On March 5, 1868 the seven House Managers appointed to prosecute the case for removal appeared in the Senate to begin the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. They were Congressmen John A. Bingham of Ohio; George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts; James F. Wilson of Iowa; John A. Logan of Illinois; Thomas F. Williams of Pennsylvania; Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts; and Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania.
For all of our articles on the Johnson Impeachment CLICK HERE.Ben Butler, long-time political operator and former Civil War general, would be the lead prosecutor. Butler was an experienced trial lawyer and Republicans looked forward to his demolishing witnesses called by the president’s lawyers to testify. The Chicago Tribune said that Butler “was one of the greatest criminal lawyers in the country, and Johnson the greatest criminal.” Butler’s heavy-handed style would be mocked by Democratic newspapers.
John Bingham was a moderate Republican who had helped to draft the Fourteenth Amendment. Ben Butler and John Bingham had clashed over the Ohio Congressman’s willingness to reach out to Democrats. During one exchange between the two Republicans, Bingham mocked Butler’s less than exemplary war record. Bingham threatened to drop out of the managers if Butler outranked him on the committee. Fearing the loss of a moderate, the managers elected Bingham as their chairman. Having a chairman who was an enemy of the lead attorney might not have been the smartest choice.
Thad Stevens was a powerful Congressman whose star was about to set. On a slow path to his own death just three months after the impeachment trial concluded, Stevens was so sick that he was almost passed over for the committee of managers. Stevens was a principled Radical Republican and a rare racial egalitarian. He also passionately hated President Johnson. While he would provide strategic insights, he was too ill to carry much of the hard work of a weeks-long trial.
John Logan was one of Lincoln’s “Political Generals.” A hero of Sherman’s operations in the West, Logan was not a powerhouse legal advocate. His position as head of the Union veterans’ association the Grand Army of the Republic gave him political clout.
George Boutwell was a Radical who had led the abortive 1867 drive to impeach Johnson. James Wilson was a moderate Republican who had opposed the 1867 impeachment effort. Thomas Williams was a Radical.
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
