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Michael Les Benedict

American historian

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ1926944
Source-derived summary

Michael Les Benedict is an American historian, who taught at Ohio State University from 1970 until his retirement in 2005. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois and his PhD from Rice University. His expertise is principally in constitutional and legal history, civil rights and civil liberties, and the American Civil War and Reconstruction. Benedict brings a political science approach to his analysis of historical events. Benedict has contributed several works to the field of Civil War and Reconstruction studies including The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1973), A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863-1869 (1975), Fruits of Victory: Alternatives in Restoring the Union, 1865-1877 (1986), and, more recently, Preserving the Constitution: Essays on Politics and the Constitution in the Reconstruction Era (2006).

Works

Benedict, Michael Les, The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1973)

Benedict, Michael Les, A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction (1975)

Benedict, Michael Les, The Blessings of Liberty (1996, rev. ed. 2005)

Benedict, Michael Les, Preserving the Constitution: Essays on Politics and the Constitution in the Reconstruction Era (2006)

Benedict, Michael Les, Sources in American Constitutional History (1996) a companion volume

Benedict, Michael Les, The Fruits of Victory: Alternatives in Restoring the Union, 1865-1877 (1975, rev. ed. 1986).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Michael Les Benedict” as american historian. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Michael, Benedict and American.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1970, 2005, 1973, 1863—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1945-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Michael, Benedict and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Michael Les Benedict”, the useful work is to connect “american historian” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1926944. VIAF identifies the subject as 72874773. The Library of Congress control number is n86088383. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1970, 2005, 1973 and 1863.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Michael Les Benedict primary sources, Michael Les Benedict archive and Michael research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Michael Les Benedict” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.