WI Booth's conspiracy just before (or after) the election

Let's say the Civil War goes just a bit better for the Union; for a specific POD say Grant avoids Cold Harbor due to some better intelligence about what he would face, and Grant crosses the James a couple weeks ahead of schedule. Sheridan is successful at cutting the Virginia railway lines into Richmond, though with even heavier losses (let's add some drama to it by making Sheridan one of numerous generals wounded in the war), and the Battle of the Crater therefore succeeds due to butterflies putting different USCT there under a different commander. Richmond falls in later summer, and while the CSA government can more easily flee, and Lee retreats with them to Danville for a time, he finally surrenders before the election.

Now, Cold Harbor damaged Grant's reputation OTL and made it appear to Lincoln and others in his party harder to win re-election (whether it was is for a different thread). So, you could argue that maybe TTL they pick Hamlin instead of Johnson. But, the point is, Lee's out by October, having surrendered the last of his army after failing to defend his home state, but there's enough life in the CSA that John WIlkes Booth forms his conspiracy to kill Lincoln and Hamlin just before the election, thereby throwing the Union into as much turmoil as possible.

So, what happens if Lincoln and Hamlin are killed on, say, November 1, 1864 in this scenario? (Obviously it'd be more damaging if he tried OTL, but since he apparently wasn't trying to do so OTL but just talking about it and fuming inside, it seems much more plausible for him to do so after the Union has for all intense and purposes won)
 
Let's say the Civil War goes just a bit better for the Union; for a specific POD say Grant avoids Cold Harbor due to some better intelligence about what he would face, and Grant crosses the James a couple weeks ahead of schedule. Sheridan is successful at cutting the Virginia railway lines into Richmond, though with even heavier losses (let's add some drama to it by making Sheridan one of numerous generals wounded in the war), and the Battle of the Crater therefore succeeds due to butterflies putting different USCT there under a different commander. Richmond falls in later summer, and while the CSA government can more easily flee, and Lee retreats with them to Danville for a time, he finally surrenders before the election.

Now, Cold Harbor damaged Grant's reputation OTL and made it appear to Lincoln and others in his party harder to win re-election (whether it was is for a different thread). So, you could argue that maybe TTL they pick Hamlin instead of Johnson. But, the point is, Lee's out by October, having surrendered the last of his army after failing to defend his home state, but there's enough life in the CSA that John WIlkes Booth forms his conspiracy to kill Lincoln and Hamlin just before the election, thereby throwing the Union into as much turmoil as possible.

So, what happens if Lincoln and Hamlin are killed on, say, November 1, 1864 in this scenario? (Obviously it'd be more damaging if he tried OTL, but since he apparently wasn't trying to do so OTL but just talking about it and fuming inside, it seems much more plausible for him to do so after the Union has for all intense and purposes won)

I agree to make this work you have to change the War, not Booth. Booth had too much to live for, friends, money, prestige, he doesn't move against Lincoln (in the form of assassination; give up his own life) if there is still a chance the South could prevail.

If it played out that Lincoln and Hamlin are both dead on November 1st, U.S. Grant becomes the answer. The election might or might not go on, (with the results ignored if they come out 'wrong,') the real adjustment would be made in the Electoral College, something, between the election and when the College meets, would be worked out where Grant's name will have been added to the possible list of candidates and the Electoral College would move him into the presidency. And if that proves infeasible (either because they can't seat the 'right' College or because the College votes 'wrong,') then Congress would likely void both the popular vote and the College vote and move the election to the House.

Either way, I think a key to looking at this situation, is not to expect something truly Constitutional to occur, with the circumstances as they actually were, and with what we are now adding to it, I don't see (a Republican controlled) Congress having a difficult time bending things just enough to insure their powder stays intact; expect a fig-leaf of Constitutionality and then whatever it takes to maintain control. (Especially since this is all happening after the North (ATL) has all but won the war; the popular support necessary would be there.)

P.S. We know that before Atlanta (and Lincoln having a chance at reelection,) the Republicans had courted Grant as a possible replacement; and again we know Grant rebuffed those offers, but under these new circumstances it it not unreasonable for Grant to accept the post.
 
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Not sure I follow this stuff about the election. Mac wouldn't stand a chance in this scenario, so the Electoral College will be at least as overwhelmingly Republican as OTL. And at this point no one has any particular problem with Andrew Johnson, whose embarrassing display at the inauguration is still in the future - if not butterflied away altogether. So most likely the Electors vote for him, and for someone else as VP. Not much change except that he becomes POTUS six weeks earlier.

Longer term, the most important change is that he now has a Vice President, so if he still gets impeached, prospective successor will not be Ben Wade. If it's someone less controversial[1], the impeachment may well succeed.

[1] One possibility might be Senator Daniel Clark of New Hampshire, who will be serving as interim President from November until March.
 
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