WI: Lincoln kept Hamlin as his running mate in 1864

Given other events Lincoln is still elected. I think Hamilin would be more radical on reconstruction. In OTL in the immediate aftermath the old confederate regimes were allowed to take power. Ideally he would have destroyed the planter class with confiscations and compenston for former slaves.
 
Given other events Lincoln is still elected. I think Hamilin would be more radical on reconstruction. In OTL in the immediate aftermath the old confederate regimes were allowed to take power. Ideally he would have destroyed the planter class with confiscations and compenston for former slaves.

So alot of the land is giving to the slaves. Would Hamilin put protections for them or some way to keep lynchings and mobs down? Though I imagine if that happens, it would be worse for the South since it'd justify harsher punishment
 
So alot of the land is giving to the slaves. Would Hamilin put protections for them or some way to keep lynchings and mobs down? Though I imagine if that happens, it would be worse for the South since it'd justify harsher punishment

If he also gives land to poor, landless whites who were at best on the fence for the CSA (hence why the Confederates passed the first draft law in American history) makes sure to arm everyone and has the federal army focus on hunting down the KKK and other, similar elements he could easily create a lot of biracial yeoman communities with strong militias that become the bedrock of the New South. The total destruction of the planters' power would also help by eliminating a major source of funding, support and influence for such groups.
 
If he also gives land to poor, landless whites who were at best on the fence for the CSA (hence why the Confederates passed the first draft law in American history) makes sure to arm everyone and has the federal army focus on hunting down the KKK and other, similar elements he could easily create a lot of biracial yeoman communities with strong militias that become the bedrock of the New South. The total destruction of the planters' power would also help by eliminating a major source of funding, support and influence for such groups.

Yeah, that could work. Basically have them say they can get land if they denounced the CSA and slavery while doing it as biracial thing (heck, they could even try to overcome that with a rich vs poor mentality.)

Would Hamlin do such an action? It would help out alot and make the South better in the long run.
 
I've seen a Lincoln/Hannibal 1864 election TL somewhere on this side in the past 4 or 5 years but it did not go very far past Lincoln's assassination. As far as it went it was on the lines of the speculation here.
 
Yeah, that could work. Basically have them say they can get land if they denounced the CSA and slavery while doing it as biracial thing (heck, they could even try to overcome that with a rich vs poor mentality.)

Would Hamlin do such an action? It would help out alot and make the South better in the long run.
Hopefully he would. The Reconstruction was such a lost opportunity IOTL.
 
Given other events Lincoln is still elected. I think Hamilin would be more radical on reconstruction. In OTL in the immediate aftermath the old confederate regimes were allowed to take power. Ideally he would have destroyed the planter class with confiscations and compenston for former slaves.

How does this come about?

Absent Johnson egging them on to reject the 14th Amendment, the South would probably have ratified it, and been readmitted w/o even having to give Blacks (other than Union veterans) the vote, never mind anything beyond it. Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts to break the impasse between themselves and Johnson, which TTL had not happened.

And OTL the Senate (when debating the 14A) wouldn't even agree to the temporary disfranchisement of former Rebs, let alone anything more drastic. Why would that change at the behest of an accidental POTUS who's only keeping the seat warm for Grant?

BTW, when Congress voted in 1872 to free most ex-Rebs from the political disabilities imposed by the 14A, Senator Hamlin voted with the majority.

One possible change. Hamlin was strongly opposed to capital punishment, and iirc lived long enough to see it abolished in his native Maine. While I doubt whether he'd reprieve the actual assassins, this could be good news for Mary Surratt, and possibly even for Henry Wirz.
 
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That's not the thread I was referencing at all. This is much newer; the one I am talking about was two or three years ago.
 
That's not the thread I was referencing at all. This is much newer; the one I am talking about was two or three years ago.

And now I am glancing over it. I am not reading close enough to be really fair but it is too lightweight and skimmy to be taken seriously; it is more a wish list that could challenge someone to become an outline, if it is possible to get from one capsule description to another.

It will be a bit of a hassle since I have lots of pages in my "watched threads" and I forget just when this Hamlin thread died out, nor was I 100 percent sure it was plausible either. But very different in style; the pace was much slower, with developments evolving over weeks, not decades. Part of it was about a scheme to arm freedmen and much was about the plan to purchase the Dominican Republic; supposedly the Dominicans themselves had an interest in US takeover to deter the Haitians from attacking more. It stopped somewhere at that point, maybe half a year into Hamlin's service; we don't know then just where the author planned to take it. I'll see if a quick search can turn it up!
 
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