andrewjohnson95.substack.com/p/america-came-uncomfortably-close
4 corrections found
his connection to the Credit Mobilier scandal, for which he was under Congressional investigation
Blaine’s 1876 congressional investigation was not about Crédit Mobilier. House records show the 1876 inquiry concerned railroad-bond allegations and the Mulligan letters, while Blaine had earlier been the Speaker who created the Crédit Mobilier investigation committee.
Full reasoning
This mixes up two separate scandals.
The U.S. House’s own history page on Crédit Mobilier says that when that scandal became public in 1872, Speaker James Blaine appointed a select investigation committee. In other words, Blaine is described there as the Speaker who launched the House inquiry, not as the subject of a later House investigation over Crédit Mobilier.
A separate House ethics/history summary identifies the 1876 Blaine investigation as an inquiry into allegations that, as Speaker, Blaine had sold worthless bonds to Union Pacific for $64,000. That is the well-known 1876 railroad-bond / Mulligan letters controversy, not the Crédit Mobilier scandal.
So it is inaccurate to say Blaine was under congressional investigation for Crédit Mobilier. The 1876 investigation concerned different railroad-related allegations.
2 sources
- The Crédit Mobilier Scandal | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
When the scandal became public, Speaker James Blaine of Maine appointed a select investigation committee chaired by Representative Luke Poland of Vermont in December 1872.
- Historical Summary of Conduct Cases in the House of Representatives: Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, 1798-2004
Rep. James G. Blaine (ME) (1876) ... alleged Rep. Blaine, as Speaker, sold worthless bonds to Union Pacific Railroad for $64,000 (1871). Investigative subcommittee of Judiciary Comm. appointed and held hearings (May and June 1876).
The Hamburg Massacre, a series of intense riots following an attack on a marching black militia celebrating the Fourth of July, killed dozens.
The death toll at Hamburg was not “dozens.” Authoritative histories put the massacre at about seven deaths: six Black men and one white man.
Full reasoning
The casualty figure here is substantially overstated.
The National Park Service’s Reconstruction timeline says of the Hamburg Massacre: “Six blacks and one white are killed.” The South Carolina Encyclopedia likewise explains that after the fighting, six captured African Americans were selected and executed, with the first man killed being white.
That evidence contradicts the article’s statement that the Hamburg Massacre “killed dozens.” The best-supported death toll is roughly seven, not several dozen.
2 sources
- Reconstruction (National Historic Landmarks Theme Study) | National Park Service
July 8 – The Hamburg Massacre – Hundreds of armed whites try to disarm the local black militia of Hamburg, South Carolina. Six blacks and one white are killed.
- Hamburg Massacre | South Carolina Encyclopedia
At least one African American was killed as he exited the warehouse, and some thirty or forty were captured by whites. From this group six were selected, marched a fair distance away, and executed. The first man killed was white.
and hence the House of Representatives (controlled, conveniently, by Democrats) must serve as the tie-breaking institution under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution.
The Constitution’s contingent-election procedure is in the Twelfth Amendment, not Article II, Section 1. Article II’s original presidential-election framework was changed in 1804.
Full reasoning
This cites the wrong constitutional provision.
The Library of Congress’s Constitution Annotated states that if no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, “the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President” under the Twelfth Amendment. The House of Representatives’ own Electoral College history page likewise explains that the Twelfth Amendment changed the original process and that contingent elections in the House occur when no candidate wins an electoral-vote majority.
So while the article is describing a contingent-election theory, attributing that mechanism to Article II, Section 1 is incorrect; after 1804, the governing text is the Twelfth Amendment.
2 sources
- Twelfth Amendment | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov
The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then ... the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President.
- Electoral College Fast Facts | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
The Twelfth Amendment—proposed in 1803 and ratified in 1804—changed that original process... In the case of an Electoral College deadlock or if no candidate receives the majority of votes, a 'contingent election' is held. The election of the President goes to the House of Representatives.
Justice David Davis was initially intended to serve as the independent judge, but was appointed to the Senate
David Davis was not appointed to the Senate. He won election to the Senate from Illinois, as senators were then chosen by state legislatures.
Full reasoning
This gets the manner of Davis’s arrival in the Senate wrong.
The U.S. Senate’s Illinois timeline says Supreme Court Justice David Davis resigned from the Court after winning election as an independent to the U.S. Senate. The Senate’s historical overview of senatorial selection explains that before the Seventeenth Amendment, senators were chosen by state legislatures rather than appointed by governors or executives.
So Davis was elected to the Senate by the Illinois legislature, not appointed to it.
2 sources
- U.S. Senate: States in the Senate | Illinois Timeline
1877 — March 4 — Supreme Court justice David Davis of Bloomington resigned from the court after winning election as an independent to the U.S. Senate.
- U.S. Senate: About Electing and Appointing Senators | Historical Overview
The Seventeenth Amendment restates the first paragraph of Article I, section 3 of the Constitution and provides for the election of senators by replacing the phrase 'chosen by the Legislature thereof' with 'elected by the people thereof.'