Papers of Andrew Johnson: Volume 15, September 1868-April 1869, The

The Papers of Andrew Johnson: Volume 15, September 1868-April 1869. Edited by Paul H. Bergeron. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998. xxvii, 656 pp. $55.00. ISBN 1-57233-028-7.

What does a president do after being acquitted in an impeachment trial? Andrew Johnson faced this question during the last six months of his presidency, the period covered by this latest volume of The Papers of AndrewJohnson, edited by Paul H. Bergeron. Despite his narrow acquittal in March 1868, Johnson remained defiant and determined to govern for the remaining months of his term.

The fall campaign progressed without Johnson taking an active role. Abandoned by the Democratic convention, Johnson was not asked to campaign for the nominee, Horatio Seymour. In fact, Democratic leaders feared that any personal involvement by the tarnished president would cost the election. Seymour himself proved a lackluster candidate, particularly when compared to his popular Republican opponent, Ulysses S. Grant. Johnson fumed as he watched his party steadily lose ground to the Republicans. In late October Johnson broke his silence, urging Seymour to become more outspoken so "[t]he mass of the people should be aroused and warned against the encroachment of despotic power now ready to enter the very citadel of liberty" (p. 164). Johnson's efforts proved fruitless, and Grant swept the election.

As a caretaker president awaiting a victorious rival, Johnson prepared for a return to private life. Curiously constituents (including prominent leaders such as William T Sherman and Horatio Seymour) continued to lobby him for patronage appointments. Despite his dwindling power, Johnson made several appointments and referred a large number to the Senate. Apparently neither he nor his correspondents understood that any appointment would be voided after the March inauguration. Outbreaks of Ku Klux Klan violence continued in Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Alabama, but Johnson remained true to form, taking no action. His fourth annual address in December harshly criticized Republican reconstruction and fiscal policy.

Johnson remained defiant to the end. During his farewell address, he recalled that his views of the Constitution and his sense of duty to the country had governed his actions as chief executive. "I have nothing to regret," he said. "Events have proved the correctness of the policy set forth in my first and subsequent messages; the woes which have followed the rejection of forbearance, magnanimity, and constitutional rule are known and deplored by the nation" (p. 515). Unrepentant, he began a circuitous route home to Tennessee.

The great crowds he met and the correspondence he received from admirers praised his actions as chief executive, leading Johnson to believe his popularity was much greater with the people than it had been inside the Capitol. In April he began a speaking tour in Alabama and Tennessee, where listeners encouraged him to run for various offices, including governor of Tennessee. His son's suicide and a severe attack of kidney stones slowed his activities, but clearly Johnson was planning for a postimpeachment political career.

Bergeron and his staff continue to produce one of the finest documentary series currently in progress. The annotations reflect extensive research, and the selection of documents addresses a wide variety of social and political topics. As in earlier volumes, there remains a shortage of documents written by Johnson, but the editors are limited by the scarcity of extant items. The result is an incomplete portrait that gives great insight into Johnson's political life but reveals little of his personal relationships. This project remains a model of historical editing, and this volume would be a particularly valuable addition to any research library or the personal collection of any serious student of Reconstruction.

RICHARD D. STARNES

Mars Hill College

Copyright University of Alabama Press Jul 2000
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