The year is 1865. President Lincoln is dead. Vice President Johnson is dead. Secretary Seward is dead.
Lafayette Foster awoke to anxious rapping on his door, and was quickly shuffled to the White House where, still in his pajamas, he was sworn in as the 17th President of the United States.
Over the coming days, President Foster came to terms with the tragedy that had shaken the nation to its very core, had stretched the constitution to its limits, and had shattered trust in government.
He knew it could never happen again.
He quickly won-over Radical Republican leader Thaddeus Stevens with a plan of radical reconstruction of the south. But Foster was merely acting President. Under Stevens’ influence, Foster called for a new special Presidential election in November. Stevens was the only candidate, as the Democrats did not nominate anyone.
Stevens, as 18th President, set about radically reframing the constitution, arguing that it had failed to prevent a civil war and to save the nation’s highest officers from assassination.
On July 4th, 1867, the Second Constitution of the United States was ratified.
Almost all power went to the federal government. The government, too, was rearranged. The Second Constitution was modeled after British parliament; the new House Speaker would become chief executive and Head of Government, a Prime Minister in all but name. The Head of State retained the title of President, but held no real powers, limited to a single eight-year term and formally nominating the House Speaker, the winner of general elections. The President was popularly elected, but had to be nominated by a political party currently sitting in Congress.
The Second American Republic was born.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Under the Second Constitution
1) Hannibal Hamlin (1867-1875, nominated by the Republican Party)
2) Ulysses Grant (1875-1883, nominated by the Republican Party)
3) William Tecumseh Sherman (1883-1891, nominated by the Republican Party)
4) John Sherman (1891-1899, nominated by the Republican Party)
5) Adelbert Ames (1899-1907, nominated by the Republican Party)
6) Joshua Chamberlain (1907-1915, nominated by the Republican Party)
7) Robert Todd Lincoln (1915-1923, nominated by the Republican Party)
8
) Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1923-1931, nominated by the Progressive Republican Party)
9) Edith Wilson (1931-1939, nominated by the Democratic Party)
10) Wendell Willkie (1939-1947, nominated by the Progressive Republican Party)
11) Eleanor Roosevelt (1947-1955, nominated by the Labor Party)
12) Norman Thomas (1955-1963, nominated by the Labor Party)
13) Carl Hayden (1963-1971, nominated by the Labor Party and the Democratic Party)
14) Jacqueline Kennedy (1971-1979, nominated by the Labor Party)
15) Ralph W. Yarborough (1979-1987, nominated by the Labor Party and the Democratic Party)
16) George HW Bush (1987-1995, nominated by the Conservative Party and the Democratic Party)
17) Lloyd Bentsen (1995-2003, nominated by the Labor Party and the Democratic Party)
18) Skip Humphrey (2003-2011, nominated by the Labor Party)
19) Orrin Hatch (2011-, nominated by the Conservative Party)
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Under the Second Constitution
1) Thaddeus Stevens (Republican majority, 1867-1868)
2) Charles Sumner (Republican majority, 1868-1874)
3) John Armor Bingham (Republican majority, 1874-1879)4) Samuel J. Tilden (Democratic minority, 1879-1881)5) James G. Blaine (Republican majority, 1881-1886)6) Grover Cleveland (Democratic minority 1886-1887)7) Thomas B. Reed (Republican minority 1887-1890)6) Grover Cleveland (Democratic majority, 1890-1893)8) Whitelaw Reid (Republican majority, 1893-1899)
9) William McKinley (Republican majority, 1899-1901)10) William Jennings Bryan (Democratic-Farmer-Populist coalition, 1901-1906)11) Theodore Roosevelt (Republican majority, 1906-1911)12) Woodrow Wilson (Democratic-Labor coalition, 1911-1912)11) Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive-Republican coalition, 1912-1918)
13) Robert LaFollette (Progressive-Republican coalition, 1918-1924)14) Herbert Hoover (Conservative-Democratic coalition, 1924-1931)15) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Labor majority, 1931-1945)
16) Harry Truman (Labor majority, 1945-1948)17) Thomas Dewey (Progressive Republican-Conservative coalition, 1948-1951)18) Adlai Stevenson (Labor-Democratic coalition, 1951-1953)19) Dwight Eisenhower (Progressive Republican majority, 1953-1960)
20) Richard M. Nixon (Progressive Republican majority, 1960-1961)21) John F. Kennedy (Labor minority, 1961-1963)
22) Lyndon B. Johnson (Labor minority, then majority, 1963-1968)
23) Hubert H. Humphrey (Labor majority, 1968-1970)20) Richard M. Nixon (Conservative majority, 1970-1973)24) Robert F. Kennedy (Labor majority, 1973-1984)
25) Geraldine Ferraro (Labor majority, 1984)26) Bob Dole (Conservative majority, then minority 1984-1990)27) Ted Kennedy (Labor minority, 1990-1995)
28) Bill Clinton (Labor-Democratic coalition, 1995-2002)29) George W. Bush (Conservative majority, then Conservative-Democratic coalition, 2002-2010)30) Susan Collins (Progressive Republican minority with Labor support, 2010-2012)31) Hillary Clinton (Labor-Progressive Republican coalition, 2012-2016)
32) Barack Obama (Labor minority, 2016-)Candidates in the 2018 Presidential election:
Labor: Maria Shriver, former Labor Party chairperson
Progressive Republican: Olympia Snowe, former Progressive Republican leader and MC for Maine
Conservative: Willard M. Romney, businessman, former Conservative Party chairperson
Democratic: Sam Nunn, former MC for Georgia
Center: Dave Freudenthal, former Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives
Left: Nina Turner, former MSC in Ohio
The Radical United Movement for Patriots: Donald J. Trump, Jr., businessman and son of TRUMP founder Donald J. Trump
