If Lincoln had not died

[Thomas Thorne]

(01-09-2013 04:28 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  Has anyone read the historical novel by Stephen Carter, The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln? I have not, but a recent mention of it in the current issue of The Lincoln Herald has an interesting perspective.

"Carter states: 'I don't think that we should pretend that because [Abraham Lincoln] was heroic, amd because we admire him so, nothing he did can be questioned.' In his [Carter's] novel, Lincoln survives the assassination attempt on April 14, 1865, and articles of impeachment are passed by the House of Representatives by radicals and his own Republican party in an effort to remove him from office, as they believe him to be too soft on the defeated South. Congress complains about Lincoln's acts during the war, including suspending the writ of habeas corpus and jailing citizens."

So Prof.Carter would have us believe that Lincoln would have been impeached by the Radical Republicans for simultanously being too soft toward the rebels and being too cruel toward the civil liberties of the rebels and their friends. How many of these people themselves voted to suspend habeas corpus? Lincoln also owned a very good impeachment insurance policy named Andrew Johnson. I suspect memories of Johnson's behavior on 3/4/65 lingered.

A person can write anything in a novel but historical plausibility has a hugher standard.
Tom