President Atchison

In this ATL, President-Elect Franklin Pierce is killed alongside his son, Benjamin, on January 6, 1853. This event not only drives Jane, his wife, who witnessed the decapitation of her young son, to commit suicide, but it also causes William R. King to assume office on March 4, instead of Pierce. Both in the OTL and ATL, King dies on April 18, paving the way for President Pro Tempore Of The Senate, David Rice Atchison to become the 15th President Of The United States. The ensuing articles will explain the events of the ATL from the point of divergence (January 6, 1853) to approximately 170 years into the timeline's future.