What would the country be like if Lincoln wasn’t assassinated?

10 comments

1. The Civil Rights act would have passed in the 1860s, segregation would have never happend and race relations at the start of the 20th century probably look like they do now. Things like the KKK never come into power

2. Our current vampire problem would be much alleviated, if not solved altogether.

3. r/HistoryWhatIf

4. Better. Andrew Johnson sucked.

5. Andrew Johnson would not have taken office. Johnson is widely considered to be the worst president of the 19th century: he was instrumental in sabotaging Reconstruction and ushering in the Jim Crow era, and he was also the first president to be impeached.

6. We would have photographs of Abe Lincoln when he got old.

7. It might be better but it’s hard to say. Congress beat Johnson in the battle over reconstruction anyway. It could be argued that Lincoln’s assassination partly fueled the desire for radical reconstruction in the first place. It’s hard to see how he could have prevented the bargain of 1877. Maybe a still-living Lincoln would have served as a guiding hand for the Republican Party that Grant was too discredited to be.

8. r/alternatehistory beckons.

9. He would be in a battle with the Supreme Court over his [near complete disregard of the US Constitution](https://youtu.be/RVmgUqv8ZcE) during the Civil War.

10. A lot better since his vision of reconstruction would’ve been carried out instead of sold out and butchered. We set ourselves back the better part of a century with the way we bungled reconstruction.