First a comment on my March reading. I started the month reading James Lee Burke’s Creole Belle and three non-fiction books. Impeached by David O. Stewart, The Armistad Rebellion by Marcus Rediker and Kofi Anann’s Interventions. I had also gotten out of the library The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell. By the middle of the month, I had made the most progress on the David Stewart book and minimal progress on the others. About the day before Blood Gospel was due back at the library, I started reading it. No wait, it was actually overdue when I started it! Anyway I was enjoying it, so Creole Belle got set aside! I continued to read Impeached along with The Blood Gospel and managed to finish Impeached at the beginning of this month. It is Book 12 for 2013. I was pleased that I finished the book because it’s the kind of book that I usually start and enjoy and then ,move on to something else, so to finish it is a good thing!
If he was impeached for general cussedness, there would be no difficulty in the case-Sen William Fessenden – March 1868.
The main reason that I had picked up Impeached:The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy by David O. Stewart was that back in February I had read that in February of 1868 the Articles of Impeachment that lead to Johnson’s Impeachment trial were presented to the House of Representatives. I thought, really how much do I know about the impeachment and the subsequent trial. I knew it was a result of the battle between Johnson and the Radical Republicans over Reconstruction and that generally Johnson was a lousy President. Oh and that the Republicans came up one vote short from removing him from office. After finishing the book, and looking at the reviews at Goodreads.com, I saw this comment in Neil Pierson’s review:
A million years ago, when I was in school, here’s what we learned about Andrew Johnson, who assumed the presidency when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated: Johnson tried to continue Lincoln’s policy of reconciliation with the southern states. But a vindictive Congress of radical Republicans tried to stop him, and when they couldn’t, they impeached him. Oh, and the other thing we learned was that Johnson was drunk and incoherent at his swearing-in. (Contrast with today’s politicians, who are sober and incoherent.)
I thought yup, that pretty much sums it up! But after reading this great book by Stewart, I now know the real story! First, I don’t think I ever knew that Andrew Johnson was not a Republican like Lincoln, but was a Democrat from Tennessee, and as President his actions were more favorable to the south then the Radical Republicans wanted. ( I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the Republicans were the good guys in all of this!) That he did everything he could to a let the southern states rejoin the Union without changing their policies i.e. letting the same people who tore the Union apart, regain power, and he did everything he could to keep the newly freed slaves from voting or obtaining any political power.
Johnson vetoes the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill
With that said, I have a new respect for Thaddeus Stevens and his attempt to remove Johnson from the Presidency!
Contemplating all applause, defying all censure, incapable of meekness… this man. [Thaddeus Stevens] has no ambition…[N]o position in the gift of his state or of the United States could give him the power which he now holds in the House of Representatives ….[He is the] greatest of all politicians. – Galaxy Magazine July 1866
The book did show what a hard task that was. The House had failed twice to successfully Impeach Johnson and bring him to trial in the Senate. Both times there was really no clearly defined “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” to charge him with. The third attempt was successful. That attempt came after Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act of 1867. After Johnson attempted to replace Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Another thing that I didn’t know was that Ulysses S. Grant was involved in all the events leading up to the impeachment and was no fan of the President!
The book describes the Impeachment trial well, and the fight for the votes for conviction. Oh, another fact that I didn’t know was when it came time to vote the President only needed the defection of seven Republican senators to be acquitted! Furthermore, there was money aplenty floating around to buy those votes and either money or the prospect of patronage from a victorious Johnson bought the final vote from Edmund Ross of Kansas that acquitted Johnson!
David Herbert Donald, author of Lincoln writes:
“Impeached is a fascinating account of the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the presidency. Vigorously written, it is by all means the best account of this troubled episode in our history. It demolishes the myth that Johnson’s impeachment was unjustified and the those who defended him were heroes. Stewart proves that impeachment may be an unwieldy tool for recapturing control of the national government but at critical times it can be an essential one. This is a book that I highly recommend.”
I do too, so check it out – for me it’s back to The Blood Gospel and the other two non-fiction books I was reading last month! There’s still a little time before they are due back at the library!
