his office to advocate for greater civil rights for African Americans including lobbying the current presidential administration and Congress to further use its power to act against discrimination. His law firm becomes famous across the Midwest as one frequented by African Americans seeking his personal assistance.

July 1871 - Lincoln and his wife Mary go into a deep mourning after the loss of their second oldest son Tadd to tuberculosis. He leaves his law practice for the next year to grieve and bury their son in Springfield, Illinois.

Fall 1872 - Lincoln returns to his law practice in Springfield.

Panic of 1873 causes the country to collapse into economic depression.

March 1875 - Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875 banning discrimination of segregation by race in public places.

1876 - A second civil rights bill passes Congress under the two term Republican presidential administration and further bans discrimination in public areas not included in the first bill by race.

November 1876 - Another Republican administration is elected to the White House.

1880 - Lincoln retires from his years of law practice in Springfield to a quiet life. His new law firm lasts into the twentieth century and becomes known as a civil rights advocate passed on for years later. Abraham Lincoln gives some speaking tours and engagements throughout the country as he becomes a private citizen.

1883 - The Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 are ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Congress and the Republican administration creates the restructured Civil Rights Act of 1884 to enact similar requirements banning discrimination in public places and segregation. it also includes

1885 - The last Federal soldiers leave the South and Reconstruction is officially declared over seeing the rebuilding complete.

1890 - Abraham Lincoln dies quietly at his home in Springfield, Illinois. He is buried here shortly after in a tomb next to his sons.
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