John Brooks Henderson as a representative of border-state public opinion

Abstract

"The stormy years of the Civil War and reconstruction period were years off confusion and strife in politics as well as in military affairs; fierce partisanship was the order of the day. No section of the country experienced this more than the border region, settled by people from both North and South and torn between these conflicting loyalties; Missouri furnishes an excellent example of this condition. John Brooks Henderson, the subject of this study, represented Missouri in the United States Senate during the greater part of the war between the states, and through the immediate post-war years. The climax of partisan hatreds which came with the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson marked the end of Henderson's effectual political career, for he had the courage to defy party demands and to vote for the acquittal of the Chief Executive who had earned the vituperative opposition of the Radical Republicans. The position of a border-state representative was often difficult in these years; the problems which Henderson met and tried to solve were probably typical in the experience of others of his region..."--Page [1]