Next President of the Confederacy should Lee be unable to serve

The general and probably accurate assumption is that Robert E. Lee becomes the President of the Confederacy after Jefferson Davis in Confederate Victory Tls. He much like Washington, for the young USA wins more or less unopposed and for a time at least keeps the internaldivisions in the young Country at bay.

It seems to me that the Confederacy lacked a similar unifying figure should Lee not serve and thus potential internal divisions would manifest sooner. I would think that it would be a contested elecation more than a coronation for Lee. Who then serves as Davis's successor? Stephens? Perhaps another General as the Army seemed to be more popular and likely would have received more credit for a victory. Although I cannot think of who that would be perhaps Longstreet? Would it depend on what the exact boarders of the Confederacy would be?

Assume that this is rather late victory scenario like a TL 191. Lee either died postwar but before the end of Davis's term or perhaps was assassinated at a similar time in ATL as Lincoln was in our own timeline for a bit of historical irony.
 
The next president would most likely be Jefferson Davis's Vice President Alexander Stephens who was born in Georgia and made the "Cornerstone" speech
 
I think it more likely that if Lee were able to serve, he would simply be unwilling. Lee seems to have displayed little political ambition, unlike (or perhaps because of) his father.

Even before 1865, there was a political split in the CSA, with Davis and his supporters on one side and his enemies on the other. One of the most important members of the pro-Davis was undoubtedly John C. Breckinridge. In a surviving Confederacy, I could definitely see him beating almost any anti-Davis candidate.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
This question is the major plotline of my novel House of the Proud, the sequel to Shattered Nation.

Incidentally, I have always considered it extremely unlikely that Lee would have been the second President of the Confederate States.
 

Md139115

Banned
Funny, I’m working on a TL right now about Lee, and am thinking about making him President of the United States...
 
One of the most important members of the pro-Davis was undoubtedly John C. Breckinridge. In a surviving Confederacy, I could definitely see him beating almost any anti-Davis candidate.

I’m inclined to agree. Breckinridge does seem like the likely second POTCS.
 
Lee did want to emulate Washington as much as possible, but he was even more a-political than Washington. Yet even Washington hated the job he still did his duty.

Besides that though Grant and Zachery Taylor weren't exactly the most astutely political either, so its not like Lee not being astute himself is a totally negative thing.
 
The general and probably accurate assumption is that Robert E. Lee becomes the President of the Confederacy after Jefferson Davis in Confederate Victory Tls. He much like Washington, for the young USA wins more or less unopposed and for a time at least keeps the internaldivisions in the young Country at bay.

That's a common assumption, but one I disagree with. For the Confederacy to achieve independence, they'll probably have to produce at least one more general who equals or exceeds Lee in skill. Lee might still get the majority of the credit, but the other man (or men) would draw enough support that Lee doesn't hold the sane standing that Washington had after the Revolutionary War.
 
How about Jefferson Davis? Getting a CSA victory with him as president is a lot tougher than if they had someone better and more flexible. Davis backed friends of his as generals, even when they were incompetent, as so many were.
 
You have a few options, Wade Hampton III was a dedicated politician and soldier who would probably have run, if (as Anaxagoras speculates) Breckenridge were able to serve and run he might, and its possible James Longstreet would throw his hat into the ring as he did in later life.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
You have a few options, Wade Hampton III was a dedicated politician and soldier who would probably have run, if (as Anaxagoras speculates) Breckenridge were able to serve and run he might, and its possible James Longstreet would throw his hat into the ring as he did in later life.

Longstreet wasn't a politician before the war, though. In a CS Victory scenario, Longstreet is likely to remain a professional soldier, rather as Sherman did IOTL.
 
Longstreet wasn't a politician before the war, though. In a CS Victory scenario, Longstreet is likely to remain a professional soldier, rather as Sherman did IOTL.

Hmm, I'd always pegged him as the type who might run. While he could remain a soldier, IIRC he never showed the antipathy to politics either Lee or Sherman did in life, and by his OTL actions he might be induced into serving later in life.
 
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