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Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, Delivering the Opening Speech, As One of the Managers of Impeachment, At the Impeachment Trial, In the Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C.

Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, Delivering the Opening Speech, As One of the Managers of Impeachment, At the Impeachment Trial, In the Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C./tiles/collection/3/34173.xml
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, Delivering the Opening Speech, As One of the Managers of Impeachment, At the Impeachment Trial, In the Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C./tiles/collection/3/34174.xml
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, Delivering the Opening Speech, As One of the Managers of Impeachment, At the Impeachment Trial, In the Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C./tiles/collection/3/34190.xml
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Date

1868-04-18

Artist

James Earl Taylor

Publisher

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Dimensions

16 × 11 1/4 in. (40.6 × 28.6 cm)

Accession Number

2016.148.000

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

Representative Benjamin Butler made the opening speech for the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Recognizing the momentous and solemn nature of the House’s impeachment, publisher Frank Leslie put this dignified image of the famously eccentric Butler on the cover of his illustrated newspaper. The accompanying article noted that “whatever may be the general’s merits as an orator,” the impeachment managers were well-prepared. Leslie saved his satire for the cartoon page, where one caption described listening to Butler’s irritating voice: “He ground it out between his teeth like the screeching of a hundred saws.”

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Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov