Lincoln's Legacy if he was Assassinated During the Civil War?

Lincoln was killed after Lee had surrendered and the war was (largely, at least) over. He was thus the man whose presidency had been occupied by the Civil War, who lead us to victory and saved the Union, freed the slaves, and was sacrificed as a martyr after that all. He is basically the American Christ who, as a man, became better and kinder through the course of that war, and whose death was like an operatic climax, and narratively seems to symbolize his dying for the original sin of the nation, slavery. And people, of course (save for the Confederate sympathizer and revisionist, or the misguided Democrat who doesn't get party evolution) love Lincoln. And people read books, write books (I think he is the most biographied person in history), quote him, etc. Even in AH, we still talk about what if Lincoln lived, what he would have done with Reconstruction, and all of that.

So something that interests me as of my writing of this thread is, what if Lincoln was not assassinated at the climax of the Civil War, but was smack dab in the middle of it; the conflict is still raging and Lincoln is killed, but the war continues and will for a year or a couple years more. What then would be his legacy and how he is perceived and treated in history and in America's view of its history?
 

Soundgarden

Banned
If it was during the Civil War, the Union would more than likely collapses and the country would be divided into seperate parts, kinda like Europe. Plus, we would look at Jefferson Davis and The Confederacy in a bright light, because you know what they say, "The winner gets to write history."
 
If it was during the Civil War, the Union would more than likely collapses and the country would be divided into seperate parts, kinda like Europe. Plus, we would look at Jefferson Davis and The Confederacy in a bright light, because you know what they say, "The winner gets to write history."
The Union had enough of an edge that the country wouldn't collapse, at worst the CSA gets independent and the Union has some border concessions forced by Europe (assuming a european intervention), more likely the Union still wins if the POD is after Antietam, almost certainly if after Gettysburg and certainly if after Atlanta
 
The Union had enough of an edge that the country wouldn't collapse, at worst the CSA gets independent and the Union has some border concessions forced by Europe (assuming a european intervention), more likely the Union still wins if the POD is after Antietam, almost certainly if after Gettysburg and certainly if after Atlanta

I think that it would tend to unite the North. It would make it harder for the dubious elements in Britain who wanted to help the slavocrat traitors
 
If it was during the Civil War, the Union would more than likely collapses and the country would be divided into seperate parts, kinda like Europe. Plus, we would look at Jefferson Davis and The Confederacy in a bright light, because you know what they say, "The winner gets to write history."

Not happening. The north wasn't even close to being ready to crumble into pieces. This is especially true considering we're going to have a radical republican in the White House who will make sure the war goes on.

I think that it would tend to unite the North. It would make it harder for the dubious elements in Britain who wanted to help the slavocrat traitors

It'd also piss them off something fierce. I can totally see even more political pressure on the armies to smash the south and win the war. Also, this'd mean Hannibal Hamlin would be president during this period, which means very interesting things will happen both during and after the war, depending on when Lincoln is murdered.
 
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Not happening. The north wasn't even close to being ready to crumble into pieces. This is especially true considering we're going to have a radical republican in the White House who will make sure the war goes on.



It'd also piss them off something fierce. I can totally see even more political pressure on the armies to smash the south and win the war. Also, this'd mean Hannibal Hamlin would be president during this period, which means very interesting things will happen both during and after the war, depending on when Lincoln is murdered.
I'm curious, what sort of things would Hamlin do during the war and how might he try to change the actions of the army? Would he work as closly with the army as Lincoln did?
 
Lincoln's death unifies the Union, and probably encourages wavering states like Kentucky to stay in the Union, especially if it happens in the early months of the war; likely people like Lee will defect to the Union due to disgust at such a low attack upon the President. Hannibal Hamlin becomes president and is even more pro-Emancipation than Lincoln; more blacks serve in the Union Army and Reconstruction is even harsher on the South, with extended military rule and the thorough breaking of the slaveocracy as a class.

The South would lose international support and the war would probably be over much more quickly; Lincoln was seen as a lightning rod for discontent, much as Obama is now-even though he was politically moderate, he was so hated in the South that his continued existence would prolong conflict. In the North, opinion was less extreme, but most saw him as weak and controlled by Seward and the ex-Whigs; his death would confirm him as a martyr and likely lead to a more unified North.
 
if Lincoln dies before the Emancipation proclamation then its a very good bett that Britain (and France) will recognise CSA independence, probaly help with their economy and such, and at worst case scenario for the USA, join the war on their side.
 
if Lincoln dies before the Emancipation proclamation then its a very good bett that Britain (and France) will recognise CSA independence, probaly help with their economy and such, and at worst case scenario for the USA, join the war on their side.

Yes. Because clearly, if a state is apparently backing the assassination of the head of a rival government, it's WINNING! :rolleyes:

I'd say this would pretty much shred any chances of the CSA gaining recognition. (And those chances were pretty low to begin with.)
 

Soundgarden

Banned
Not happening. The north wasn't even close to being ready to crumble into pieces. This is especially true considering we're going to have a radical republican in the White House who will make sure the war goes on.



It'd also piss them off something fierce. I can totally see even more political pressure on the armies to smash the south and win the war. Also, this'd mean Hannibal Hamlin would be president during this period, which means very interesting things will happen both during and after the war, depending on when Lincoln is murdered.

Did the Confederacy have an edge at all? Could they have won the Civil War with or without Lincoln around?
 
Did the Confederacy have an edge at all? Could they have won the Civil War with or without Lincoln around?
Their advantage was that they were on the defensive, and they briefly had a bit of a partial military leadership advantage

They could have won for a given definition of won (some CS states get independence, probably not all), but it would be a very low probability event that would most likely gut them as a nation and leave them with a hostile titan to the north
 
Yes. Because clearly, if a state is apparently backing the assassination of the head of a rival government, it's WINNING! :rolleyes:

I'd say this would pretty much shred any chances of the CSA gaining recognition. (And those chances were pretty low to begin with.)

it depends when and if they find out who did it...granted its fairly obvious as to who and why, but the guy never said that it had to be known at the time, or at all...he just proposed whatd happen if he was, not that it was obvious....
 
President-Elect Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on 21 February 1861 while enroute to Washington City for his inauguration. An unknown assassin attacked Lincoln aboard the train when it stopped in Baltimore to take on coal and water. The president-elect was shot twice during the struggle that ensued and bled to death while his attacker escaped.

As the first assassination of a president-elect, Congress initially considered a vote that would keep James Buchanan in office, then considered accepting the inauguration of John Breckinridge, who had polled second in the election. Both ideas were discarded by the beginning of March, however, in favor of the inauguration of the Vice President-elect, Hannibal Hamlin.

Hamlin, more of an abolitionist than Lincoln, garnered the ire of the South just as Lincoln had. The Southern states seceded as they had planned under Lincoln. Hamlin's support of General Joseph Hooker's command of the Army of the Potomac, even after numerous defeats, led to his undoing and he lost the election of 1864. Ever after, Hamlin was known as the president whose inauguration led to war.

Lincoln's legacy was portrayed in a better light as he had been raised as a martyr by the abolitionist movement in New England. Because of Hamlin's blunderings and Lincoln's early death, public opinion did not turn against Lincoln the way it did Hamlin. Although the war did not end slavery, it was resolved with a Union victory, albeit after five years of fighting in 1866. The Union was preserved, but the issue of slavery continued to be a flame of discontention. After emancipation in 1874, the former slaves adopted Lincoln as a martyr of their cause, just as he had been adopted by the abolitionists. Revered by the black community, his day of martyrdom was celebrated as a holiday within the community.
 
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