The Apotheosis of President Lee

Now while those of you old-timers currently groaning at the prospect of yet ANOTHER Confederate Victory timeline are quite right to resent such lack of imagination, may I please ask any interested parties if they would be kind enough to hear me out and offer suggestions to help firm up my mental image of a fledgling concept?

In a nutshell it struck me that while it is perfectly plausible that Robert Edward Lee would be the second Confederate President (assuming it were possible for the South to survive the American Civil War as an independent nation, of course) it is equally possible that he would die in office of a stroke very similar to the one that felled him in 1870 as we know it.

I imagine that the possible repercussions and storytelling potential of such an idea are quite obvious, but in a nutshell the "George Washington of the Confederacy" has just been elected and has dropped dead shortly thereafter; one imagines that this would cause a great deal of alarm, not least because his Vice President is likely to be quite as much an obscurity (if not an outright nobody) as any US Vice President of the Era and has just entered the Highest Office in a Nation with a very, Very Angry Neighbour and a (probably painful) Process of Consolidation ahead of it.

It can't be a very happy start in office to be handed a job National Heroes would flinch from right after the most Famous Hero in the Confederate States dropped dead while attempting to work it; in fact the Vice President of the Confederate States has just become the most important man in the South on more than one level because even more than most National Leaders his choices may make or break an entire Country, with the Slaves almost certainly restless and the North doubtless contemplating some payback.

So ladies and gentleman let me ask you - who do YOU think is the candidate most likely to have been Elected as Vice-President to Robert Edward Lee? (My only ideas on Mr Golden Dilemma are that he is unlikely to have been a Virginia Man and would almost certainly be a practiced politician).
 
There's Breckenridge, but I suspect it's more likely to be a Lower South man to balance a Virginian.

There were quite a few prominent Georgians. Toombs maybe, perhaps Herschel V Johnson or even Joseph E Brown.
 
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There's Breckenridge, but I suspect it's more likely to be a Lower South man to balance a Virginian.

There were quite a few prominent Georgians. Toombs maybe, perhaps Herschel V Johnson or even Joseph E Brown.
Toombs and Joe Brown were vehemently anti-Davis. If Lee is elected president, I think he will probably be in Davis' faction. Johnson is possible, though you might consider Benjamin H. Hill (another Georgian) or Clement C. Clay (an Alabamian).
 

bguy

Donor
What about South Carolina Senator Robert Barnwell? He seems to have been a respected figure across the South, got along with Jefferson Davis, has lots of political experience, and would provide the requisite geographic balance. Though IOTL Barnwell refused appointment to be the Confederate Secretary of State, so it might be difficult to convince him to run.
 
I think that must depend on whether or not Mr Davis' successor were strongly identified with his policies. If the second Confederate President is seen as a second Jefferson without eliciting comparisons to the "Sage of Monticello" then the odds of the anti-Davis faction hardening into a full-time Party are far higher than they would be if #2 is seen to be a far less divisive figure.

For example it seems likely that Robert E. Lee would be seen as a non-Partizan figure, but there can be no guarantee his Vice-President would be quite so uniformly-respected!
 
To those of you who have been kind enough answer my query Thank You very much indeed - I am grateful for your attention, your time and your thoughts!:)
 
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