Chester G. Hearn

President Andrew Johnson had a difficult presidency that is best known for his impeachment—which had been prompted by Johnson’s attempts to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without receiving congressional consent—and near-conviction by the U.S. Congress. Johnson is also infamous for his failure to implement a successful reconstruction program. Chester G. Hearn defends the president in the following viewpoint. According to Hearn, Johnson had a thoughtful plan to reconstruct the United States, which might have succeeded had it not been for the attitudes of the Radical Republicans who controlled Congress. Although Hearn acknowledges that Johnson made little effort to work with Congress, he contends that the president was right when he advocated states’ rights and expressed distaste for the less forgiving approach of congressional reconstruction. Hearn is the...