Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Impeachment summary
Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali and Peter Baker
An American History
19 mins
Brief summary
Impeachment by Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali and Peter Baker is a historical account of the impeachment of former US President Donald Trump, drawing parallels to past impeachments and exploring its impact on American democracy.
Topics
Table of Contents
Impeachment
Summary of 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
Despite their fear of monarchs, the Framers recognized that an executive branch was necessary to manage chaos.
Remember how great it was when you finally moved out of your parents’ house and were free of their tyrannical rules? And then how scary it was when you realized you now had to be an adult? That was America right after it won the Revolutionary War against the British. For a while, the brand-new country was not doing great with all its independence.
Chaos ruled in the aftermath of the war. The makeshift political system that emerged wasn’t working for anyone. Governed mainly by legislatures, many post-revolution states descended toward mob rule. In order to keep their seats, legislators were forced to act in a way that would please, rather than benefit, the people.
Even worse, Americans were now fighting each other over the same issues they’d just fought the British. Over the winter of 1786, there was a battle in Massachusetts between backcountry farmers and private militias funded by Boston elites over who had the right to impose and collect taxes.
Concentrating power in just one person, as in a monarch or other executive, was also still a controversial idea in post-revolution America. Fourth president James Madison worried that “many individuals of weight,” desperate for stability, were advocating for a return to monarchy, an obviously flawed but familiar system. Other communities experimented with removing executive power altogether, such as the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Someone had to make some rules – and fast. The Founding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia in July 1787 to hammer out a system of government, in a meeting known as the Constitutional Congress.
Forced to reconsider their radically pro-legislature positions, and fearful of the softening public stance toward monarchy, the Founding Fathers realized they would need to develop an executive position after all. They needed to make the government more efficient, to whip the legislature into shape, and to represent the unified will of the people, rather than just one group of constituents. This position would become the presidency.
But there was also trepidation at the idea. Looking back at Europe’s long history of despotic, self-serving kings and emperors, they worried about whether putting so much power in one person’s hands would have a corrupting influence on the president. To avoid what seemed to them like an inevitability, the Framers came up with a way for the legislature to safeguard against corrupt executives in the future. This became the process we know as impeachment.
Want to see all full key ideas from Impeachment?
Key ideas in Impeachment
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Impeachment about?
Impeachment (2018) details how the Framers of the US Constitution envisioned the process of removing a president, and how the three impeachment proceedings prior to Trump’s have played out. Spanning the years right after the American Revolution to the late twentieth century, Impeachment looks at how the Framers imagined impeachment as a safety valve for democracy, as well as how Congress used impeachment to sanction Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton.
Best quote from Impeachment
An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history. – President Gerald Ford
—Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali and Peter Baker
Who should read Impeachment?
- News junkies who’ve read every think piece about the Trump impeachment
- History hounds obsessed with the American experiment
- Anyone looking for a better grasp on current US affairs
Categories with Impeachment
Book summaries like Impeachment
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
29 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth