David O. Stewart

David O. Stewart discusses American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America.

A canny and charismatic politician who rose to become third vice president of the new United States, Aaron Burr seemed to throw it all away in 1805 and 1806 in an extraordinary attempt to lead a secession of the American West. American Emperor by acclaimed author David O. Stewart traces Burr from the threshold of the presidency in the contested election of 1800, through his duel with Alexander Hamilton, and then across the American West as he schemed with foreign ambassadors, the traitorous general-in-chief of the army, and future presidents, including Andrew Jackson. His immense ambition was matched by his undisguised contempt for Thomas Jefferson, a president he thought ineffective and unwise. The indecisive Jefferson finally had Burr arrested and charged with treason. Burr led his own legal defense in an historic treason trial in Richmond before Chief Justice John Marshall, winning an acquittal and freedom. Mr. Stewart is an attorney who practices law in Washington, D.C. (vahistoricalsociety)… (more)

David O. Stewart discusses American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America.

Aaron Burr is one of the most enigmatic figures in American history, both a visionary and a villain. American Emperor traces Burr from the threshold of the presidency in the contested election of 1800, through his duel with Alexander Hamilton, and across the American West. With his career was in tatters, Burr plotted an invasion of the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Florida. Played out in a youthful America bursting with promise and danger, Burr imagined a separate nation stretching from Florida around the Gulf of Mexico to Central America. While Jefferson is celebrated for the Louisiana Purchase, it was Burr who dreamed of a new empire and pointed the way to American expansion. David O. Stewart is the author of the acclaimed The Summer of 1787. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C., for more than a quarter century and lives in Garrett Park, Maryland, with his wife. (jasbro)… (more)

David O. Stewart discusses Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.

"Impeached" traces the explosive impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson to its roots in the social and political revolutions that rocked the South with the end of slavery and the Civil War. Stewart, bestselling author of The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, challenges traditional interpretations portraying Johnson as heir to Lincoln's political legacy. This lecture is held at Atlanta History Center in Buckhead. Learn more at http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/cms/Lectures/55.html; or to purchase tickets, call 404.814.4150. (jasbro)… (more)

David O. Stewart , Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.

Author: David O. Stewart, Historian and Author of The Summer of 1787, will discuss his New Book, Impeached.
Title: Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy, $27.00 Hardcover, ISBN 9781416547495, On Sale Date: May 12, 2009. Rainy Day Books will have David O. Stewart's Books for Sale at this Author Event.
What: David O. Stewart will talk about his New Book, his life, his work, answer audience questions and he will autograph copies of his New Book purchased from Rainy Day Books, on our website and / or at our Author Event.
When: Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 6:30 PM
Where: A Rainy Day Books and Kansas City Public Library Author Event at Kansas City Public Library, Central Library, Helzberg Auditorium, 14 W 10th Street, Floor 5, Kansas City, Missouri 64105, Reservation Phone: 816-701-3407, Reception at 6:00 PM, Discussion at 6:30 PM, and Booksigning at 7:30 PM
Admission: Complimentary and Open to the General Public. Please Click Here to RSVP or Call the Kansas City Public Library at 816-701-3407 for Reservations. Free Parking is available in the Library District Parking Garage located at W 10th Street and Baltimore Avenue. Rainy Day Books will have David O. Stewart's Books for Sale at this Author Event. (booksense)… (more)

David O. Stewart discusses Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.

After Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the United States continued to tumble through tumultuous times. President Andrew Johnson was failing to heal the nation’s wounds, and the bitter political environment culminated in an impeachment trial. Author David O. Stewart will discuss Johnson’s 1868 trial, when once again the nation’s fate hung in the balance, at noon on Wednesday, June 3, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed. Stewart’s lecture is based on his new book "Impeached: the Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy," which will be released May 12 by Simon & Schuster. A book-signing will follow the talk. In his book, Stewart discusses how Johnson squandered Abraham Lincoln’s precious political legacy of equality and fairness, failing to become Lincoln’s political heir. In addition, he explores the considerable and long-ignored evidence that senators were bribed to vote in favor of Johnson. Stewart arrived at these conclusions after careful examination of the papers of Johnson, U.S. Rep. Ben Butler, R-Mass., and other key figures that are in the collections of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. On his website, Stewart says, "America’s challenges after the Civil War were immense. How to bind up the nation’s wounds after four years of murderous war, yet still protect four million freed slaves from the unbridled prejudices of the day? Andrew Johnson--racist, stubborn and deaf to the views of others--was not equal to those excruciating challenges. "The radical Republicans, led by the fiercely brilliant Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, fought for two years to force the president to defend the rights of the freedmen. Stevens’ iron will and sheer cussedness produced the final confrontation in the impeachment trial, from which no one emerged a winner. The book explores long-ignored evidence of bribery and corrupt influences in the final Senate vote." Some of the most brilliant lawyers of the day, along with some of the most unscrupulous, were players in the Senate trial. Behind the scenes, political power-brokers maneuvered to save Johnson’s presidency with political deals, promises of patronage jobs and even cash bribes. In the final tally, Johnson escaped conviction in the Senate by a single vote. Stewart is the author of the bestselling and highly acclaimed book, "The Summer of 1787," an account of the writing of the U.S. Constitution. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C., for more than 25 years, and has argued appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Stewart was a law clerk to Justice Lewis Powell, and developed a fascination with impeachment when he served as principal defense counsel during the Senate impeachment trial of Judge Walter L. Nixon, Jr., of Mississippi in 1989. (karenharris)… (more)

David O Stewart discusses Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.

David O. Stewart talks about his book, Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy Impeached challenges more than a century of writing about the Senate trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868, the first presidential impeachment. Bringing to bear his experience as lead defense counsel in a Senate impeachment trial in 1989, and as a criminal defense lawyer, David Stewart reveals the reasons why Johnson should and could have been removed from office, as well as the multiple bribery schemes hatched by the president's supporters to buy enough Senate votes to keep him in the White House. David Stewart is the author of The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. (cyderry)… (more)