Undoing Lincoln with modern parallels

Brenda Winetree wrote the book, The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation. Susan Grigsby, part of the Daily Kos community, discussed it.

In Grigsby’s introduction she notes:

President Andrew Johnson was a hero trying to follow the policies of Abraham Lincoln, which earned him the enmity of the Republicans in Congress and led to his impeachment. He was saved by a single vote, which I learned was cast by a brave senator who did not wish to be responsible for the first conviction of an American president.

Or at least, that is what I was taught by an education system in the middle of the Cold War.

The reality?

Johnson was as supremacist as they come. After Lincoln was assassinated Johnson refused to call Congress back into session, attempting to rule by fiat for 8 months. He wanted Southern elections to be open only to white men. He pardoned Confederate leaders, allowing them to control state governments and militias. He tried to undo all that Lincoln had done and succeeded in undoing quite a bit. The number of Confederate flags still flying shows that Johnson did succeed in undoing Lincoln’s attempts at healing the nation and succeeded in keeping white supremacy alive.

Once Congress was in session the Republicans (the good guys at the time) passed bills to rein in Johnson. He vetoed them.

The 13th Amendment banned slavery, but not what would become Jim Crow. It also got rid of the rule that black people counted as 3/5 of a person. But now counted as whole the South got another 20 congressional seats and electoral votes. Might Johnson’s actions reengergize white supremacists?

The Impeachers step forward. Even in 1868 the process got bogged down in process questions. The Senate dragged out the process, hoping it would go away. And that last vote that meant acquittal rather than removal – it was bought by Johnson supporters.

Grigsby discusses the parallels between Johnson and the nasty guy, which are frequent and alarming. So are the parallels between impeachment then and now. Grigsby concludes:

How long will it take us to recover after Trump? Will we ever return to a government of three separate and equal branches capable of providing balance? Can we ever again be the “nation of laws, not of men” that John Adams envisioned?

Or will we remain chained to the doctrine of white supremacy which has guided us for 250 years? Can we ever reach a point where we actually believe that all people are created equal and then treat them that way?

Perhaps not, but that should not stop us from trying, from pressing forward with an impeachment, and from making sure that all Americans are informed of the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by Trump. If nothing else, The Impeachers can prepare us for what lies ahead.