Robert E. Horowitz

1851 The Great Impeacher: A Political Biography of James M. Ashley, by Robert F. Horowitz (read 11 May 1984) I confess I was not aware of who James M. Ashley was before I read this book. He was born 14 Nov 1824 in Allegheny, PA, moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1851, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1858. He is, even by some partisans of Radical Republicans, regarded as a nut, but the thesis of this book is that he was a great guy. He was instrumental in passage, in the House, of the 13th Amendment. On Jan 7, 1867, he said "in a voice quivering with nervous excitement: 'On my responsibility as a Representative and in the presence of the House, and before the American people, I charge Andrew Johnson, Vice-President and acting President of the U.S., with the commission of acts which, in contemplation of the Constitution, are high crimes and misdemeanors, for which in my judgment, he ought to be impeached." The effort failed, and when he was impeached in 1868 Ashley played no role. So one wonders about the title of the book. Ashley lost his bid for re-election in 1868. He was appointed Governor of Montana Territory, but only served a short time before Grant removed him. He then ran a railroad in Michigan. He ran for Congress in 1890 and 1892, but was not successful. He died Sept 16, 1896, at Ann Arbor, Mich. Not a bad book.… (mer)