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Editor says, what if John Wilkes Booth had misfired at Ford's Theatre? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1867, the House of Representatives ended a furious debate by narrowly voting to impeach Abraham Lincoln after the House Judiciary committee had produced a damning bill consisting of a vast collection of complaints against him.
Lincoln ImpeachedIn order to "bind the wounds" of the Civil War, the sixteenth President's vision for Reconstruction had been a quick and lenient re-uniting of the nation, centered on forgiving most Confederates and quickly bringing their states back to full participation in the Union.
By April of 1865, it had become clear that his plans were no more imaginative than passing control to the former Whigs who had been reluctant secessionists. And in fact the control of the entire Federal Government itself had very nearly passed to Andrew Johnson, an Independent South politician on Good Friday. However, the assassin John Wilkes Booth had misfired at the Ford Theatre, killing Mary Lincoln instead.
The emerging prospect of a confrontation with Congress had become a near certainty when Lincoln refused to sign the Wade-Davis Bill. In so doing, he had rejected a series of far more stringent conditions for the creation of State Governments which had been laid down by Congress.
The underlying issue was that Lincoln did not have a overarching plan, rather than an inclination to use his political genius to move matters forward along a roadmap of his own choosing. His undeclared intention of working with the States on an individual basis was plainly evident in his encouragement of the election of Michael Hahn as a pro-Union Governor to head a loyal government in Louisiana. And by 1867, the US Congress had decided that matters were completely out of control and the legislature must re-establish its authority on Reconstruction by terminating the recalcitrant Lincoln's scheming Presidency.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Foner, Eric. "If Lincoln hadn't died .. Would the disastrous Reconstruction era have taken a different course?." published in American Heritage Magazine, Winter 2009Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union, Presidency, 1860 Election, Stephen Douglas.
~ No one would be able to say. Well yes Mrs Lincoln.,but what did you think of the play?
~ Radical republicans who would be the likely culprits for impeaching Lincoln since he apposed much of their agenda as stuff incompatable with most Americans, would likely be shooting themselves and their party in the collective foot. Pretty much the ruinous path this nation fell into after Johnson's fall would likely repeat itself except more Republican infighitng between factions would occur. Might even destroy the Republican party as a politcal force.
~ Nevertheless, in the fractious years after the Civil War, it's all too plausible.
And . . . "Johnson's fall"? Not clear on this--Andrew Johnson survived his impeachment, escap[ing conviction by one vote. What fall?
~ To be honest I find this scenario a bit hard to accept as Lincoln would have a huge amount of credit for winning the war. Congress may whine, & even take parts of Lincoln's policies to the Supreme Court, but impeaching him is another matter altogether.
~ If Lincoln was seen by most of the nation as the man who'd saved the Union, I think that the Radical Republicans would be destroying themselves with this idea. Thaddeus Stevens was a hardass, but not insane.
~ Absent the Lincoln assassination and Andy Johnson's policies the Radicals do not sweep the election of 1866 and lack the votes to attemp[t this.
Comment from Gregory Mitchell on Facebook: Nope. Given Lincolns record from 1861 to 1865, if the House had considered impeachment, he would have had them arrested and thrown in prison like he did the Maryland State Legislature. His grounds? Why a Constitutional emergency, of course.
Comment on Tom Hickie on Facebook: Lincoln would have been defeated or retired and the course of history regarding the south may have been a bit less bitter. His death made him a matyr for the North instead of just another politician, his death was also used to justify some hatred directed at the south
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