1866, the Critical Year Revisited

Beginning with an account of presiden­tial reconstruction under Lincoln and Johnson and the growing opposition to Johnson’s policies, Riddleberger moves to a discussion of the Thirty-ninth Con­gress in December 1865 and the deci­sion of that body to challenge Johnson’s program in order to share in—if not dominate—the process of reconstruc­tion. The election of 1866, possibly the most important nonpresidential election in our history, brought overwhelming defeat for the Johnson forces and cleared the way for congressional reconstruction of 1867.

Written for both the specialist and the general reader in Reconstruction his­tory, Riddleberger’s clear narrative of national politics in 1866 and his synthe­sis and criticism of Beale’s work and the works of revisionist historians make this book a solid contribution to the increas­ingly sympathetic reappraisal of the presidency of Andrew Johnson.

Patrick W. Riddleberger is Professor of History at Southern Illinois Univer­sity at Edwardsville.