WI Lincoln not assassinated?

It appears to me that Lincoln wasn't particularly popular until he was shot and killed. If he lived out his 2nd term, might he have joined the list of nonentities occupying the White House: Pierce, Fillmore, Buchanan...and Lincoln?
 
The man who ended slavery? Maybe in his second term he'd be a fizzle, but people would still agree today that he was a great person.
 
It appears to me that Lincoln wasn't particularly popular until he was shot and killed. If he lived out his 2nd term, might he have joined the list of nonentities occupying the White House: Pierce, Fillmore, Buchanan...and Lincoln?

Not likely. The only way for that to happen is to find some way to keep the Confederacy alive. By Lincoln's second term, he had put the nation on the path to emancipation and had fought a successful, if bloody war to keep his nation together. He set the political climate for the next two centuries, that being the Federal government is supreme and can do what it wants. I don't particularly like the man, but I consider him on of the great presidents just for his impact on the country.

If you want Lincoln remembered as an ineffective nonentity, impeach him in 1861 after his failed attempt at suspending habeus corpus. You could also have him shot at one of the early battles where he was near the front. After January 1863, he is guaranteed to be remembered as one of the greats.
 
I agree that by April 1865 it's impossible for Lincoln to be a non-entity. However, it might still be possible for his second term to tarnish his almost sacrosanct status. Lincoln's proposed plans for Reconstruction were much milder than that desired by the Radical Republicans. If successful, then the 14th and 15th Amendments might never exist or be curtailed. Hence the man who ended slavery might have permitted the rise of Jim Crow (unlikely, since Jim Crow was a product of the 1870s). I wouldn't find it impossible to imagine that the Radicals eventually try to challenge Lincoln on the severity of Reconstruction. They would probably fail, given Lincoln's popularity among veterans of the Union army.

With the assassination, Lincoln is less the Martyr of the Civil War. He might also get up to all kinds of hijinks after the war, depending on how long he lives.
 
Frankly, I can't see why we don't honor Andrew Johnson more these days either. He did sign the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

Because Presidential assent has no legal weight to a constitutional amendment?

That being said, he probably upheld a moderate version of Reconstruction that Lincoln might have endorsed. Also, being a genuine Southern Unionist should count for something. That and being impeached on trumped up charges.
 
I think if Lincoln hadn't been shot then Reconstruction would have gone much easier than it did. Congress had granted the president a great deal of powers (I believe) in dealing with Reconstruction. The problem was that they trusted Lincoln with these powers but they didn't trust Johnson with them. In my opinion, Johnson's biggest problem was that he was trying to be Lincoln and he wasn't Lincoln.
 
I agree with some of the sentiments mentioned earlier that had Lincoln served his full second term he would have found himself fighting his own Party in Congress after fighting and defeating the Confederacy. The fact that he was a martyr definately contributes a whole lot how we look at him today - and with much distortion.
 
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