Efforts to impeach Andrew Johnson
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16th Vice President of the United States
17th President of the United States
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During his presidency, Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, saw multiple efforts during his presidency to impeach him, culminating in his formal impeachment on February 24, 1868, which was followed by a Senate impeachment trial in which he was acquitted.
The
After Johnson appeared to violate the Tenure of Office Act on February 21, 1868, the United States House of Representatives voted to impeach him on February 24, 1868. He was acquitted by the United States Senate in the subsequent impeachment trial.
Background
Andrew Johnson became president on April 15, 1865, ascending to the office following the assassination of his presidential predecessor Abraham Lincoln. While Lincoln had been a Republican, Johnson, his vice president, was a Democrat, the two of them having run on a unity ticket in the 1864 United States presidential election.
Even while he was vice-president, there was at least some serious consideration given to the prospect of using impeachment to remove Johnson from that office. After
Early efforts to impeach
As early as 1866, some of the "Radical Republicans" entertained the thought of removing Johnson through impeachment.[2] However, the Republican Party was divided on the prospect of impeachment, with moderate Republicans, who held a plurality, widely opposing it at this point.[2] The radicals were more in favor of impeachment because Johnson did not want to recognize the 14th Amendment. Johnson had attempted to stop the federal government from recognizing freed black slaves as citizens, and wanted to take away their civil liberties. He was eventually known as one of the worst presidents in history by historians.[2]
One of the first Radical Republicans to explore impeachment was
House Military Affairs Committee chairman
By the start of October 1866, prominent activist Wendell Phillips had published an opinion piece in the National Anti-Slavery Standard calling not only for Johnson to be impeached, but also proposing for Congress to act so that Johnson would be suspended from exercising his duties as president and that someone else serve as acting president in Johnson's place until the impeachment trial would be resolved. He argued that, without the suspension of the president pending the trial,
The constitutional provision for impeachment of the Executive is a sham...if the impeached President...is to be allowed to carry on his illegal schemes while on trial and until the Senate pronounces him guilty, then the whole provision is worse than useless.[5]
By October 1866, Benjamin Butler was traveling to multiple cities delivering speeches in which he promoted the prospect of impeaching Johnson.[6][7] He detailed six specific charges that Johnson should be impeached for.[6] These were:
- Seeking to overthrow the government of the United States, doing so by attempting to bring Congress "to disgrace" by refusing to execute or carry out the laws that it had passed which he disagreed with, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Freedmen's Bureau bills[6]
- Corruptly using his powers to appoint and remove officers[6]
- Declaring peace in the American Civil War without the consent of Congress[6]
- Corruptly using his pardon powers and restoring to former Confederates property seized by the United States in the Civil War[6]
- Failing to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866[6]
- Complicity in the New Orleans massacre of 1866[6]
Appearing at an October 17, 1866 event in Chicago where Butler delivered such a speech was Senator Lyman Trumbull. In his own speech, following Butler's, Trumbull engaged with crowds in a call and response that indicated support for impeachment.[8] Despite this, Trumbull would vote to acquit Johnson in the 1868 impeachment trial.[9]
Another Radical Republican congressman pushing for impeachment was George S. Boutwell,[2][10] who announced at an October 1866 meeting in Boston that he would push in Congress for the opening of an impeachment inquiry.[10] Among the other Radical Republicans that was an early prominent supporter of impeachment was Congress Zachariah Chandler.[11] By October, impeachment was popular with many Radical Republicans, so much so that the Richmond Examiner wrote of a, "strong probability that the President of the United States will be impeached this winter".[12] The Richmond Times argued that "there is not the shadow of a pretext for impeaching the president", but still found impeachment likely, speculating that the Radicals would perhaps attempt to suspend Johnson from office pending trial on articles of impeachment and indefinitely protract the trial while the president pro tempore of the United States Senate would fill the duties of the president.[13]
Continued efforts in the aftermath of the November 1866 elections
The results of the 1866 United States elections were favorable to the Republican Party. The Wisconsin opined that the result of the elections was unequivocally, "in favor of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and his removal from the high office which he has dishonored."[14]
Shortly around the time of the November elections 1866, the National Intelligencer alleged that the push to impeach Johnson originated from the tariff lobby. This claim was challenged by the Chicago Tribune, which wrote, "the movement to impeach Andrew Johnson comes from the people, and not from any lobby, or any set of politicians".[15]
By the end of November 1866, congressman-elect Benjamin Butler was continuing to promote the idea of impeaching Johnson, this time proposing eight articles.[16] The articles he proposed charged Johnson with:
- "Degrading and debasing...the station and dignity of the office of Vice-President and that of vice president" by being publicly drunk at "official and public occasions"[16]
- "Officially and publicly making declarations and inflammatory harangues, indecent and unbecoming in derogation of his high office, dangerous to the permanency of our republican form of government, and in design to excite the ridicule, fear, hatred, and contempt of the people against the legislative and judicial departments therof"[16]
- "Wickedly, tyrannically, and unconstitutionally...usurping the lawful rights and powers of the Congress"[16]
- "Wickedly and corruptly using and abusing" the constitutional power of the President by making recess appointments with the "design to undermine, overthrow and evade the power" of the Congress to advice and consent on such appointments[16]
- "Improperly, wickedly, and corruptly abusing the constitutional power of pardons" with his the Treasury, well knowing the appointees to be ineligible to office"[16]
- "Knowingly and willfully neglecting and refusing to carry out the constitutional laws of Congress" in the former Confederate states "in order to encourage men lately into rebellion and in arms against the United States to the oppression and injury of the loyal true citizens of such States"[16]
- "Unlawfully, corruptly, and wickedly confederating and conspiring with one John T. Monroe...and other evil disposed persons, traitors, and rebels" in the New Orleans massacre of 1866.[16]
In December 1866, the
By the start of the year 1867, on a daily basis, Congress was receiving
Radical Republicans continued to seek Johnson's impeachment.[2] They disobeyed the rule put in place for the Republican caucus and continued to propose a number of impeachment resolutions, which the moderate Republicans often stifled by referring to committees.[20] On January 7, 1867, Benjamin F. Loan and John R. Kelso introduced two separate impeachment resolutions against Johnson, but the House refused to hold debate or vote on either resolution.[2]
First impeachment inquiry
Also on January 7, 1867, ignoring the rule requiring approval of the Republican caucus, James Mitchell Ashley introduced his own impeachment-related resolution.[2] Ashley had agreed with Thaddeus Stevens to bring an impeachment resolution before the full House.[17] Unlike the other two impeachment resolutions introduced that day, Ashley's resolutions offered a specific outline of how such an impeachment process would proceed. Rather than going to a direct vote on impeaching the president, his resolution would instruct the Judiciary Committee to "inquire into the official conduct of Andrew Johnson", investigating what it called Johnson's "corruptly used" powers and "usurpation of power", including Johnson's political appointments, pardons for ex-Confederates, vetoes of legislation, selling of confiscated property, and alleged interference with elections.[2][17][21][22] While it gave the general charge of "high crimes and misdemeanors" and named numerous instances of alleged corruption, Ashley's resolution did not specify what the high crimes and misdemeanors Johnson had committed were.[23] The resolution passed in the House 108–39.[2][24] It was seen as offering Republicans a chance to register their displeasure with Johnson, without actually formally impeaching him.[2]
The resulting impeachment inquiry lasted eleven months, saw 89 witnesses interviewed, and saw 1,200 pages of testimony published.
On June 3, 1867, in a 5–4 vote, the House Committee on the Judiciary voted against sending articles of impeachment to the full house, with three moderate Republican members joining two Democratic members of the committee in voting against doing so.[2][22] However, the committee did not deliver its report to the full congress before the 1867 recess, meaning they had not yet formally closed their inquiry. By the time congress' recess ended in late November 1867, attitudes of Republicans had shifted more in favor of impeachment. John C. Churchill, a moderate Republican on the committee, had changed his mind in favor of impeachment. On November 25, 1867, the House Committee on the Judiciary voted in a 5–4 vote to recommend impeachment proceedings, and submitted a majority report with that recommendation to the House.[22][28]
House rejection of the impeachment recommendation
On December 5, 1867, the House brought the Committee on the Judiciary's impeachment recommendation to the floor for consideration, and the cases for and against impeachment were heard.[29] On December 7, the House voted against impeachment by a margin of 57–108, with 66 Republicans, 39 Democrats, and 3 other congressmen voting against impeachment; and with all votes for impeachment coming from Republicans.[29][30]
One motivating factor for Republicans' decision to vote against impeachment may have been the successes Democrats had in the 1867 elections, including winning control of the Ohio General Assembly, as well as other 1867 election outcomes, such as voters in Ohio, Connecticut, and Minnesota turning down propositions to grant African Americans suffrage.[17][31]
Launch of the second impeachment inquiry
On January 22, 1868, the House approved by a vote of 99–31 a resolution by
Related developments
On January 13, 1868, the Senate agreed to a resolution by Senator
Impeachment and trial
On February 21, 1868, Johnson, in violation of the Tenure of Office Act that had been passed by Congress in March 1867 over Johnson's veto, attempted to remove Edwin Stanton, the secretary of war who the act was largely designed to protect, from office.[41] Also on January 21, 1868, a one sentence resolution to impeach Johnson, written by John Covode, was referred to the Select Committee on Reconstruction.[42][43][44] In the morning February 22, 1868, by a party-line vote of 7–2,[45][46] the committee voted to refer a slightly amended version of Covode's impeachment resolution to the full House.[32][34][47] At 3pm on February 22, Stevens presented from the House Select Committee on Reconstruction a slightly amended version of Covode's resolution along with a report opining that Johnson should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.[32][34][47][48]
On February 24, the
Later efforts
For several weeks after the trial adjourned, the impeachment managers, continued a House-authorized investigation into possible corrupt influences on the outcome of the trial. The investigation's final report was published on July 3, 1868, failing to prove the allegations of corrupt influences on the trial that were investigated.[17] On July 7, 1868, Thaddeus Stevens submitted to the House a resolution that would appoint a select committee to prepare additional articles of impeachment, and which laid out five specific additional articles to be considered by the select committee. After debate on this ended, and further consideration was postponed on a motion by Stevens, Thomas Williams proposed a resolution that would have, if passed, seen fourteen specific new articles proposed be adopted. On July 25, 1868, Charles Memorial Hamilton submitted a resolution to again impeach Johnson, instruct impeachment managers to inform the Senate, and have the impeachment managers create articles of impeachment. George S. Boutwell made a successful motion to refer the resolution to the House Committee on the Judiciary.[52] However, with Johnson's term as president already set to expire on March 4, 1869, most congressmen and senators were disinterested in further pursuing impeachment.[17]
List of impeachment resolutions introduced to the House
The following is a list of several resolutions introduced to the House to either launch an outright impeachment or to launch an
During the 39th Congress
Date introduced | Introduced by | Resolution's impact (if adopted) |
Reason | Actions taken | Citation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
December 17, 1866 | James Mitchell Ashley (R–MO-4) | Impeachment | Never voted on | [18] | |
January 7, 1867 | John R. Kelso (R–MO-4) | Impeachment | "High crimes and misdemeanors" | Never voted on | [53] |
January 7, 1867 | Benjamin F. Loan (R–MO-7) | Impeachment | "High crimes and misdemeanors" | Never voted on | [54] |
January 7, 1867 | James Mitchell Ashley (R–OH-10) | House Judiciary Committee ordered to oversee an impeachment inquiry
|
"High crimes and misdemeanors" and a "usurpation of power and violation of law"
|
Adopted by the House in a 108–39 vote on January 7, 1867
|
[53] |
December 5, 1867 | George S. Boutwell (R–MA-7) (on behalf of the House Committee on the Judiciary) | Impeachment | "High crimes and misdemeanors" | House defeated the resolution in a 57–108 vote on December 7, 1867
|
[55][56] |
During the 40th Congress
Date introduced | Introduced by | Resolution's impact (if adopted) |
Reason | Actions taken | Citation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
January 22, 1868 | Rufus P. Spalding (R–OH-18) | House Select Committee on Reconstruction ordered to launch an impeachment inquiry
|
Obstruction of "the due execution of the laws" | Adopted by the House in a 99–31 vote on January 22, 1868
|
[57][33] |
February 21, 1868 | John Covode (R–PA-21) | Impeachment | "High crimes and misdemeanors" (introduced in response to Johnson's effort to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in apparent violation of the Tenure of Office Act) | Referred to the House Committee on Reconstruction on February 21, 1868; revised version introduced on February 22, 1868, by Committee Chair | [57][34] |
March 16, 1868 | John Bingham (R–OH-16) | Authorize | Allegation that information had been provided to the impeachment managers that provided them with probable cause to suspect improper or corrupt means had influenced the Senate vote. | Adopted by the House in a vote of 88–14 on March 16, 1868 | [58][59] |
July 7, 1868 | Thaddeus Stevens (R–PA-9) | Select committee appointed to prepare additional articles of impeachment, potentially launching a new Senate impeachment trial | Debated without a vote | [52] | |
July 7, 1868 | Thomas Williams (R–PA-23) | Adoption of fourteen new articles of impeachment | [52] | ||
July 25, 1868 | Charles Memorial Hamilton (R–FL-AL) | Impeachment | Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary | [52] |
See also
References
- ^ Poore, Ben Perley (5 March 1887). "Reminiscences of Public Men". Newspapers.com. Grand Island Herald. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Building the Case for Impeachment, December 1866 to June 1867 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ISBN 978-1984853783.)
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Shafer, Ronald G. (11 January 2020). "'A national disgrace': As impeachment hung over a president's head, he went on a wild rally tour". Washington Post. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ "Impeachment". Newspapers.com. Daily Missouri Republican. October 1, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Impeachment". Newspapers.com. Perrysburg Journal. October 26, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Impeachment". Newspapers.com. Chicago Tribune. October 21, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Major General Butler". Newspapers.com. Chicago Tribune. October 18, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Lyman Trumbull". www.impeach-andrewjohnson.com. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ a b "What Next?". Newspapers.com. Vernon County Censor. 31 October 1866. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
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- ^ "Impeachment". Newspapers.com. The Louisville Daily Courier. October 30, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Impeachment of the President". Newspapers.com. Staunton Spectator. October 16, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "A Case of Impeachment in Point". Newspapers.com. Semi-Weekly Wisconsin. December 5, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Chicago Tribune". Newspapers.com. Chicago Tribune. 8 Nov 1866. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Proposed Impeachment". Newspapers.com. The Evening Telegraph (Philadelphia). 1 Dec 1866. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4165-4749-5.
- ^ a b "Current Gossip". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 December 1866. Retrieved 31 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Law and History of Impeachment in America". Newspapers.com. The Pall Mall Gazette. December 29, 1866. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ JSTOR 2658078. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b Stathis, Stephen W.; Huckabee, David C. (September 16, 1998). "Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment: A Historical Overview" (PDF). sgp.fas.org. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ a b c "Impeachment Efforts Against President Andrew Johnson | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Ross, Edmond G. (1868). "History of the Impeachment Of Andrew Johnson President Of The United States". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ "TO PASS A RESOLUTION TO IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT. (P. 320-2, … -- House Vote #418 -- Jan 7, 1867". GovTrack.us. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
- ^ Osborne, John. "The Fortieth Congress strongly rejects its Judiciary Committee's recommendation to President Johnson. | House Divided". hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu. House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ The Congressional Globe 1867-03-04. Superintendent of Government Documents. 4 March 1867. pp. 18–25.
- ^ The Congressional Globe Vol. 37. United States Congress. 1867. pp. 1754 and 1755. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ "Impeachment Rejected, November to December 1867 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b "The Case for Impeachment, December 1867 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ "TO PASS THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT RESOLUTION. -- House Vote #119 -- Dec 7, 1867". GovTrack.us.
- ISBN 978-0-7006-0190-5.
- ^ a b c Hinds, Asher C. (4 March 1907). "HINDS' PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES INCLUDING REFERENCES TO PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE LAWS, AND DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE" (PDF). United States Congress. pp. 845–846. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Journal of the United States House of Representatives (40th Congress, second session) pages 259–262". voteview.com. United States House of Representatives. 1868. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ a b c d e This article incorporates public domain material from Stephen W. Stathis and David C. Huckabee. Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment: A Historical Overview (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- ^ "The Capital". Philadelphia Inquirer. February 10, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Washington". Newspapers.com. Chicago Evening Post. February 13, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ "Staunton Spectator Tuesday, February 18, 1868". Staunton Spectator. February 18, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Regulations of Procedure in the Trial of Impeachment". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. January 14, 1868. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
- ^ "Suspension Under Impeachment". The Brooklyn Union. January 29, 1868. Retrieved 24 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Our Special Dispatches From Washington". Newspapers.com. The Boston Evening Transcript. January 29, 1868. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
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- ^ "Avalon Project : History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson - Chapter VI. Impeachment Agreed To By The House". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project (Yale Law School Lilian Goldman Law Library). Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "The House Impeaches Andrew Johnson | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Impeachment of Andrew Johnson | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "By Telegraph". Newspapers.com. The Charleston Daily News. February 24, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ "Latest New By Telegraph". Newspapers.com. The Daily Evening Express. February 22, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ a b "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875". memory.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "Impeachment". Newspapers.com. Harrisburg Telegraph. February 22, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ a b "Johnson Impeached, February to March 1868 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ This article incorporates public domain material from Stephen W. Stathis and David C. Huckabee. Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment: A Historical Overview (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- ^ "Impeached but Not Removed, March to May 1868 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States Being the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress; Begun and Held at the City of Washington December 2, 1867 In the Ninety-Second Year of the Independence of the United States: Being the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress; Begun and Held at the City of Washington, March 4, 1867, in the Ninety-First Year of the Independence of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1868. pp. 994–1001, 1187-. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ a b Journal of the United States House of Representatives Being The Second Session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress; Begun and Held at the City of Washington, D. C. December 3, 1866 in the Ninety-First Year of the Independence of the United States. Government Printy Office. 1867. pp. 119–122. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
{{cite book}}
:|website=
ignored (help) - ^ "House". Daily Ohio Statesman. January 8, 1867 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States: Being the First Session of the Fortieth Congress; Begun and Held at the City of Washington, March 4, 1867, In the Ninety-First Year of the Independence of the United States. Government Printing Office. 1867. pp. 265–266.
- ^ "The Case for Impeachment, December 1867 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b Hinds, Asher C. (4 March 1907). "HINDS' PRECEDENTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES INCLUDING REFERENCES TO PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE LAWS, AND DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE" (PDF). United States Congress. pp. 845–847. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Journal of the United States House of Representatives (40th Congress, second session) pages 259–262. United States House of Representatives. 1968. pp. 698–701. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
{{cite book}}
:|website=
ignored (help) - ^ "Accusation of Bribery". The New York Times. May 17, 1868. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
Further reading
- Zelizer, Julian E., ed. The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (Houghton Mifflin. 2004) pp. 223–249. online