Lincoln's legacy if he survives

How would Lincoln have been viewed following the CW if he has survived and went through with his plans to not impose any reparations or vendetta on the rebels?
 
How would Lincoln have been viewed following the CW if he has survived and went through with his plans to not impose any reparations or vendetta on the rebels?

Probably gets grumbled at by a lot of liberal historians for not having done enough for the Freedmen.
 
Yeah, the blame for Reconstruction's inevitable failure would get pinned on him. Mixed legacy, I guess. I'd still consider saving the Union a lot more important, obviously, and so would most people, but people wouldn't have too many compunctions about badmouthing him. He'd probably get more flack for misconduct of the war, to boot.
 
FDR is remembered well, even though Great Depression recovery really did not occur until after the war and the cold war resulted. So, Lincoln would look good and Grant would be considered the incompetent.
 
FDR is remembered well, even though Great Depression recovery really did not occur until after the war and the cold war resulted. So, Lincoln would look good and Grant would be considered the incompetent.

Fairly decent point. While there would probably be some liberals* who bad mouth him for not doing enough (or being a moderate when it comes to Reconstruction) it is likely that most of the blame for things going wrong will go to Congress or his successors. Grant probably takes the place of Johnston (though with less hate since he's probably just viewed as being out of his depth versus a raging racist) in most circles for letting Reconstruction slip.

EDIT: *Provided of course TTL's liberal evolution matches ours, but the spiritual successors of the Radical Republicans would certainly pin some of the blame for moderation on Lincoln.
 

Gaius Julius Magnus

Gone Fishin'
Keeping the country together and freeing the slaves is kind of a big deal so still probably positive. Unlike Johnson, he would probably be willing to work with Congress on Reconstruction but I'd imagine there would be some missteps and screw ups along the way. Maybe his second term would look like Grant's in regards to defending the civil rights of the new freedman.

I overall agree that there might be some grumbling about not doing enough and maybe more room for criticism of Lincoln without coming off as bias driven like in OTL.
 
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