WI: President Hannibal Hamlin

[Kaiser K]

In OTL, Lincoln's first Vice President, former Maine Governor and Representative Hannibal Hamlin, was replaced as Lincoln's on the running mate by Southern Unionist and War Democrat, Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson; who would go on to become the 17th President of the United States after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865.

What I ask is the following, presuming Lincoln still wins re-election and still gets assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, what would have happened had Hannibal Hamlin been kept on the ticket and eventually became Lincoln's successor upon his death, how would have he governed? how would he handle Reconstruction? could he have a won a term of his own right in 1868; and if so would it derail the political career of Ulysses S. Grant?

 

[Mikestone8]

In OTL, Lincoln's first Vice President, former Maine Governor and Representative Hannibal Hamlin, was replaced as Lincoln's on the running mate by Southern Unionist and War Democrat, Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson; who would go on to become the 17th President of the United States after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865.

What I ask is the following, presuming Lincoln still wins re-election and still gets assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, what would have happened had Hannibal Hamlin been kept on the ticket and eventually became Lincoln's successor upon his death, how would have he governed? how would he handle Reconstruction? could he have a won a term of his own right in 1868; and if so would it derail the political career of Ulysses S. Grant?

He'll take a firmer line with the South than Johnson did, probably insisting on the enfranchisement at least of Black war veterans and those who could read and write a portion of the US Constitution. He would also sign the Freedmens Bureau and Civil Rights Acts of 1866. Whether any of this makes much long-term difference is another matter.

I doubt if he'll get an elected term. In this era, two-term Presidents were the exception rather than the rule - even Lincoln might not have run again but for the war - and if Grant wants the nomination he'll get it. Hamlin is also an ex-Democrat in a party dominated by former Whigs, which wouldn't help.

Some particular individuals may well benefit. Hamlin was a lifelong opponent of the death penalty, so at the very least we may take it that Mary Surratt won't hang, and perhaps not even Henry Wirz. However, I doubt if he'll reprieve Booth's accomplices - even for him that's probably a mercy too far.

 

[Joramy]

Hamlin as President

Some time ago I wrote a review of a fictional book,

Avoiding Civil War: The Remarkable Presidency of Hannibal Hamlin, 1861-1869

http://www.lakesidepress.com/fictitious-reviews/hamlin.html

It 'answers' some the questions raised about a Hamlin Presidency (which begins BEFORE Sumter).

 

[Alcsentre Calanice]

snip

What about a more radical reconstruction lead by Hamlin offered in exchange for a constitutional amendment banning death penalty?

 

[frustrated progressive]

What about a more radical reconstruction lead by Hamlin offered in exchange for a constitutional amendment banning death penalty?

There was no constituency supporting that.

 

[David T]

It's not likely that Lincoln would have kept Hamlin on the ticket in 1864; he wanted a War Democrat to give credibility to the Union Party's claim that it was more than a renamed Republican Party. Actually, the most plausible way of Hamlin becoming president is for Lincoln to die of smallpox in late 1863: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/S-6J3pGO1fg/vKNGd26EjjAJ