Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy (44 page)

In the seven months:
Sauerevein of Baltimore to McPherson (August 1, 1865), in McPherson Papers, Box 49R (“The contest for Federal appointments here is over,…Mr. Johnson has not forgotten his democracy.”); Krug,
Trumbull
, p. 244 (In April, Johnson’s purge of federal officials in Illinois harmed Trumbull’s political organization);
Cong. Globe
, 39th Cong., 1st sess., p. 2308 (Sen. Henderson) (May 1, 1866) (“I have nothing to ask from the present Executive in the way of patronage; and I can safely express the opinion here that if I had the President would not grant it”); McKitrick, pp. 387–89. Michael Les Benedict,
The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson
, New York: W. W. Norton & Co. (1973), p. 48.

Those highly coveted jobs:
Blaine, vol. 2, p. 125; Harry J. Carman and Reinhard H. Luthin,
Lincoln and the Patronage
, Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith (1964), p. 60.

Johnson’s use of patronage:
Benedict,
Impeachment
, p. 47; Foner, p. 266.

In Ohio, Senator John Sherman:
Quoted in Herbert S. Schell, “Hugh McCulloch and the Treasury Department, 1865–1869,”
Mississippi Valley Historical Review
17:417 (December 1930); John Sherman to William Sherman, October 26, 1866, in Rachel Sherman Thorndike, ed.,
The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891
, New York: Charles Scribner’s Books (1894), p. 278.

For six months:
Welles Diary, vol. 2, p. 498; Browning Diary, vol. 2, p. 63 (February 23, 1866) (discussion with the President of need to replace Stanton); Benjamin P. Thomas and Harold M. Hyman,
Stanton: The Life and Times of Lincoln’s Secretary of War
, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (1962), pp. 491–92.

The war secretary seemed:
Ulysses S. Grant,
The Personal Reminiscences of Ulysses S. Grant
, New York: Konecky & Konecky (originally 1885), p. 656; McClure, p. 156.

When stress laid him low:
Goodwin, pp. 176–78, 449; Welles Diary, vol. 1, p. 70 (July 13, 1862); Thomas & Hyman, p. 501. Goodwin’s portrayal of Stanton is sensitive and compelling.

Referring to Abraham Lincoln:
Walter Gaston Shotwell,
Driftwood
, London: Longmans, Green & Co. (1927), p. 69; Ward Lamon,
Recollections of Abraham Lincoln
, Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. (1895), p. 231.

“Folks come up here”:
Welles Diary, vol. 1, p. 355 (July 2, 1863); Stephen B. Oates,
Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths
, New York: Harper & Row (1984), p. 173; Riddle,
Recollections of War Times
, p. 318.

According to one contemporary:
Piatt, p. 63.

Tensions arose quickly:
Stanton to Johnson, March 3, 1865, in
Johnson Papers
7:498–99; George Baber, “Johnson, Grant, Seward, Sumner,”
North American Review
145:72 (1887); Trefousse,
Andrew Johnson
, pp. 216–17.

In truth, Johnson referred:
Welles Diary, vol. 2, p. 424 (February 2, 1866); Moore Diary/AJ, p. 32 (March 1867).

According to Grant’s aide:
Badeau, p. 84; Harold M. Hyman, “Stanton and Grant: A Reconsideration of the Army’s Role in the Events Leading to Impeachment,”
American Historical Review
66:91–92 (October 1960).

By summertime:
Thomas and Hyman, p. 483; Welles Diary, vol. 3, pp. 133–34 (July 15, 1866).

Stanton attended Cabinet meetings:
Moore Diary/AJ, p. 2 (July 14, 1866); Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 25 (January 19, 1867); Richard Taylor,
Destruction and Reconstruction
, New York: Arno Press (1973) (originally 1879), pp. 252–53; McCulloch, p. 391.

The Secretary’s personal integrity:
Boutwell, vol. 2, pp. 91–93.

Pledging to remain at his post:
Dawes, p. 305.

The president blamed:
Foner, p. 264; Martin E. Mantell,
Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction
, New York: Columbia University Press (1973), p. 20.

He accused a minority:
McPherson, p. 127.

One supporter:
Harriett Weed, ed.,
Autobiography of Thurlow Weed
, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (1884), pp. 630–31; Trefousse,
Andrew Johnson
, p. 263; “Speech in New York,” August 29, 1866, in
Johnson Papers
11:164. Most of Johnson’s speeches included a description of his rise through public offices. “Remarks to Citizens of Montana,” February 7, 1866, in
Johnson Papers
10:51.

If I have played the Judas:
McPherson, pp. 134–40.

For many, Johnson’s speeches:
Rutherford B. Hayes to Guy M. Bryan, October 1, 1866, in
Hayes Diary
, vol. 3, p. 33; Cullom, p. 153 (during the Swing Around the Circle, when the president’s speeches were “intemperate and extreme,” “many people thought [Johnson] was intoxicated most of the time”). The humorist David Locke, writing as Petroleum V. Nasby, lampooned Johnson in an exaggerated country dialect that Lincoln (a Nasby enthusiast) had loved to read aloud to visitors:

David Ross Locke,
The Struggles of Petroleum V. Nasby
, Boston: Beacon Press (1963), p. 219.

A Johnson ally:
Grant to Julia Grant, September 9, 1866, in
Grant Papers
16:308; Foner, p. 265.

Republicans sat:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm; http://www.clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/index.html.

Wary of both Virginians:
Senator John Sherman to General William T. Sherman, July 8, 1866, in Thorndike, ed.,
The Sherman Letters,
p. 276;
New York Times
, July 16, 1866; Hyman, p. 93.

Another Republican senator:
Margaret Shortreed, “The Antislavery Radicals: From Crusade to Revolution,”
Past and Present
(November 1959), p. 83; John Thayer, “A Night with Stanton in the War Office,”
McClure’s
8:439 (March 1, 1897).

One report had him: Baltimore American
, October 11, 1866. This report was promptly repudiated, but received wide distribution.
Baltimore American
, October 12, 1866.

Grant’s reported response:
George S. Boutwell, “Johnson’s Plot and Motives,”
North American Review
141:574 (December 1885); Ulysses S. Grant III,
Ulysses S. Grant: Warrior and Statesman
, New York: William Morrow (1969), pp. 279, 297; Grant Testimony, Judiciary Committee, in
Grant Papers
17:226. Another version of this Johnson-Grant exchange appears in a recollection by a boyhood chum of Grant’s. Daniel Ammen, “Recollections and Letters of Grant,”
North American Review
141:367 (October 1885). Though these recountings of the episode vary from each other, the basic exchange plainly occurred, and it alarmed General Grant and many others.

An Ohio congressman formed:
Thomas and Hyman, p. 493; Grant to General Cyrus B. Comstock, September 24, 1866, in
Grant Papers
16:314; A. G. Riddle,
The Life of Benjamin Wade
, Cleveland: William W. Williams (1887), p. 272n. Grant later reported to Johnson that his investigator found “no cause for apprehension…at least for the present.” Grant to Johnson, October 12, 1866, in
Johnson Papers
11:344–45.

As a precaution:
Grant to Sheridan, October 12, 1866, in
Grant Papers
16:330–31; Smith, pp. 427–28.

A North Carolina newspaper: Chicago Tribune
, October 23, 1866; Mary R. Dearing,
Veterans in Politics: The Story of the G.A.R.
, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press (1952), pp. 105–7; Browning Diary, vol. 2, p. 94;
Chicago Tribune
, September 20, 1866, quoting
New Bern
[NC]
Progress
.

“If insurrection does come”:
Clemenceau, p. 121;
Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser
, October 10, 1866; Moore Diary/AHR, p. 103; Browning Diary, vol. 2, pp. 102, 105; Welles Diary, vol. 2, pp. 620–21 (November 17, 1866); Grant to Johnson, October 24, 1866, in
Grant Papers
16:350.

Then he walked out:
Grant to Johnson, October 21, 1866, in
Johnson Papers
11:375; Welles Diary, vol. 2, p. 621; Grant to Stanton, October 27, 1866, in
Grant Papers
16:357; Boutwell, “Johnson’s Plot,” p. 575.

To his wife:
William Sherman to John Sherman, October 31, 1866, in Thorndike,
Sherman Letters
, p. 280; Smith, p. 427; Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, October 26, 1866, in
Grant Papers
16:339–40n.

Another congressman countered: The Independent
, March 29, 1866 (Wendell Phillips);
Chicago Tribune
, April 10, 1866;
Cong. Globe
, 39th Cong., 1st sess., p. 2849; Stevens to Robert C. Schenck, August 31, 1866, in
Stevens Papers
2:191; Schenck to Stevens, September 23, 1866, ibid. 2:195.

“Did we fight down the rebellion”:
Hamlin, pp. 510–11. Increasing interest in impeachment can be tracked in the correspondence of leading Radicals through 1866. W. Jones to Butler, May 18, 1866, Butler Papers, Box 40; H. Willis to Thaddeus Stevens, October 23, 1866, Stevens Papers, Box 4.

Before a Brooklyn crowd: Chicago Tribune
, October 18, 1866 (reporting on Butler speech in Chicago), and November 28, 1866; Trefousse,
Butler
, p. 189;
Littell’s Living Age
(November 17, 1866). At the same time as Butler’s speech, Wendell Philips induced a “vast audience” in Philadelphia to begin “stomping” for Johnson’s impeachment. R. D. Mussey to Butler, November 25, 1866, Butler Papers, Box 41. Another urgent proponent of impeachment in the fall of 1866 was Rep. James Ashley of Ohio. Robert F. Horowitz,
The Great Impeacher: A Political Biography of James M. Ashley
, New York: Brooklyn College Press (1979), p. 127.

To another Radical: Washington Daily National Intelligencer
, November 24, 1866; Trefousse,
Thaddeus Stevens
, p. 203.

His annual statement:
McPherson, pp. 143–47.

7. FALSE START ON IMPEACHMENT

I do impeach: Cong. Globe
, 39th Cong., 2d sess., p. 320.

“[T]he great war”:
Clemenceau, pp. 74–75 (January 5, 1867).

Called “a calculating fanatic”:
William Lawrence to Butler, December 3, 1866, Butler Papers, Box 41; Horowitz, pp. 128–29; Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 12.

They poured in: New York Times
, January 7, 1867; National Archives, File HR 39A-H14.7-“Records of the Committee on the Judiciary” (containing petitions); E. B. Ward to Butler, January 27, 1867, in Butler Papers, Box 42 (reporting circulation of 30,000 petitions demanding Johnson’s impeachment and removal from office).

Nebraska but not Colorado: Cong. Globe
, 39th Cong., 2d sess., p. 344 (January 8, 1867); Trefousse,
Andrew Johnson
, pp. 273–74.

“I approve your taking”:
Boutwell,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 107–8; Moore Diary/AHR, p. 106 (March 4, 1867).

For some time: Cong. Globe
, 39th Cong., 2d sess., p. 5 (December 3, 1866);
Chicago Tribune
, December 6, 1866.

Stevens and his allies: Cong. Globe
, 39th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 547–48 (January 18, 1867), 943 (February 1, 1867).

Even though the law:
Welles Diary, vol. 3, pp. 50, 54.

Impeachment dates back:
Raoul Berger, “Impeachment for ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors,’” in
Impeachment: Selected Materials
, House Comm. on the Judiciary, 93d Cong., 1st sess. (October 1973), p. 621.

Otherwise, as Ben Franklin:
Max Farrand, ed.,
The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787
, New Haven: Yale University Press (1911), vol. 2, p. 65 (July 20, 1787).