About the Author

Michael Les Benedict is emeritus professor of history at Ohio State University and parliamentarian for the American Historical Association. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from Rice University. He has published numerous books and articles on American constitutional history and the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Among them are The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1973), A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863-1869 (1975), The History of Ohio Law (co-edited with John Winkler, 2004), The Blessings of Liberty: A Concise History of the Constitution of the United States (2d ed., 2005), and Preserving the Constitution: Essays on Politics and the Constitution in the Reconstruction Era (2006).