Lost the game
Banned
Let's say that Abraham Lincoln is assassinated a few months early, in late March of 1865. Thus Congress has an extra few months of wrangling with Andrew Johnson, giving them plenty of reason to want to limit the power of the President and emboldening angry radical republicans. Thus the text of the 14th Amendment looks like this (differences from OTL highlighted:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. Executive power in the United States shall be vested in the President of the United States and in the Cabinet, consisting of the First Secretary and the Secretaries in charge of the various executive departments. The President shall, with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, appoint the First Secretary. The First Secretary shall, with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, appoint the Secretaries of the various Cabinet departments. The First Secretary and the various Cabinet Secretaries may serve concurrently in the House of Representatives.
Section 6: The President shall, with the advice and consent of both Houses of Congress, appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.
Section 7: The House of Representatives may express its lack of confidence in the members of the Cabinet by requesting that the President dismiss the Cabinet. The President must either comply with this request and appoint a new First Secretary or dissolve the House of Representatives and order new elections to occur within ninety days. The First Secretary may attach to any bill for consideration a motion of confidence in the Cabinet.
Section 8: Every bill which passes the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it become law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it during the next session beginning March 2nd of the next year. If after such reconsideration a majority of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of that House, it shall become a law.
Section 9: Every bill which is returned by the President to the house in which it originated shall be presented to the First Secretary of the United States. If he concur with the objections of the President he shall indicate thusly, and that House in which it shall have originated shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it during the next session beginning March 2nd of the next year. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law.
Section 10: Members of the House of Representatives shall serve for four years beginning the second Tuesday after the election. Elections for the House of Representatives shall be scheduled by the President and shall occur no sooner than forty-six months and no later than forty-eight months after the beginning of the new electoral term. If the House of Representative is dissolved elections will take place no sooner than sixty and no later than ninety days later.
Section 11. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article
How does history progress from there? Having given the President power similar to the President of France under the Fifth Republic OTL, what effect does this have? For starters, which OTL Presidents, butterflies notwithstanding, might seek to become President and which ones might seek to become First Secretary? I imagine someone like Lyndon Johnson would stay in the House and try to get the First Secretary position, while someone like Theodore Roosevelt would still try to get elected President.
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. Executive power in the United States shall be vested in the President of the United States and in the Cabinet, consisting of the First Secretary and the Secretaries in charge of the various executive departments. The President shall, with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, appoint the First Secretary. The First Secretary shall, with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, appoint the Secretaries of the various Cabinet departments. The First Secretary and the various Cabinet Secretaries may serve concurrently in the House of Representatives.
Section 6: The President shall, with the advice and consent of both Houses of Congress, appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.
Section 7: The House of Representatives may express its lack of confidence in the members of the Cabinet by requesting that the President dismiss the Cabinet. The President must either comply with this request and appoint a new First Secretary or dissolve the House of Representatives and order new elections to occur within ninety days. The First Secretary may attach to any bill for consideration a motion of confidence in the Cabinet.
Section 8: Every bill which passes the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it become law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it during the next session beginning March 2nd of the next year. If after such reconsideration a majority of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of that House, it shall become a law.
Section 9: Every bill which is returned by the President to the house in which it originated shall be presented to the First Secretary of the United States. If he concur with the objections of the President he shall indicate thusly, and that House in which it shall have originated shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it during the next session beginning March 2nd of the next year. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law.
Section 10: Members of the House of Representatives shall serve for four years beginning the second Tuesday after the election. Elections for the House of Representatives shall be scheduled by the President and shall occur no sooner than forty-six months and no later than forty-eight months after the beginning of the new electoral term. If the House of Representative is dissolved elections will take place no sooner than sixty and no later than ninety days later.
Section 11. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article
How does history progress from there? Having given the President power similar to the President of France under the Fifth Republic OTL, what effect does this have? For starters, which OTL Presidents, butterflies notwithstanding, might seek to become President and which ones might seek to become First Secretary? I imagine someone like Lyndon Johnson would stay in the House and try to get the First Secretary position, while someone like Theodore Roosevelt would still try to get elected President.
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