The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation (No Dustjacket)

US: Random House Publishing Grou, 2020. Hardcover. Good. America's first presidential impeachment: A prize-winning author tells the story of the efforts by heroic citizens to preserve the victories of the Ci vil War by removing a bigoted president who ruled as if he were king. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Vice-President Andrew Johnson bec ame "the Accidental President," it was a dangerous time in America. Congres s was divided over how the Union should be reunited: when and how the seces sionist South should regain full status, whether former Confederates should be punished, and when and whether black men should be given the vote. Deva stated by war and resorting to violence, many white Southerners hoped to re store a pre-Civil War society, just without slavery, and the pugnacious And rew Johnson, who was no Lincoln, seemed to share their goals. With the unch ecked power of executive orders, Johnson ignored Congress, pardoned rebel l eaders, promoted white supremacy, opposed civil rights, and called Reconstr uction unnecessary. Congress had to stop the American president who acted l ike a king. With her extensive research and profound insights, Brenda Wineapple dramatically restores this pivotal period in American history, when the country, on the heels of a brutal war, was rocked by the first-ever impeachment of a sitting American president. And she brings to vivid life the extraordinary characters who brought that impeachment forward: the willful Johnson and his retinue of advocates--including complicated men like Secretary of State William Seward--as well as the equally complicated visionaries committed to justice and equality for all, like Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumne.