The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation

by Brenda Wineapple

Johnson declared that the recent Reconstruction Acts of Congress needed to be repealed, for they unconstitutionally sanctioned the vengeance being wreaked upon all (white) classes, sects, parties, and communities. And although the Reconstruction Acts were only provisional measures, Johnson continued, they effectively “enslaved” the states. Think of the implications of those acts, Johnson added: black people permitted to “rule the white race, make and administer State laws, elect Presidents and members of Congress, and shape to a greater or lesser extent the future destiny of the whole country. Would such a trust and power be safe in such hands?” Andrew Johnson answered his own question. “Negros have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people,” he announced. If left “to their own devices, they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism.”