Acknowledgments

I owe my first thanks to the late Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., for asking me to take on a task that I would never have thought to undertake, and to my editor, Paul Golob, for seconding Arthur’s suggestion. Their encouragement made me see the value of moving outside of my comfort zone in the eighteenth century and the early American republic to contemplate the continuation of the story begun in Philadelphia in the 1780s. Arthur is sorely missed.

Sean Wilentz, who took over the general editorship of the American Presidents series upon Arthur’s death, was a tremendous resource to me with his knowledge of the Jacksonian era and of the nineteenth century in general. It was a great comfort to know that the series had passed into such capable hands and that there was available expertise in the very era about which I was writing.

As readers will see, I owe a tremendous debt to Johnson’s great biographer Hans L. Trefousse, who unfortunately passed away in January 2010. His well-balanced account of this controversial man was an enormous help to me and formed the basis of my narrative of Johnson’s life.

I also had the privilege of presenting a draft chapter of this book at a faculty seminar at the Harvard Law School in the fall of 2009, where I received numerous challenging questions that made me think harder about Reconstruction and impeachment, in exactly the way one would expect at the law school. I am especially grateful to Professor Frank Michelman, who met one-on-one with me to give his detailed comments on the draft. Professor Sanford Levinson read the entire manuscript and provided many insightful comments that helped me sharpen my thoughts and writing on the subject of Johnson and his approach to the Constitution. I had a similar experience at New York University School of Law when I presented a chapter at a faculty seminar in the spring of 2010. The questions that were asked and comments that I received helped refine my approach to the topic.

As always, I want to acknowledge my family—husband Robert, daughter Susan, and son Gordon—who all must live with the people, places, and events that I write about, whether they wish to or not.