Background
After the Spanish-American War he joined the Anti-Imperialist League to resist American overseas expansion. His autobiography, Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, was published in 1902.
After the Spanish-American War he joined the Anti-Imperialist League to resist American overseas expansion. His autobiography, Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, was published in 1902.
In 1862 Boutwell was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and in the same year entered national politics. As the first commissioner of internal revenue he successfully administered the elaborate tax system that grew out of the Civil War. From 1863 to 1869 he was a member of the House of Representatives, where he became a leader of the radical wing of the Republicans and helped strike down President Andrew Johnson's conciliatory policy toward the South.