Often in political history, towering figures command such attention that even the most consequential of their contemporaries are reduced to footnotes. George S. Boutwell dedicated his life to the defense of democracy, the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and the fight against imperial expansion, yet his name is hardly remembered outside academic circles. He helped shape some of the most transformative amendments in the history of the United States Constitution, but his preference for working behind the scenes rather than self-promotion, combined with his proximity to three political giants, has left his remarkable legacy obscured.
Fortunately for the former treasury secretary, family, no matter how distant, has a way of remembering. Jeffrey Boutwell’s Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy is a well-researched and compelling biography that restores to historical memory a statesman whose contribution to the American republic deserves far greater recognition.
A distant relative of the book’s subject, the author breaks George Boutwell’s life into five parts: his rise in Massachusetts politics; his time serving President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War; his leadership in Congress, where, as a radical Republican he became the arch nemesis of President Andrew Johnson; his befriending of Ulysses Grant and time as the president’s trusted adviser while serving as treasury secretary; and, finally, how he spent the last chapter of his remarkable life as a gadfly to President Theodore Roosevelt fighting against American imperialism in Cuba and the Philippines. Jeffrey Boutwell writes that “during his seven decades of public service, from the presidency of Martin Van Buren in the 1830s to that of Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s, George Boutwell sought to redeem the American promise of equality of opportunity and equal protection of the laws for every citizen, His story, one of successes, setbacks, and constant striving during some of the most turbulent times in American history, remains both relevant and inspiring today.” The argument is certainly bold, especially considering George Boutwell’s obscurity. But the author does a fine job proving his point.
George Boutwell’s career intersected with every major political transformation of the 19th century. In a way, Boutwell matured with the country he loved. A self-educated lawyer from Massachusetts, he began his career as a Democrat before aligning with the Free Soil movement and eventually helping to shape the ideological foundation of the Republican Party. From the outset, he was one of the most forceful advocates for black suffrage and civil rights and, in many ways, operated like an elected activist on the issue. He first gained prominence as governor of Massachusetts, but it was in Congress that he left his most enduring mark. There, he became a relentless advocate for Johnson’s impeachment and played a decisive role in drafting the 14th and 15th amendments. For George Boutwell, democracy was not a passive inheritance but an active struggle — one that required equal protection under the law, full citizenship for black people, and a federal government committed to turning the promises of emancipation into enforceable rights rather than empty gestures.
As treasury secretary under Grant, George Boutwell took on the monumental task of stabilizing the nation’s postwar economy while navigating the political and financial turbulence of the era. He implemented fiscal policies that sought to reduce the national debt, strengthened the Treasury Department against corruption, and played a pivotal role in the response to the 1869 gold market crisis. Yet, as Jeffrey Boutwell illustrates, his contributions extended far beyond financial policy. He advised Grant to take on the Ku Klux Klan, served as the principal force behind the Civil Rights Act of 1875, and spent much of his time in office championing public education.
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It was this same ideological coherence that guided the final chapter of George Boutwell’s life: his opposition to imperialism and Roosevelt, a Republican president who caused him to leave the party he helped create. Just as he had fought for black suffrage and equal protection under the law, he viewed the subjugation of foreign peoples as a direct betrayal of American democratic principles. In the final chapters, Jeffrey Boutwell skillfully weaves in figures such as Andrew Carnegie and Mark Twain, whose critiques of U.S. expansionism echoed George Boutwell’s warnings that empire abroad would erode democracy at home. As the first president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, he condemned the hypocrisy of a nation founded on self-governance imposing rule on others without consent. Though overshadowed by Twain’s satire and Carnegie’s financial influence, George Boutwell’s leadership in the anti-imperialist movement was a natural extension of his lifelong conviction: Government derives its legitimacy from the governed, and democracy cannot endure wherever that principle is abandoned.
Although George Boutwell fades into the background at times in the book’s first quarter, Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy brings his behind-the-scenes influence to the forefront. Jeffrey Boutwell paints a portrait of a deeply principled American politician whose nearly six decades in politics were mostly defined by his willingness to serve as a mirror for his colleagues, showing them their faults while reminding them of the meaning and purpose of the U.S. As the purpose and meaning of the 14th Amendment are once again debated, it’s well worth learning more about one of its primary authors.
Carl Paulus is a historian from Michigan and the author of The Slaveholding Crisis: The Fear of Insurrection and the Coming of the Civil War.