WI: Lincoln Survived his Assassination?

I've always wondered what the U. S. would have been like had Lincoln survived his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. My guess is Reconstruction would have been more organized and better planned. Would we still have slavery?
 
What, do you have John Wilkes Booth miss his mark? That's not un-plausible, given that JWB had spent the evening before at a saloon next door drinking whiskey.

Slavery was done for though. The thirteenth amendment had been passed by Congress in January, and was headed to the States for a referendum. (Government class was a long time ago and I've forgotten the terminology.) Since Confederate states had no say, it still would have passed.
 
I think its been debated that Lincoln did survive his assassination attempt but it was his doctor's probing and examining that contributed greatly to his death.
 
I've always wondered what the U. S. would have been like had Lincoln survived his assassination by John Wilkes Booth
Whe get a earlier -- 25th Amendment-- dealing with Presidential disability.
My guess is Reconstruction would have been more organized and better planned.
Lincoln had already welcomed back the Congress Critters from the Southern States, Reconstruction was only imposed in 1866 after the southern states refused to approve the 14th Amendment.
I guess President Lincoln would have Vetoed the Congressional Reconstruction plan.
However Congress would have had a harder time over riding Lincoln's vetoes than they did Johnson's.
Would we still have slavery
The Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery, was passed before His assassination.
 
I hadn't heart that before. Perhaps you're thinking of Garfield?

Nope. It is definitely Lincoln he's talking about. I saw an article in CIVIL WAR TIMES or some such magazine about it some years ago. The theory is based on the report of a junior-rank military doctor who attended him, who argued against probing the wound. He was over-ruled by a more senior physician, who inserted a probe into the wound and moved it around a bit looking for the bullet, which he didn't find. Whether he would have survived is not at all certain, however, and the theory is not widely accepted by historians today. Most likely, given the state of medicine at the time, he would not have survived, and if he did, he would have likely been pretty much a vegetable afterward.
 
If Lincoln had survived his assassination, wouldn't he be Jesus or something? Or maybe Zombie Lincoln? Altough I'm not sure being undead counts as surviving.

Sorry, I haven't gotten much sleep lately, been travelling.
 

JJohnson

Banned
Had Lincoln survived, I would doubt we would have had the 14th amendment as we did. The Radical Republicans would likely have been tempered by Lincoln, and the 14th's questionable ratification and subsequent (mis-)application by judges would've been likely entirely avoided. And if he continued his more amenable reconstruction, he could've been more of a hero in the south, and it's possible that African-Americans would vote more Republican today than OTL.

Just my thoughts on it.

James
 
Well. One outcome is that Lincoln's doctor opts not to remove the bullet, where Lincoln lingers for months in a coma.

This could be a real problem. Lincoln isn't dead, but he isn't up to running the country either. We could see a constitutional amendment for remove Lincoln from office, or this could follow the Wilson model where the Cabinet basically runs the government while Lincoln is tended to by nurses.

In this kind of situation, VP Johnson would wield no real power, but Lincoln would essentially be a martyr for his country. I suppose the question is how well can the country run without the President?
 
Nope. It is definitely Lincoln he's talking about. I saw an article in CIVIL WAR TIMES or some such magazine about it some years ago. The theory is based on the report of a junior-rank military doctor who attended him, who argued against probing the wound. He was over-ruled by a more senior physician, who inserted a probe into the wound and moved it around a bit looking for the bullet, which he didn't find. Whether he would have survived is not at all certain, however, and the theory is not widely accepted by historians today. Most likely, given the state of medicine at the time, he would not have survived, and if he did, he would have likely been pretty much a vegetable afterward.

Thanks, I had not heard that before.
 
I think the question is more postulating this scenario:

Lincoln walks into his booth to see "Our American Cousin." At the same time, John Wilkes Booth puts down his seventh ale and staggers through Washington D.C. with the other conspirators off to their own tasks. Booth enters through the back of the theatre and climbs the steps to Lincoln's booth.

He opens the door, aims, and fires from five feet away... not point blank range.

Given Booth's intoxication and the relative innaccuracy of weaponry at the time, it's not implausible to think of Booth's bullet hit's Lincoln's shoulder, or maybe even Mary Todd. Of course, Booth can't reload, so Henry Rathbone (Lincoln's body guard) socks Booth in the face and brings him to the ground. Booth is apprehended, tried, hanged, and the Civil War is over.

Lincoln's still able to govern. What happens 1865-1869? I see maybe Lincoln even running for a third term? Or would he be too sick/too Washingtonian?
 
Point blank refers to being able to use blank weapons, ie edged weapons. In the rifle age, point blank would be 1,5 meters or so, close enough to stab the other guy with a bayonet.
 
Point blank refers to being able to use blank weapons, ie edged weapons. In the rifle age, point blank would be 1,5 meters or so, close enough to stab the other guy with a bayonet.

von Adler is correct.

Originally point blank range was dependent on the firearm in question. It was the distance from the target where the elevation of the gun did not need to be adjusted to hit the target.

Now most people think of point blank as about 3 to 5 feet (1 - 1.5 m).
 

Philip

Donor
von Adler is correct.

Originally point blank range was dependent on the firearm in question. It was the distance from the target where the elevation of the gun did not need to be adjusted to hit the target.

That's not what von Adler said. He stated that it refers to 'being able to use blank weapons, ie edged weapons'. Given that his definition identifies 'point blank' with 'blank (edged :confused:) weapons' rather than 'point at the white spot' (point blanc), his definition is rather odd. It is even more odd given that the term is originally an artillary term.
 
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