The failed promise : Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson / Robert S. Levine.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levine, Robert S. (Robert Steven), 1953- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895.

Douglass, Frederick.

Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875--Impeachment.

Johnson, Andrew.

Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877).

Race relations.

History.

Impeachment.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Influence.

United States.

United States--Politics and government--1865-1877.

Politics and government.

United States--Social conditions--1865-1918.

Social conditions.

United States--Race relations--History--19th century.

Impeachments.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxii, 312 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Company, 2021.

Summary:

"The absorbing narrative of Frederick Douglass's heated struggle with President Andrew Johnson reveals a new perspective on Reconstruction's demise. When Andrew Johnson rose to the presidency after Abraham Lincoln's assassination, African Americans were optimistic that Johnson would pursue aggressive federal policies for Black equality. Just a year earlier, Johnson had cast himself as a "Moses" for the Black community. Frederick Douglass, the country's most influential Black leader, increasingly doubted the president was sincere in supporting Black citizenship. In a dramatic meeting between Johnson and a Black delegation at the White House, the president and Douglass came to verbal blows over the fate of Reconstruction. Their animosity only grew as Johnson sought to undermine Reconstruction and conciliate leaders of the former Confederate states. Robert S. Levine grippingly recounts the conflicts that led to Johnson's impeachment from the perspective of Douglass and the wider Black community. In counterpointing the lives and careers of Douglass and Johnson, Levine offers a fresh vision of the lost promise and dire failure of Reconstruction"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. ONE DOUGLASS, JOHNSON, LINCOLN

Prologue: Lincoln's Second Inauguration

1. Southern Unionist

2. The Mission of the War

3. "Abraham Lincoln Dies, the Republic Lives"

pt. TWO RECONSTRUCTIONS

4. "There Is No Such Thing as Reconstruction"

5. A Moses in the White House

6. The Black Delegation Visits a Moses of Their People

pt. THREE CHAOS AND RESISTANCE

7. The President's Riots

8. Shadowing Johnson, Defying the Loyalists

9. Sources of Danger to the Republic

pt. FOUR IMPEACHMENT IN BLACK AND WHITE

10. A Job Offer

11. The Trials of Impeachment

12. "Demented Moses of Tennessee".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781324004752

1324004754

OCLC:

1196176915