When Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency after Abraham Lincoln's assassination, he had already cast himself as a "Moses" for the Black community, and many were optimistic that he would pursue aggressive federal policies for equality. Despite this early promise, Frederick Douglass soon grew disillusioned with Johnson's policies and became one of his foremost critics, even calling for a guilty verdict in his impeachment trial. In counterpointing the lives and careers of Douglass and Johnson, Robert Levine also analyzes the failure of Reconstruction, the effects of which still reverberate today.