Customer Reviews

THE FIRST IMPEACHMENT

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For those who want to know the history of impeachment, this is the book to read. Melton (who also wrote a book about the Burr Conspiracy -- which as a Burr buff, I didn't much like) did a tremendous amount of research in congressional archives and other obscure sources to bring to the reader the story of the first impeachment. Through that story, Melton illustrates the meaning and limitations of the impeachment procedures. He shows that impeachment is not identical to regular legal processes, but neither is it solely a political event. It is a combination of the two: both a political decision by the House of Representatives (which votes whether to impeach or not) and the Senate (which decides whether to try the impeached official or not), and a process that contains some legal processes and others quasi-legal (adapted to the uniqueness of impeachment itself).

Beyond Melton's objectives, the book also, perhaps unwittingly, shows how different things are now than they were back when the first impeachment took place (1798). For me, this is the real benefit of history -- and to be successful in educating people, this requires the historian to go into great depth and detail, bringing out each moment (almost like a novelist draws out those elements in his characters and their life situations). Melton does this beautifully in this book.

Well worth the read if you want to understand how far down the road away from our democratic beginnings we have come and what impeachment really is about.

Jennifer Van Bergen, author of "Archetypes for Writers" and "The Twilight of Democracy."

"Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! William Blount, late Senatorfrom the State of Tennessee, come forward and answer the Articles ofImpeachment exhibited against you by the House of Representatives." With these words spoken on December 17, 1798, by the sergeant-in-arms, the Senate commenced impeachment proceedings against William Blount. His was the first impeachment by Congress of a public official. Blount's offense was his involvement in a scheme to encourage revolution in the western states of 1796, which included western Tennessee and lands south. The scheme would have encouraged England to wrest away control of Florida and other areas held by Spain. Blount and colleagues stood to profit because they held large land holdings in some of these areas.

Professor Melton, who holds academic degrees in both history and law, provides us with a well researched book that describes the conditions which preceded Blount's impeachment and the implications for impeachments that followed Blount's. He describes the struggle that faced Congress in determining what constituted impeachment, as provided for in the U.S. Constitution. In particular, Congress had to decide if impeachment was to be considered as a criminal act or as a political offense. Some of the best parts of this book are the high-quality debates in House and Senate on what Congress should consider asimpeachable offenses. This book is highly recommended as a look into the early years of our country during the post-revolutionary period, although parts of the book are a dense read when the author gets into too much legal narrative and arguments.