President Frederick Douglass

[David Tenner]

On the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, here's a
challenge: is there any way he could have become President of the United
States? (Yes, I know that in 1872 in OTL he was nominated as "Victoria
Woodhull's running mate on the Equal Rights Party ticket. He was nominated
without his knowledge. Douglass neither campaigned for the ticket nor
acknowledged that he had been nominated."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass In any event, the ticket
obviously stood no chance of winning.)

It seems overwhelmingly unlikely, give the prevalance of racism--but here is
what I consider, if not a completely plausible scenario, in any event the
least implausible:

After the successful (in this ATL) annexation of Santo Domingo, the state (as
it eventually becomes) elects Douglass (who becomes a nominal resident of it
even though he in fact lives in Anacostia most of the year) to the Senate as
a reward for his supporting annexation.
https://books.google.com/books?id=KXgrCH0bkHwC&pg=PA88 A Republican Senate
eventually elects Douglass (as a reward for his party loyalty, and to appeal
to African American voters) to the "mostly symbolic" office of President Pro
Tempore. Then all you need (before the 1886 revised Presidential Succession
Act) is a double vacancy in POTUS and VPOTUS. And indeed in 1881-5 there was
no vice-president--and a president who had been diagnosed with Bright's
Disease--which, let us say, in this ATL kills him sooner and more suddenly
than anyone had expected...

[Rich Rostrom]

Post by David Tenner
A Republican Senate
eventually elects Douglass (as a reward for his party loyalty, and to appeal
to African American voters) to the "mostly symbolic" office of President Pro
Tempore. Then all you need (before the 1886 revised Presidential Succession
Act) is a double vacancy in POTUS and VPOTUS. And indeed in 1881-5 there was
no vice-president--and a president who had been diagnosed with Bright's
Disease--which, let us say, in this ATL kills him sooner and more suddenly
than anyone had expected...

Mmmm... would the Senate leave Douglass in the office
of P p t when its occupant was in immediate succession
to the Presidency?

It would be interesting to find out whether the P p t
was replaced on any other similar occasion.

Though also - Congress was not in session when Garfield
died (9/19/1881), and if Arthur died immediately afterward...

(But it would have to be _immediately_: Congress met in
special session on 10/10/1881. So that is a narrow window.)

And there are some other difficulties. The Senate had a
Democrat majority in 1879-1883.