Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy

Covers in detail what was happening before, during and after the trial. The hate for Johnson is like the hate for Trump. You could substitute the current names for those back in 1867-69.

Lincoln is dead. The South is in tatters. The North is limping. The White House is occupied by an arrogant, bigoted upstart hell bent on dismantling the freedoms fought for in a civil war that had cost half a million lives. The federal government faces paralysis over the issue of whether a president can fire his cabinet. The legacy of an assassin's bullet threatens a tailspin into another war to resolve issues that the Constitution can't... What is Washington City to do? Why, skulduggery, deceit, corruption, scandal, lies, buffoonery and farce - of course! David Stewart has done it again: with a lawyer's mastery of his field, and the eye and wit of a novelist, Stewart has amassed a wonderful tale around the constitutional crisis over Johnson's firing of his Secretary of War, his pro-South machinations and his resulting impeachment. There's bribery (lots of it), conspiracy (even more), sex (with a celebrated sculptress who has a studio in the Capital), buffoonery (in the person of an Interim Secretary of War who daily fails to get the old one to surrender the keys to his office), and farce (the incumbent Secretary of War squabbling with his wife on the curbside). And more, lots more. It just doesn't end. Which is why I read Impeached twice - and am glad I did. Stewart displays a masterful balance between entertaining the reader and seriously educating him with important moments in history and illuminating critical insights. There's certainly no end of material in American History and Stewart is well poised to bring it to us. I can only wait with anticipation for more - preferably soon. Bravo, Stewart!

Being quite the Lincoln fan, I've read up on so much of his life, that sometimes its difficult to learn anything much new about the man. Oh, from time to time I pick up a fascinating book (the latest is this The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, but for the most part, history repeats itself, maybe told in a different way. I never really considered what life was like in the country in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination, and the terrible rift our country suffered as a result. Impeached, a brilliant new book by David O. Stewart, remarkably adds much to the Lincoln canon, much like ripples in a pond after a boulder has been tossed in. Stewart picks up his book right at the point of Lincoln's second inauguration, when a supposedly nervous Andrew Johnson makes his first horrible impression by downing whisky prior to his swearing in, and walks into the event visibly tipsy. This rather auspicious start quickly sets off a series of events, which quickly lead to the Radical Republicans in Congress working towards kicking out the President. Corralled by Congressman stalwart Thaddeus Stevens, who gives the meaning of the word persistent a run for the money, the RRs attempt to kick good ol' southern President Johnson out of office for frustrating the will of Congress in the path towards Reconstruction. By passing legislation that obviously crosses the line of Constitutionality, and having Johnson ignore it, they set up the man for quite a fall. Andrew Johnson springs their trap in a battle over equally stubborn Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's refusal to leave his office after being dismissed by Johnson (Stanton actually sets up camp in the office to avoid being locked out of it). With events resembling something that not even Shakespeare could concoct, personalities such as U.S. Grant and William T. Sherman are dragged into the middle of this melee, with honor and duty being displayed in front. What surprised me is the "character" of Andrew Johnson. Not having studied much about him at all, I pictured him as a milquetoast wimpy character who was bullied around by Congress, even though he was carrying out Lincoln's wishes. Boy, was I wrong. First, Stewart's Johnson is a fighter, and unfortunately, due possibly to his overinflated ego, an instigator in many of the events that led to his problems. By refusing to work with Congress, and merely try to steamroll over them, Johnson planted the seeds of the battle. Also, Johnson aggressively worked to ease the conditions of Reconstruction on his favored south, making life difficult for the recently freed slaves and the armies that tried to quell the anti-black sentiment that soon festered in the former confederacy. Johnson was no supporter of civil rights for the freedmen, and made no efforts to protect them. Perhaps that's Johnson's true legacy, over the failed impeachment. Stewart's writing is fast paced, not overly burdened with people and names to remember that sometimes befall other non-fiction books.

What would you say if someone were to ask you to come up with one fact about President Andrew Johnson? Many would respond by saying that he was the 17th President of the United States or that Johnson succeeded to the Presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Some might add that Johnson only served one term. I'm sure many of us would recall that President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted by one vote by the U.S. Senate. Many of us might also state our belief that the reason Johnson was impeached was that he disagreed with the harsh and vengeful policies of the Radical Republicans and because, following in Lincoln's footsteps, he adopted a compassionate and conciliatory attitude toward the South. The reality, as David O. Stewart amply demonstrates in this book, is quite different. Johnson was a staunch states' rights advocate and didn't see a problem with the former Confederate states doing whatever they wanted now that the Civil War was over. Ex-Confederates were elected to government office and Southern governments imposed Black Codes to deny former slaves their rights. President Johnson also opposed passage of the 14th Amendment. Some of us may remember having read President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Profiles in Courage and will recall his account of the courage of Kansas Senator Edmund G. Ross and I quote, "the man who saved a President and who, as a result, may have preserved for ourselves and posterity constitutional government in the United States." Again, David Stewart shows us in this book that the reality is quite different. In a post-Watergate world, we've become all to accustomed to stories of political crime and corruption but I think that anyone who reads Impeached will be shocked at the scale of bribery and patronage in 19th Century American politics. Mr. Stewart restores Thaddeus Stevens to his rightful position in American history and provides a informative discussion of the concept of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Anyone looking for fresh insights into the history of American government and politics will want to read this book.

Stewart's incredible research and storytelling skills combine in this book to turn the impeachment of Andrew Johnson into an important and riveting tale. "David O. Stewart's 'Impeached' is the fullest recounting we have of the high politics of that immediate post-Civil War period," says the Washington Post. "Stewart's graceful style and storytelling ability make for a good read." Equally important, Stewart reminds of us of the historical importance of this moment in the 19th century, how it tested our Constitution, and he makes a compelling case that corruption played an important role in determining the outcome. This book will finally put to rest the romantic and inaccurate account contained in John F. Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage."