WI: Lincoln Assassinated Before Inauguration

What if Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by any number of plots against him before he was able to reach Washington D.C. for his swearing in in March 1861?
 
You might be interested in checking out a movie called The Tall Target, which is about an NYPD cop on an overnight train to Washington DC trying to foil an attempt on Lincoln's life.
 
A lot depends on who kills Lincoln and why.
Would Hannibal Hamlin want to fight a war to preserve the union?

Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was the 15th Vice President of the United States (1861–65), serving under PresidentAbraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He was the first Vice President from the Republican Party.

Prior to his election in 1860, Hamlin served in the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and, briefly, as the 26th Governor of Maine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Hamlin
 
A lot depends on who kills Lincoln and why.
Would Hannibal Hamlin want to fight a war to preserve the union?

Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was the 15th Vice President of the United States (1861–65), serving under PresidentAbraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He was the first Vice President from the Republican Party.

Prior to his election in 1860, Hamlin served in the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and, briefly, as the 26th Governor of Maine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Hamlin

Well, I think that the most likely context for an assassination would be by a southerner or a sympathizer in the name of preserving slavery.

Assuming that Hamlin's succession of Lincoln isn't held up, then Hamlin would likely be tougher on the South than Lincoln was, and more willing to liberate and arm African-Americans during the war. I think that he'd likely be close enough to Lincoln in policy terms, even if he was not as good an orator, that the war would progress in a similar manner. Assuming that he avoids Lincoln's fate, I'd expect Reconstruction to follow more Radical Republican ideas.
 
Well, I think that the most likely context for an assassination would be by a southerner or a sympathizer in the name of preserving slavery.

Assuming that Hamlin's succession of Lincoln isn't held up, then Hamlin would likely be tougher on the South than Lincoln was, and more willing to liberate and arm African-Americans during the war. I think that he'd likely be close enough to Lincoln in policy terms, even if he was not as good an orator, that the war would progress in a similar manner. Assuming that he avoids Lincoln's fate, I'd expect Reconstruction to follow more Radical Republican ideas.

Assassination could also be by a supporter of Emancipation who did not trust Lincoln to free the slaves in the near future or just a mad man.

Hamlin might have taken reacted more aggressive toward the British and French trading with the CSA, possibly resulting in more support for the French and British for the CSA.
 
Hamlin was also a strong opponent of the death penalty, which might be good news for some army deserters, and perhaps even for Henry Wirz. I imagine, however, that his scruples would not extend to reprieving the killer(s) of Lincoln. That would probably seem a mercy too far.

Wrt Reconstruction, initially he probably wouldn't be as lenient as Johnson was, but iirc, in 1872 he voted with the Senate majority to lift the disabilities imposed on ex-Rebs by Sec 3 of the 14th Amendment, so he's not likely to be all that draconian.
 
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