I want to second Charlie’s high praise of the Apple TV+ series Manhunt, about the search for Abraham Lincoln’s killer and the prosecution of this conspiracy to murder him. I wasn’t sure about all the casting choices, but the creators made great dramatic choices out of some murky parts of the historical record. Many, even up to this day, have maintained Dr. Mudd’s innocence and have sought to clear his name, but the show portrays him as knowingly involved. The series is held together by the granite-Yankee performance of Tobias Menzies as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

In the final scene, we see Stanton protesting his replacement as war secretary by boarding himself in his office while the Senate tried President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment. It was a reminder of how much constitutional uncertainty and crisis we have been through before, and how our institutions were able to recover their function again.