THE TRAGIC ERA

True story of the tragic twelve years that followed the death of Pres. Lincoln – years of revolutionary turmoil wherein public men in powerful and responsible positions, directing the destiny of the Nation, were brutal, hypocritical and corrupt. The Constitution was treated as a doormat on which politicians and army officers wiped their feet after wading in the muck of their deeds; the Supreme Court was treated with ineffable contempt and often succumbed to the special interests. Andrew Johnson, who fought the bravest battle for Constitutional liberty and for the preservation of our institutions ever waged by an Executive, was maligned by his enemies because he was seeking honestly to carry out the policy of Lincoln, is now generally understood. Few even now realize how intensely Lincoln was hated by the radicals at the time of his death.