President Abraham Lincoln--1850

After nominating General Taylor for president in 1848, the Whigs have a hard time deciding on a running mate. It has to be a northerner, but who?

Abbott Lawrence, Thomas Ewing, and the New York rivals William Seward and Millard Fillmore are all considered but none can get a majority. Eventually, the convention turns to a "dark horse"--retiring congressman Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, a former Clay man who had backed Taylor. His longtime record as a partisan Whig and his antiwar and antislavery positions will help mollify northern Whigs upset at the nomination of a slaveholding general without a clear Whig background. Yet he is no extremist--he voted appropriations for the war he denounced Polk for starting, warned that the promulgation of abolition doctrine "tends to increase rather than abate" the evils of slavery, and said that while Congress had the power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, it should not exercise it except at the request of the people of the District. Some southerners are still a bit concerned about him, but Alexander Stephens reassures them on Lincoln's moderation. Still, some southerners worry that as vice-president Lincoln could break a tie vote in the Senate on the Wilmot Proviso. However, leading Taylor men assure the South that if Taylor is elected the whole Proviso will be moot--slavery can't really take root in the Southwest anyway, and Taylor will find some way of getting the Southwest into the Union without the humiliating Proviso.

Taylor and Lincoln are elected, and Taylor dies on schedule in 1850...
 
Last edited:
Well, the Proviso is academic anyway as there's no way it would ever get through the Senate.

Probably a Compromise not too different from OTL's. Big Question is whether Lincoln would have "held his nose" and signed the Fugitive Slave Law - or at least allowed it to become law without his signature. I suspect the latter, if the session had more than ten days to go before it was passed.
 
After nominating General Taylor for president in 1848, the Whigs have a hard time deciding on a running mate.

Abbott Lawrence, Thomas Ewing, and the New York rivals William Seward and Millard Fillmore are all considered but none can get a majority. Eventually, the convention turns to a "dark horse"--ex-congressman Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, a former Clay man who had backed Taylor. His longtime record as a partisan Whig and his antiwar and antislavery positions will help mollify northern Whigs upset at the nomination of a slaveholding general without a clear Whig background. Yet he is no extremist--he voted appropriations for the war he denounced Polk for starting, warned that the promulgation of abolition doctrine "tends to increase rather than abate" the evils of slavery, and said that while Congress had the power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, it should not exercise it except at the request of the people of the District. Some southerners are still a bit concerned about him, but Alexander Stephens reassures them on Lincoln's moderation. Still, some southerners worry that as vice-president Lincoln could break a tie vote in the Senate on the Wilmot Proviso. However, leading Taylor men assure the South that if Taylor is elected the whole Proviso will be moot--slavery can't really take root in the Southwest anyway, and Taylor will find some way of getting the Southwest into the Union without the humiliating Proviso.

Taylor and Lincoln are elected, and Taylor dies on schedule in 1850...

At thirty-nine years old, Abraham Lincoln would definetly be a better figure to balance Zachary Taylor, who had an unclear platform and lack of interest in politics.

As president, Taylor kept his distance from Congress and his cabinet, while I could see Lincoln, filling in the gap and making the office of Vice President, more powerful then in OTL.
If he is a better President then Filmore, I could se Lincoln, being renominated, with his vice-presidential nominee, William Alexander Graham of North Carolina.

Would he retire in 1858, leaving America in a better place then Peirce?
 
At thirty-nine years old, Abraham Lincoln would definetly be a better figure to balance Zachary Taylor, who had an unclear platform and lack of interest in politics.

As president, Taylor kept his distance from Congress and his cabinet, while I could see Lincoln, filling in the gap and making the office of Vice President, more powerful then in OTL.
If he is a better President then Filmore, I could se Lincoln, being renominated, with his vice-presidential nominee, William Alexander Graham of North Carolina.

Would he retire in 1858, leaving America in a better place then Peirce?

Well, we know what an earlier President Lincoln will be fighting for: Clay's American Plan. Assuming that Lincoln becomes the First VP-turned-President to earn a term of their own, I wonder what effects this will have on the Whig Party. Lincoln would be the first Whig President to actually try to support the Whig platform, and not just act as Democrat-Lites. We also know from OTL that he was willing, and able, to work well with Congress so he probably goes into his reelection bid with a substantial. However, Fillmore was crushed by the debate over the 1850 compromise and the Fugitive Slave Act. Would Lincoln be able to deal with these issues any better?

Also: if Lincoln does manage to get renominated in 54 and win a full term; what effect does this have on the Whig Party? It is still going to be bitterly split between its Northern and Southern wings.
 
Also: if Lincoln does manage to get renominated in 54 and win a full term; what effect does this have on the Whig Party? It is still going to be bitterly split between its Northern and Southern wings.


And even if he doesn't could he maybe run a bit stronger in the North than Winfield Scott did?

If, even while losing, he can pull in just a dozen or so extra Northern Whig congressmen, that would be enough to defeat the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
 
And even if he doesn't could he maybe run a bit stronger in the North than Winfield Scott did?

If, even while losing, he can pull in just a dozen or so extra Northern Whig congressmen, that would be enough to defeat the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.

Here is an county-by-county map of the Presidential election of 1852. The Whigs under Lincoln would certainly have an uphill battle. However, its possible the Democrats nominate someone weaker than Pierce, and the Whigs or lifted by a more successful Lincoln Presidency (although, one again, Lincoln is going to have to deal with the same issues that Fillmore did in OTL. Still, its hard to imagine him dealing with them worse)

PresidentialCounty1852.gif


Its interesting; the strongest Whig support was in the border states; although Webster's candidacy hurt them significantly in New England. If we're assuming that Lincoln is able to unite the party more successfully than Scott, that is a step in the right direction.

What do you think the effects would be of Kansas-Nebraska going down in flames? Could we be looking at an earlier Civil War?
 
Top