On February 24, 1868, the US House of Representatives voted to remove President Andrew Johnson from office due to his alleged involvement in thirteen separate high crimes and misdemeanors against the nation's institutions and populace.

Michael Moore investigates how these unusual events occurred, the conditions that led up to it, and the fallout from a trial that was unprecedented in American history in this outstanding book.

Johnson, who had no formal education and was born into poverty, became well-known through tenacity and diligence. He entered politics and quickly became into a skilled stump speaker, defending the average man and denigrating the plantation elite. He was a nominal Democrat who promoted free homesteads and universal access to education, but he soon learned that not everyone shared his wish to see the country unified under the Constitution as it had been before the Civil War.

Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Johnson was sworn in as the seventeenth President of the United States. He was faced with the enormous task of overseeing the turbulent first years of Reconstruction, a task made more difficult by his enemies, particularly radical Republicans Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Edwin Stanton, who helped turn the tide of support against him and were crucial in the effort to discredit Johnson and remove him from office.

Gerson expertly depicts a sympathetic national figure who was committed to his country and the Constitution, who narrowly avoided conviction by one vote and went on to achieve a level of popularity he had never known by drawing from a wealth of primary sources, including quoted speeches, letters, and press articles.

The Trial of Andrew Johnson is a great book to read if you want to learn more about Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial and his battle for justice against the extreme Republicans in the US Congress.