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16th Vice President of the United States 17th President of the United States Vice presidential and presidential campaigns   | ||
During his presidency,Andrew Johnson, the17thpresident of the United States, saw multiple efforts during his presidency toimpeach him, culminating in hisformal impeachment on February 24, 1868, which was followed bya Senate impeachment trial in which he was acquitted by one vote.
TheRadical branch of theRepublican Party was eager to impeach Johnson long before themoderates in the party were willing to. After a number of efforts to impeach Johnson failed, theHouse Committee on the Judiciary was authorized in January 1867 to run thefirst formal impeachment inquiry, which lasted until November. This inquiry saw the committee initially vote 4–5 against supporting impeachment in June 1867, reversing course in November 1867 with a 5–4 recommendation for impeachment. Despite this recommendation, the House voted 57–108 against impeachment on December 7, 1867. On January 25, 1868,a second impeachment inquiry was launched. After a February 13, 1868 committee vote totable an impeachment resolution, impeachment momentarily appeared unlikely.
After Johnson appeared to violate theTenure 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.
Andrew Johnson became president on April 15, 1865, ascending to the office followingthe assassination of his presidential predecessorAbraham Lincoln. While Lincoln had been aRepublican, Johnson, his vice president, was aDemocrat, the two of them having run on a unity ticket in the1864 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. AfterJohnson's drunken behavior at thesecond inauguration of Abraham Lincoln (where Johnson was first sworn in as vice president), SenatorCharles Sumner considered seeking to persuade members of the House of Representatives to pursue an impeachment, of the then-vice president. Sumner went as far as researching precedent on federal impeachment.[1]
Under thePresidential Succession Act of 1792, the next in line of succession was thePresident pro tempore of the Senate, Sen.Benjamin Wade.
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, withmoderate 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 wasHouse Territories Committee chairmanJames Mitchell Ashley. Ashley was convinced of a baselessconspiracy theory that faulted Johnson for involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Thus, Ashley had strong personal motivation for wanting to remove Johnson from office.[2] Ashley began supporting impeachment in late 1866.[3] He quietly began researching impeachment.[2]
House Military Affairs Committee chairmanRobert C. Schenck began exploring the idea of impeaching Johnson after Johnson delivereddemagogic attacks which questioned the legitimacy of the United States Congress. Schenk believed that Johnson's questioning of the legitimacy of Congress risked sparking anothercivil war.[2] Around this same time, in 1866,Benjamin Butler, amajor general who was a Republican candidate for the House at the time, regularly denounced Johnson in hisstump speeches and called for his removal from office.[2] Johnson, during a late summer 1866 speaking tour dubbed the "Swing Around the Circle", remarked that some members of Congress would "clamor and talk about impeachment" because he chose to wield hisveto power.[4]
By the start of October 1866, prominent activistWendell Phillips had published an opinion piece in theNational 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:
Appearing at an October 17, 1866 event in Chicago where Butler delivered such a speech was SenatorLyman Trumbull. In his own speech, following Butler's, Trumbull engaged with crowds in acall 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 wasGeorge S. Boutwell,[2][10] who announced at an October 1866 meeting inBoston that he would push in Congress for the opening of an impeachmentinquiry.[10] Among the other Radical Republicans that was an early prominent supporter of impeachment was CongressZachariah Chandler.[11] By October, impeachment was popular with many Radical Republicans, so much so that theRichmond Examiner wrote of a, "strong probability that the President of the United States will be impeached this winter".[12] TheRichmond 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 thepresident pro tempore of the United States Senate would fill the duties of the president.[13]
The results of the1866 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, theNational Intelligencer alleged that the push to impeach Johnson originated from thetarifflobby. This claim was challenged by theChicago 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:
In December 1866, theHouse Republican caucus met to plan for thelame-duck third session of the39th United States Congress, which would expire in March 1867.[2] George S. Boutwell brought up the idea of impeachment during thecaucus meeting, but moderates quickly killed discussion.[2] A number of Radical Republicans were demanding the creation of aselect committee to investigate the prospect of impeaching Johnson,[17] On December 17, 1866, James Mitchell Ashley attempted to open a house impeachment inquiry, but his motion to suspend the rules to consider his resolution saw a vote of 88–49, which was short of the needed two-thirds majority to suspend the rules.[2][18] Also in December, the House ordered theHouse Committee on the Judiciary to create a report on the practices typical in cases of impeachment. It was seen as probable that this report might prove useful for a future impeachment of Johnson.[19] In an effort to block any further efforts to impeach Johnson, that month the moderate Republicans leading the party's House caucus adopted a rule for the House Republican caucus which required that both a majority of House Republicans and a majority of members on theHouse Committee on the Judiciary would be required to approve any measure regarding impeachment in party caucus prior to it being considered in the House.[2][20]
By the start of the year 1867, on a daily basis, Congress was receivingpetitions demanding the removal of Johnson. These petitions came primarily from themidwestern states. The petitions were the result of an organized campaign to demand Johnson's removal. The number of signatures on these petitions varied, as some had as few signees as three signatures, while other petitions had as many as three hundred signatures.[17]
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 andJohn R. Kelso introduced two separate impeachment resolutions against Johnson, but the House refused to hold debate or vote on either resolution.[2]
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 withThaddeus 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.[25] President Johnson kept secret tabs on the House impeachment inquiry through thePinkerton Detective Agency.[2] While it was begun in the 39th Congress, the committee did not complete their work by the end of that Congress, and issued a recommendation that the next Congress authorize its House Committee on the Judiciary to continue the investigation.[2] This authorization passed days into the 40th Congress, and the investigation was continued.[21][26][27]
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]
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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 theOhio General Assembly, as well as other 1867 election outcomes, such as voters in Ohio, Connecticut, and Minnesota turning down propositions to grantAfrican Americanssuffrage.[17][31]
On January 22, 1868, the House approved by a vote of 99–31 a resolution byRufus P. Spalding which launched an impeachment inquiry run byHouse Select Committee on Reconstruction.[32][33] Despite Thadeus Stevens being the chair of the committee,[34] the membership of the House Committee on Reconstruction was not initially favorable to impeachment. It had four (Republican) members that had voted for impeachment in December 1867, and five of members (three republicans and two Democrats) that had voted against it.[35] At a February 13, 1868 meeting, a committee vote on a motion totable consideration of a resolution proposed by Stevens to impeach Johnson had effectively signaled that five of the committee's members still stood opposed to impeachment, unchanged in their position since the December 1867 vote. It momentarily appeared that the prospect of impeachment was dead.[17][36][37]
On January 13, 1868, the Senate agreed to a resolution by SenatorGeorge F. Edmunds to instruct theSenate Committee on the Judiciary to investigate the expediency of (either through the passage of a law or through a change of the Senate rules, or through a combination or both) to provide rules and regulations that would create a procedure through which a federal officer that is under impeachment and pending trial could be suspended from their office by the Senate pending the trial.[38] On January 28, 1868, Senator Emmunds introduced a bill in the Senate to allow for the such a suspension of impeached officers. He argued that the failure of the earlier House vote on impeaching Johnson would remove suspicion that passing such a law had partisan motivations, as the prospect of impeaching Johnson appeared to be inactive at the moment.[39][40]
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On February 21, 1868, Johnson, in violation of theTenure of Office Act that had been passed byCongress in March 1867 over Johnson's veto, attempted to removeEdwin Stanton, thesecretary 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 byJohn 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 forhigh crimes and misdemeanors.[32][34][47][48]
On February 24, theUnited States House of Representatives voted 126–47 to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors", which were detailed ineleven articles of impeachment (the eleven articles were approved in separate votes held roughly a week after the impeachment resolution was adopted).[34][49][50] The primary charge against Johnson was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act by removing Stanton from office.[49] Johnson was narrowly acquitted in his Senate trial, with the Senate voting 35 to 19 votes in favor of conviction, one vote short of the necessarytwo-thirds majority.[51]
For several weeks after the trial adjourned, the impeachment managers, continueda 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]
The following is a list of several resolutions introduced to the House to either launch an outright impeachment or to launch animpeachment inquiry.
| 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] |
| 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 WarEdwin Stanton in apparent violation of theTenure of Office Act) | Referred to the House Committee on Reconstruction on February 21, 1868; revised version introduced on February 22, 1868, by Committee ChairThadeus Stevens,resolution adopted by the House in a vote of 105–36 on February 25, 1868 | [57][34] |
| March 16, 1868 | John Bingham (R–OH-16) | Authorizeimpeachment managers to conductan investigation into possible "improper or corrupt means" to influence the vote of members of the United States Senate in the impeachment trial | Allegation that information had been provided to the impeachment managers that provided them withprobable 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 Senateimpeachment 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] |
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This article incorporatespublic domain material fromStephen W. Stathis and David C. Huckabee.Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment: A Historical Overview(PDF).Congressional Research Service. RetrievedDecember 31, 2019. This article incorporatespublic domain material fromStephen W. Stathis and David C. Huckabee.Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment: A Historical Overview(PDF).Congressional Research Service. RetrievedDecember 31, 2019.{{cite book}}:|website= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|website= ignored (help)| Inquiries |   | |
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