Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy (50 page)

On a second ballot: Chicago Tribune
, March 2, 1868;
New York Times
, February 29, 1868.

With his head set: New York Times
, March 2, 1868;
Chicago Tribune
, March 2, 1868; Hans L. Trefousse,
Ben Butler: The South Called Him BEAST!
, New York: Twayne Publishers (1957), p. 18; George R. Agassiz, ed., Theodore Lyman,
Meade’s Headquarters, 1864–1865
, Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press (1922), p. 192.

One war-derived nickname:
Louis Taylor Merrill, “General Benjamin Butler in the Presidential Campaign of 1864,”
Mississippi Valley Historical Review
33:537 (March 1947); Trefousse,
Ben Butler
, pp. 111, 121, 154.

Many, however, doubt:
Benjamin F. Butler,
Butler’s Book
, Boston: A. M. Thayer & Co. (1892), pp. 633–35; Butler, “Vice Presidential Politics in ’64,”
North American Review
151:331–35 (October 1885); Alexander McClure,
Abraham Lincoln and Men of War Times
, Philadelphia: Times Publishing Co. (1892), p. 118; Merrill (see the previous note). The doubters include Murray M. Horowitz, “Benjamin F. Butler: Seventeenth President,”
Lincoln Herald
77:191 (1975), and Don E. Fehrenbacher, “The Making of a Myth: Lincoln and the Vice-Presidential Nomination in 1864,”
Civil War History
41:273 (1992).,

One Republican was not surprised:
Blaine, vol. 2, p. 289.

Thought by many:
Benedict,
Compromise
, p. 35. Stevens took a distinctly astringent view of the cross-eyed congressman from Massachusetts, calling him “a false alarm, at once superficial, weak and impracticable. Indeed, a ‘humbug.’”
New York Herald
, July 11, 1867; Brodie, p. 397 n. 43.

Butler replied: Cong. Globe
, 40th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 262–63 (March 21, 1867).

Drawing on the rich store:
Ibid., p. 364 (March 26, 1867).

“I’ll be damned”: New York Herald
, March 3, 1868.

Because Bingham led: Cong. Globe
, 40th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 1619–20 (March 2, 1868); Boutwell,
Reminiscences
, p. 120; Benedict,
Impeachment
, pp. 113–14;
Butler’s Book
, p. 927.

The full House was restrained: New York Times
, March 4, 1868;
Cong. Globe
, 40th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 1639–42 (March 3, 1868);
New York Times
March 4, 1868.

Even if there is no two-thirds majority: Cong. Globe
, 40th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1642 (March 3, 1868);
Washington Daily National Intelligencer
, March 4, 1868; Trefousse,
Impeachment
, p. 138; Archives,
Managers’ Journal
. This pattern can be seen in the two impeachment articles voted against President Clinton in 1999, both of which mingled unrelated allegations of wrongdoing. The impeachment trial of Judge Halsted Ritter in 1936 vividly illustrates this dubious practice. Judge Ritter, who sat in the Southern District of Florida, faced six specific impeachment articles and a seventh catchall article that gathered together the allegations in the first six. The Senate acquitted him on the first six articles but convicted him on the last. Elizabeth B. Bazan, “Impeachment: An Overview of Constitutional Provisions, Procedure, and Practice,” Congressional Research Service, February 27, 1998, p. 25.

Bingham read through: New York Herald
, March 5, 1868;
Philadelphia Press
, March 5, 1868;
Chicago Tribune
, March 5, 1868;
Cong. Globe
, 40th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 1647–49 (March 4, 1868);
Zion’s Herald
, March 12, 1868.

Johnson’s short remarks:
Browning Diary, vol. 2, p. 183 (February 28, 1868); Blaine, vol. 2, p. 362;
New York Herald
, February 27, 1868.

The president also consulted: New York Times
, February 25, 1868.

Three Republican senators:
James Dixon of Connecticut, James Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Daniel Norton of Minnesota. Benedict,
Impeachment
, p. 127.

“I will do nothing of the kind”:
Moore Diary/AJ, February 29, 1868, p. 123.

“Nothing is being done”: New York Times
, March 7, 1868;
Petersburg (VA) Index
, March 30, 1868.

In Philadelphia and Cincinnati: New York Herald
, February 26, 1868;
New York Times
, February 25 and 26, 1868;
Washington Daily National Intelligencer
, March 3, 1868. 165
The nation’s financial market: The Nation
, 6:161 (February 27, 1868). Senator Sherman of Ohio found it “strange” that the impeachment proceedings “have so little effect on prices and business. The struggle has been so long that the effect has been discounted.” Thorndike,
Sherman Letters
, p. 315.

There was room: Philadelphia Press
, March 2, 1868.

Through the week when the House: New York Times,
February 29, 1868;
Philadelphia Press
, March 2, 1868;
Chicago Tribune
, March 2, 1868.

Wherever society met:
Mary Logan,
Reminiscences
, pp. 156–59.

The war secretary, ever the pedant:
Thomas and Hyman, p. 575.

A sure sign of reduced tensions: Philadelphia Press
, March 4, 1868.

Each sent his orders:
Townsend, p. 131; Archives,
Impeachment: Various House Papers
, testimony of Col. William Moore, pp. 35–36, 43, 45 (March 12, 1868).

As for the reports:
Thomas and Hyman, p. 599.

Yet the specter: Chicago Tribune
, March 2, 1868;
New York Times
, February 25, 26, 28, and 29, 1868;
New York Herald
, February 25, 1868; Henry J. Harker to Wade, March 5, 1868, in Wade Papers, Reel 7; S. Barnett to C. A. Trowbridge, March 14, 1868, in Wade Papers, Reel 7 (proposing candidate for secretary of the treasury); Briggs, p. 50;
New York Herald
, February 26, 1868; Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 293 (February 25, 1868).

14. SEND IN THE LAWYERS

We are all nervous:
Medill to John Logan, March 18, 1868, Logan Family Papers, Box 2.

John Bingham led:
McClure,
Lincoln and Men of War-Times
, p. 270;
Ex Parte Milligan
, 71 U.S. 2 (1866); Beauregard,
Bingham of the Hills
, p. 126.

He missed meetings: Butler’s Book
, p. 927. According to the committee’s journal, Stevens missed five sessions in March alone. Archives,
Managers’ Journal
. Stevens was reported to be “perilously ill” on March 10 by the
New York Tribune
, and again by the
Philadelphia Press
on March 17, 1868.

Even with Stanton:
Archives,
Impeachment: Various House Papers
(transcripts of testimony);
Chicago Tribune
, March 12, 1868;
New York Times
, March 13, 1868; Stanton to Butler, March 11, 1868; Stanton to Butler, March 17, 1868; Butler to Bingham, March 21, 1868, in Butler Papers, Box 44.

Distracted from their studies: New York Times
, March 23, 1868, reprinting letter to
Cincinnati Commercial
, March 16, 1868.

Butler issued: Philadelphia Press
, March 11 and 13, 1868;
New York Times
, March 13, 1868;
New York Times
, March 26, 1868, reprinting letter from the
Salem (MA) Gazette
, March 16, 1868.

hell’s blackest imp:
Briggs, p. 35; John Forney,
Anecdotes of Public Men
, New York: Harper & Brothers (1881) (reprinted, Da Capo Press, 1970), p. 82; Murray M. Horowitz, “Benjamin F. Butler: Seventeenth President,”
Lincoln Herald
77:193 (winter 1975), quoting David Macrae, “The Americans at Home,” (Edinburgh, 1870), at 370n.

Perhaps as important:
Welles Diary, vol. 1, p. 365 (August 22, 1865); George F. Hoar,
Autobiography of Seventy Years
, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons (1903), p. 329; Blaine, vol. 2, p. 289.

His colleagues fell for it: Butler’s Book
, pp. 927–28.

When the defense: Globe
Supp., pp. 8–9 (March 13, 1868).

It was a blunder:
A perceptive dissection of Butler’s trial strategy appears in a pamphlet, George P. Brockway,
Political Deals That Saved Andrew Johnson
, New York: Coalition of Publishers for Employment (1977).

He resigned that post:
Moore Diary/AHR, p. 123 (March 10 and 11, 1868); Stanberry to Johnson, March 11, 1868, in
Johnson Papers
13:647.

The last lawyer: Washington Daily National Intelligencer
, March 4, 1868 (Curtis at White House);
New York Times
, March 7, 1868 (Groesbeck at White House); Browning Diary, vol. 2, p. 185 (March 7, 1868). Some Republicans hoped that Evarts would refuse to act as Johnson’s counsel, but were disappointed.
Chicago Tribune
, March 8, 1868;
The Independent
, May 14, 1868; Chester Leonard Barrows,
William M. Evarts, Lawyer, Diplomat, Statesman
, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press (1941), p. 141.

One Cabinet member called: Washington Daily National Intelligencer
, March 12, 1868, reprinting interview in
New York World
on March 11, 1868; Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 311 (March 12, 1868).

Stanton was not protected:
Stuart Streichler,
Justice Curtis in the Civil War Era
, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press (2005), p. 172; George Ticknor Curtis,
A Memoir of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, LL.D.
, Boston: Little, Brown & Co. (1879), vol. 1, pp. 409–10;
Globe
Supp., pp. 12–18 (March 23, 1868).

Stanberry had no idea:
Moore Diary/AHR, p. 124 (March 16, 1868).

In Cabinet meetings:
Moore Diary/AHR, p. 123 (March 14, 1868); p. 125 (March 17, 1868); p. 127 (March 19, 20, 21, and 22, 1868); p. 128 (March 25, 1868);
New York Times
, March 18, 1868; Welles Diary, vol. 3, pp. 313 (March 14, 1868), 315 (March 17, 1868).

Johnson bade Black farewell:
Cowan, p. 11; Moore Diary/AHR, March 21, 1868; p. 128 (March 24, 1868). Black’s withdrawal was explained in the press as well.
New York Herald
, March 25, 1868. A few years later, Black defended Secretary of War William Belknap against impeachment charges based on bribes from an Indian trader. Belknap resigned after the House of Representatives approved an impeachment resolution, but the Senate conducted a trial anyway, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Several senators voted to acquit because they thought the Senate had no jurisdiction to try a former official.
Perley’s Reminiscences
, vol. 2, p. 313; “Impeachment: Selected Materials,” House Judiciary Committee, 93d Cong., 1st sess. (October 1973), p. 717.

Their task may have been:
Moore Diary/AHR, p. 127 (March 22, 1868).

The blacks in the rotunda: New York Times
, March 11, 13, and 24, 1868;
New York Herald
, March 5, 1868;
Washington Daily National Intelligencer
, March 15, 1868 (“Every body remarks the unusual absence of the African”);
Philadelphia Press
, March 14, 1868 (“no colored people were present, and it is understood that no applications for tickets were made by them”).

The debate blew itself out: Cong. Globe
, 40th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 1671–81, 1701 (March 5, 1868);
New York Times
, March 6 and 7, 1868;
New York Herald
, March 6, 1868.

The reaction was amplified: New York Herald
, March 5, 1868; Senate Misc. Doc. No. 43, 40th Cong., 2d sess. (Letter from the Hon. S. P. Chase, Chief Justice, March 4, 1868).

Chase’s “theology is unsound”:
Goodwin, pp. 17–18, 34–43; Piatt, pp. 96, 97; Dennett, p. 53.

Chase hedged his bets:
Goodwin, p. 634; Julian,
Political Recollections
, p. 236; Robert B. Warden,
An Account of the Private Life and the Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase
, Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co. (1874), pp. 669–70; Warden, p. 681 (Chase to J. E. Snodgrass, March 16, 1868); Perman,
Reunion Without Compromise
, p. 255; John Hanxhurst to Elihu Washburne, March 23, 1868, in Washburne Papers, vol. 58; Warden, pp. 669–70 (in an August 5, 1867, letter to Horace Greeley, Chase reported discussing with President Johnson the constitutionality of the Reconstruction Acts, an issue that certainly would come before the Supreme Court), p. 681 (March 18, 1868 letter to J. Snodgrass);
Cincinnati Commercial
, March 22, 1868; Frederick Bancroft, “Some Radicals as Statesmen: Chase, Sumner, Adams, and Stevens,”
Atlantic Monthly
86:279 (August 1900).