JohnJacques
Banned
The Rise of the Congressional Czars: An Account of the Parliamentary Autocracy
Priscilla Sinclair
Helicon Publishing
Newark, NJ (1904) [1]
Excerpted with permission
1868 was a fateful year. It was a year in which the Congress veiled its actions as a step from the shadow of state's rights into the dawn of human rights, when in truth, it was a secreted slaying of the Constitution, which had not yet been brought from the shadows of the Civil War. It was a year which saw the President crucified upon an upstanding Republican Cross. It was a year which saw the highest office of the land sunk into the lowest, most base political dealings.
It was a year which saw pitifully few heroes. Of the 42 Republicans sitting in the kangaroo court known as the Senate, only six [2] stood against their party, for the good of the nation. And they found their careers ruined by party machinations, their personalities impeached by allegations of treachery and corruption.
There was William Pitt Fessenden, the Senator from Maine, whose Radical Republican leanings thankfully included a belief in jurisprudence. His was the first Republican vote for acquittal. There was Joseph Fowler, the Senator from Tennessee, where hatred of Andrew Johnson was rampant, who knowingly abandoned his seat for his principles. There was James W. Grimes of Iowa, whose voice was nearly blocked by the President-for-the-time, Benjamin Wade. Grimes, soon to die from an unknown illness, stood with little assistance, upon Benjamin Wade's orders and gave the last vote of his life against the injustice of impeachment. There was John B. Henderson, who offered his resignation rather than vote against his conscience. There was Lyman Trumbull, who abandoned his rising star in the Party to oppose the unfair treatment of his enemy. And finally, there was Peter Van Winkle, the Senator from West Virginia, which had once almost lynched Andrew Johnson and was clearly calling for it again.
These heroes were not enough, for the vote passed 36 to 18.[3] All of the villains of this vote seemed unrepentant and even celebratory. "All following generations will mark this day as the final victory of our sectional struggles," said Charles Sumner, who bore his own scars from the sectional divide. But there was one villain who seemed finally to repent, if it was too late.
Senator James H. Lane killed himself in Leavenworth, Kansas in July of 1868.[4] His last regret was his vote for impeachment, which he had hoped would endear him to his party. It did not, and the man who once held his gun steady upon the firebrands of the south took his gun steady against his temple. If only James H. Lane had realized the futility of a Senator like himself at an earlier time.
The vote that killed James H. Lane and crucified the six Republicans of good character would go on to change, for the worse, the entire system of American government......
[1] An election year and there is a reason behind this......
[2] In OTL, seven stood against it
[3] As compared to failing 35-19
[4] In OTL, he did so in 1866 over matters of the party rebuffing him.
Priscilla Sinclair
Helicon Publishing
Newark, NJ (1904) [1]
Excerpted with permission
1868 was a fateful year. It was a year in which the Congress veiled its actions as a step from the shadow of state's rights into the dawn of human rights, when in truth, it was a secreted slaying of the Constitution, which had not yet been brought from the shadows of the Civil War. It was a year which saw the President crucified upon an upstanding Republican Cross. It was a year which saw the highest office of the land sunk into the lowest, most base political dealings.
It was a year which saw pitifully few heroes. Of the 42 Republicans sitting in the kangaroo court known as the Senate, only six [2] stood against their party, for the good of the nation. And they found their careers ruined by party machinations, their personalities impeached by allegations of treachery and corruption.
There was William Pitt Fessenden, the Senator from Maine, whose Radical Republican leanings thankfully included a belief in jurisprudence. His was the first Republican vote for acquittal. There was Joseph Fowler, the Senator from Tennessee, where hatred of Andrew Johnson was rampant, who knowingly abandoned his seat for his principles. There was James W. Grimes of Iowa, whose voice was nearly blocked by the President-for-the-time, Benjamin Wade. Grimes, soon to die from an unknown illness, stood with little assistance, upon Benjamin Wade's orders and gave the last vote of his life against the injustice of impeachment. There was John B. Henderson, who offered his resignation rather than vote against his conscience. There was Lyman Trumbull, who abandoned his rising star in the Party to oppose the unfair treatment of his enemy. And finally, there was Peter Van Winkle, the Senator from West Virginia, which had once almost lynched Andrew Johnson and was clearly calling for it again.
These heroes were not enough, for the vote passed 36 to 18.[3] All of the villains of this vote seemed unrepentant and even celebratory. "All following generations will mark this day as the final victory of our sectional struggles," said Charles Sumner, who bore his own scars from the sectional divide. But there was one villain who seemed finally to repent, if it was too late.
Senator James H. Lane killed himself in Leavenworth, Kansas in July of 1868.[4] His last regret was his vote for impeachment, which he had hoped would endear him to his party. It did not, and the man who once held his gun steady upon the firebrands of the south took his gun steady against his temple. If only James H. Lane had realized the futility of a Senator like himself at an earlier time.
The vote that killed James H. Lane and crucified the six Republicans of good character would go on to change, for the worse, the entire system of American government......
[1] An election year and there is a reason behind this......
[2] In OTL, seven stood against it
[3] As compared to failing 35-19
[4] In OTL, he did so in 1866 over matters of the party rebuffing him.
