The Other President Benjamin Franklin Butler

No, not Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts (1818-1893), champion of Jefferson Davis at the 1860 Charleston Democratic convention, "Beast" of New Orleans, Radical Republican, Demcoratic-Greenback Governor of Massachusetts, and ultimately Greenback candidate for the presidency of the United States. We have already discussed the possibility of his becoming president, usually by Lincoln choosing him as his running mate in 1864.

Rather, I'm thinking of the other Benjamin Franklin Butler--the one from New York (1795-1858). He was born at Kinderhook Landing in 1795 and admitted to the practice of law in 1817. He was law partner of Martin Van Buren; district attorney of Albany County in 1821; and was appointed by the New York legislature as one of three commissioners to revise the statutes of New York. Later he was elected to the New York state legislature. In 1833 he was appointed US Attorney General by President
Jackson and for a time (1836-37) held that post and the office of Secretary of War concurrently. He probably contributed the greatest part of Jackson's famous 1834 "Protest" against the Senate's censure of the President. He also served (1837-38) as Attorney General under President Van Buren. From 1838 until 1841 he was United States district attorney for the southern district of New York. In 1844 he was manager for his friend Van Buren's unsuccessful presidential campaign at the Baltimore
convention; when Van Buren's cause became hopeless, Butler tried to get the nomination for Silas Wright, who however made it clear that he would not accept it. Ultimately, Butler accepted Polk as a satisfactory alternative--especially since otherwise Cass might get the nomination. Butler declined Polk's invitation to become Secretary of War, and instead that post went to William Marcy, head of the conservative Hunker faction of the New York Democracy. (Butler and his fellow Van Burenites, like Silas Wright, formed the radical "Barnburner" faction.) He did accept an appointment to become US district attorney again, but was dismissed by Polk after supporting Van Buren's third party Free Soil candidacy in 1848. Indeed, Butler played quite an important role at the Free Soil party's Buffalo convention; he helped to overcome the distrust some Liberty Party men had for Van Buren, and in collaboration with Salmon P. Chase, wrote a quite radical platform for the new party, declaring that "Congress has no more power to make a slave than to make a king" and that "it is the duty of the federal government to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence or continuance of slavery wherever the government possesses constitutional power to legislate on that subject..."
https://books.google.com/books?id=2Xg_AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA47

Rejoining the Democrats after 1848 was not as easy for Butler as it was for some other Barnburners who had supported Free Soil less out of principle than to avenge the denial of the nomination to Van Buren in 1844 and to defeat the hated Cass. Nevertheless Butler did rejoin and supported Pierce in 1852. He admitted to Salmon Chase that the 1852 Democratic platform was "irreconcilable with the [1848] Buffalo platform" (to which, he declared, "I yet hold, entirely and without reserve") and that "With the compromise resolutions of 1850 and 1851 I was wholly dissatisfied, and openly rejected them." Nevertheless, he continued somewhat lamely, the only real choice was between the Democrats and Whigs (the "Free Democratic" candidate John Hale, whom Chase urged Butler to support, obviously had no chance of winning) and the Democrats would be no worse than the Whigs on slavery issues and much better on economic issues.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, however, presented the old Barnburners with a dilemma. Some, like the Van Burens, despite their disapproval of the Act, decided to remain with the Democratic Party, regarding 1848 as an experiment that should not be repeated. Others, like Preston King and Butler, chose to join the new Republican Party. In May of 1854, Butler made his first political appearance since the Free Soil campaign. He denounced the "northern traitors" who backed the bill, and declared that he would rather support Seward for the presidency than Douglas. Later he described the Act to Van Buren as "the most wanton, and the most inexcusable piece of folly and wickedness ever perpetrated in our country." In 1856, Butler cast the last presidential vote of his life--for Fremont. He died in Paris in 1858. The closest thing to a fairly full biography of him on the Web is at https://web.archive.org/web/20151208231652/http://famousamericans.net/benjaminfranklinbutler/ (I have gotten most of my facts about him from that site, and a few from Schlesinger's *Age of Jackson*. The Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Butler_(lawyer) is not very informative about his politics.)

My POD: Suppose Butler lived another decade. Would he not be a plausible vice-presidential candidate for the Republicans in both 1860 and 1864? (Butler was a bit on the elderly side, admittedly, but Alben Barkley was to become vice-president at the age of 71.) Balance the ex-Whig Lincoln with the ex-Democrat Butler; a Henry Clay admirer with a staunch Jacksonian; West with East; etc. New York was a fairly closely contested state in 1860 and very close in 1864, and especially in the latter year it was recognized as a key state, so if Butler had been chosen in 1860 he probably would not have been dumped in 1864--and would therefore presumably become president on Lincoln's assassination in 1865. (Of course all this is contingent on Butler deciding to accept. In general, he seems to have been reluctant to abandon New York--and his legal practice--for Washington. He accepted the Attorney General's position only reluctantly and after being persuaded by Van Buren. And in 1845 he declined the post of Secretary of War though supposedly he would have been willing to accept an appointment as Secretary of State. So it is altogether possible he would have considered the vice-presidency as unworthy of his dignity. Still, he might have been persuaded that he had a duty to accept because otherwise the Republicans might not carry New York, etc.)

What would Butler be like as president? It is hard to say, because the former Barnburners who became Republicans took divergent paths. Some reverted to the Democracy after the War--they still believed in the traditional Demcoratic doctrines of laissez-faire and states' rights (which they thought the South had perverted in the interests of slavery expansion and secession) and despite their hostility to the Slave Power had never been warm friends of African American rights. Yet others remained Republican. And Jonathan H. Earle in *Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1824-1854* has argued that the racism of the Barnburners has been exaggerated, and that their support for the Wilmot Provsio was based on a real antagonism toward slavery, not just on a desire to reserve the western territories for white men. In any event, while Butler might have his disagreements with the Radicals in Congress, it is very difficult to see him being as out of touch with northern public opinion as Andrew Johnson was...
 
No, not Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts (1818-1893), champion of Jefferson Davis at the 1860 Charleston Democratic convention, "Beast" of New Orleans, Radical Republican, Demcoratic-Greenback Governor of Massachusetts, and ultimately Greenback candidate for the presidency of the United States. We have already discussed the possibility of his becoming president, usually by Lincoln choosing him as his running mate in 1864.

Rather, I'm thinking of the other Benjamin Franklin Butler--the one from New York (1795-1858). He was born at Kinderhook Landing in 1795 and admitted to the practice of law in 1817. He was law partner of Martin Van Buren; district attorney of Albany County in 1821; and was appointed by the New York legislature as one of three commissioners to revise the statutes of New York. Later he was elected to the New York state legislature. In 1833 he was appointed US Attorney General by President
Jackson and for a time (1836-37) held that post and the office of Secretary of War concurrently. He probably contributed the greatest part of Jackson's famous 1834 "Protest" against the Senate's censure of the President. He also served (1837-38) as Attorney General under President Van Buren. From 1838 until 1841 he was United States district attorney for the southern district of New York. In 1844 he was manager for his friend Van Buren's unsuccessful presidential campaign at the Baltimore
convention; when Van Buren's cause became hopeless, Butler tried to get the nomination for Silas Wright, who however made it clear that he would not accept it. Ultimately, Butler accepted Polk as a satisfactory alternative--especially since otherwise Cass might get the nomination. Butler declined Polk's invitation to become Secretary of War, and instead that post went to William Marcy, head of the conservative Hunker faction of the New York Democracy. (Butler and his fellow Van Burenites, like Silas Wright, formed the radical "Barnburner" faction.) He did accept an appointment to become US district attorney again, but was dismissed by Polk after supporting Van Buren's third party Free Soil candidacy in 1848. Indeed, Butler played quite an important role at the Free Soil party's Buffalo convention; he helped to overcome the distrust some Liberty Party men had for Van Buren, and in collaboration with Salmon P. Chase, wrote a quite radical platform for the new party, declaring that "Congress has no more power to make a slave than to make a king" and that "it is the duty of the federal government to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence or continuance of slavery wherever the government possesses constitutional power to legislate on that subject..."
https://books.google.com/books?id=2Xg_AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA47

Rejoining the Democrats after 1848 was not as easy for Butler as it was for some other Barnburners who had supported Free Soil less out of principle than to avenge the denial of the nomination to Van Buren in 1844 and to defeat the hated Cass. Nevertheless Butler did rejoin and supported Pierce in 1852. He admitted to Salmon Chase that the 1852 Democratic platform was "irreconcilable with the [1848] Buffalo platform" (to which, he declared, "I yet hold, entirely and without reserve") and that "With the compromise resolutions of 1850 and 1851 I was wholly dissatisfied, and openly rejected them." Nevertheless, he continued somewhat lamely, the only real choice was between the Democrats and Whigs (the "Free Democratic" candidate John Hale, whom Chase urged Butler to support, obviously had no chance of winning) and the Democrats would be no worse than the Whigs on slavery issues and much better on economic issues.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, however, presented the old Barnburners with a dilemma. Some, like the Van Burens, despite their disapproval of the Act, decided to remain with the Democratic Party, regarding 1848 as an experiment that should not be repeated. Others, like Preston King and Butler, chose to join the new Republican Party. In May of 1854, Butler made his first political appearance since the Free Soil campaign. He denounced the "northern traitors" who backed the bill, and declared that he would rather support Seward for the presidency than Douglas. Later he described the Act to Van Buren as "the most wanton, and the most inexcusable piece of folly and wickedness ever perpetrated in our country." In 1856, Butler cast the last presidential vote of his life--for Fremont. He died in Paris in 1858. The closest thing to a fairly full biography of him on the Web is at https://web.archive.org/web/20151208231652/http://famousamericans.net/benjaminfranklinbutler/ (I have gotten most of my facts about him from that site, and a few from Schlesinger's *Age of Jackson*. The Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Butler_(lawyer) is not very informative about his politics.)

My POD: Suppose Butler lived another decade. Would he not be a plausible vice-presidential candidate for the Republicans in both 1860 and 1864? (Butler was a bit on the elderly side, admittedly, but Alben Barkley was to become vice-president at the age of 71.) Balance the ex-Whig Lincoln with the ex-Democrat Butler; a Henry Clay admirer with a staunch Jacksonian; West with East; etc. New York was a fairly closely contested state in 1860 and very close in 1864, and especially in the latter year it was recognized as a key state, so if Butler had been chosen in 1860 he probably would not have been dumped in 1864--and would therefore presumably become president on Lincoln's assassination in 1865. (Of course all this is contingent on Butler deciding to accept. In general, he seems to have been reluctant to abandon New York--and his legal practice--for Washington. He accepted the Attorney General's position only reluctantly and after being persuaded by Van Buren. And in 1845 he declined the post of Secretary of War though supposedly he would have been willing to accept an appointment as Secretary of State. So it is altogether possible he would have considered the vice-presidency as unworthy of his dignity. Still, he might have been persuaded that he had a duty to accept because otherwise the Republicans might not carry New York, etc.)

What would Butler be like as president? It is hard to say, because the former Barnburners who became Republicans took divergent paths. Some reverted to the Democracy after the War--they still believed in the traditional Demcoratic doctrines of laissez-faire and states' rights (which they thought the South had perverted in the interests of slavery expansion and secession) and despite their hostility to the Slave Power had never been warm friends of African American rights. Yet others remained Republican. And Jonathan H. Earle in *Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1824-1854* has argued that the racism of the Barnburners has been exaggerated, and that their support for the Wilmot Provsio was based on a real antagonism toward slavery, not just on a desire to reserve the western territories for white men. In any event, while Butler might have his disagreements with the Radicals in Congress, it is very difficult to see him being as out of touch with northern public opinion as Andrew Johnson was...
While it's technically possible, he's a political has-been. Lincoln needed to unite his own party, and running with a former democrat wouldn't really help with that. There are plenty of better options. Even the New York benefit would be offset by the fact that he hasn't held office in 19 years. Most New Yorkers (of the state as a whole) probably don't even know who he is.
 
A better chance would be to have Jackson win in 1824; if butterflies cause Calhoun to quit the VP position early becasue of Jackson's actions and various feuds with him (Jackson can still refuse to fund the Bank of the US). So, Van Buren can still become President after a nondescript VP in Jackson 2nd term (rising directly from Scretary of State the way Madison and Monroe had) and then suffer his defeat against Clay in 1836, with the Whigs united instead of dividing their candidates since Van Buren will be blamed for Jackson's mess as in OTL.

Now, suppose a successful Caly wins 2 terms and negotiates with Britain over Oregon and brings Texas in without a war with Mexico, buying that lan. Suddenly, Van Buren might not want to try to run against a very successful Whig Party that is running Webster, most likely. He might choose to support Butler and be the power broker, the man behind the scenes, perhaps in exchange for a Supreme Court apopintment. (Or, if you want, figure Van Buren gets assassinated in 1835 and Clay beats whoever. (Richard Johnson wasn't as popular and would probably not win renomination in that case.)
 
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