Theodore Roosevelt, President of the CSA

The Confederate Constitution provided that "No person except a natural-born citizen of the Confederate States, or a citizen thereof at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, *or a citizen thereof born in the United States prior to the 20th of December, 1860,* shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the limits of the Confederate States, as they may exist at the time of his election." [my emphasis-DT] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp

Theodore Roosevelt was born in the USA (to be more precise in New York City) prior to December 20, 1860 (to be more precise, on October 27, 1858). So he would have been eligible for the Confederate presidency, had the South won the ACW. A possible POD: Theodore Roosevelt, Senior, dies much earlier than in OTL; friends think that it may be due in part to his sorrow at the Confederate victory. His widow, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt ("A true southern belle" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Bulloch_Roosevelt) who never made much of a secret of her Confederate sympathies, decides to return to Georgia, taking her young son Theodore with her. I doubt that under those circumstances, TR's northern birth would be much of a political handicap in Confederate politics, even if CSA-USA relations are bad. As he could point out, he was born of a southern mother, lived in the South since he was a boy, grew up on a plantation, etc. It's even possible that schoolmate taunts about his being a "Yankee," a "black Republican" etc. will make him *particularly* racist and anti-Northern...
 
The idea of TR growing up in the Confederacy if his father died when he was young and the Confederacy achieved independence is credible. So is the idea that he would be taunted in school for his northern birth, but after that it goes off track. TR idolized his father; was fiercely proud of his family, whether they were Union or Confederate; and always stood up to bullies. A TR who collapsed under bullying to become particularly racist and anti-Union would be a broken child without the drive that took him to the prominence he achieved in OTL. Based on his personality, it's far more likely that TTL's Theodore Roosevelt would respond to taunts by acting even more progressive and more pro-Union. In either case, he'd have little chance of a successful political career in the Confederacy, even before we consider how much his father's political connections influenced TR's going into politics in OTL.

That's not the only likely butterfly from the early death of Thee Roosevelt. Without his father's example, Theodore Roosevelt would not be exposed to the vigorous exercise that helped him overcome his physical weaknesses in OTL. He could easily end up a semi-invalid known mainly for his historical writings. If a Confederate TR did manage to become a healthy adult, he'd likely follow his uncles into the Confederate Navy. There are also butterflies for TR's younger brother Elliot - without being in Theodore's shadow, Elliot would be more likely to seek a political career and possibly succeed. An ATL Elliot would certainly be more acceptable as a Confederate President than an ATL Theodore. This would also butterfly away Elliot's daughter Eleanor.
 
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