Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin) (1818-1893) Opening argument of Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, one of the managers on the impeachment of the president
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01265.30 Author/Creator: Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin) (1818-1893) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Pamphlet Date: 1868 Pagination: 38 p. ; 22 x 14 cm. Order a Copy
Address given before the Senate. Accuses President Andrew Johnson of undermining Congress authority, vetoing laws that promoted peaceful reconstruction of the nation, and not punishing rebels.
A resolution for Johnson's impeachment was passed in the House of Representatives February 24, 1868. On March 5, 1868 a court of impeachment was organized in the United States Senate to hear charges against the President. After three months, Johnson was acquitted and retired at the end of his term, in March 1869.
Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, and graduated from what is now Colby College in 1838. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840, began practice at Lowell, Massachusetts attained distinction as a lawyer, particularly in criminal cases. Entering politics as a Democrat, he first attracted general attention by his violent campaign in Lowell in advocacy of the passage of a law establishing a 10-hour day for laborers; he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1853, and of the Massachusetts Senate in 1859, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions from 1848 to 1860. In that of 1860 at Charleston he advocated the nomination of Jefferson Davis and opposed Stephen A. Douglas, and in the ensuing campaign he supported John Breckinridge.
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