Stanbery, Henry

Although widely recognized as a man of integrity and principle, Stanbery was not adept at practicing the art of political compromise. Of conservative and somewhat inflexible temperment, his advice to Johnson encouraged the seventeenth president to become more recalcitrant in his attitude toward Congress. By encouraging this defiance through his interpretation of the Reconstruction Acts, Stanbery played a significant role in furthering conflict that resulted eventually in the first impeachment of a U.S. president.