Impeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Blacks, and Reconstruction

In investigating the motivation of the Republican who first felt compelled to indict the President and then failed to muster the necessary two-thirds majority to convict, Professor Trefousse elucidates Johnson's determination to keep the South "a white man's country." His findings, sure to spark controversy, assert that Johnson knowledgeably risked impeachment to accomplish his own goals - to thwart radical Reconstruction and maintain white supremacy in the South. Johnson is portrayed as honest, stubborn, and certain of the justice of his cause; he did not flinch from action that would serve his long range aim. In the process, he alienated potential allies, but nevertheless he achieved his purpose - the undermining of Reconstruction. And in retarding the program, Johnson played a more fateful role in American history than has generally been realized. Moreover, the acquittal established the principle that American Presidents could not be removed from office for mere political differences with Congress.

Johnson's character, too, bears re-examination. Was he, after all, really so rash? Did he, in fact, speak without thinking beforehand? A dedicated Unionist who remained determined to preserve the social order of the South, the Tennessean is shown to have been capable of careful planning and was not as unsuccessful as it sometimes thought. The subsequent failure of the effort to reform the South cast serious doubt on at least some of these suppositions.