Johnson Impeachment Trial

Johnson was charged with having dismissed the secretary of war in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. But his impeachment was part of a larger political struggle with a hostile Congress. A Tennessee Democrat who had remained loyal to the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, Johnson was chosen as Republican Abraham Lincoln's vice-presidential running mate in 1864 on the Union ticket—an attempt to unify the nation as the war wound to a close. Johnson became president upon Lincoln's assassination the following year. Johnson tried to pursue Lincoln's moderate approach to the South, but this brought him into conflict with the Republican-controlled Congress—particularly the Radical Republicans, who favored harsh treatment of the defeated Confederacy.

[Page 320]On their first attempt to impeach Johnson, in 1867, the Radical Republicans suffered a crushing defeat. The House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment on general charges, but the full House of Representatives rejected an impeachment resolution by a vote of 108 to 57.

A second impeachment effort was triggered early in 1868 when Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a holdover from the Lincoln administration who had close ties to the Radical Republicans. In dismissing Stanton, Johnson defied the Tenure of Office Act, which required Senate approval for removal of government officials who had been appointed with Senate consent. The tenure law had been enacted over Johnson's veto in 1867. Its purpose was to protect Republican officeholders from executive retaliation if they did not support the president. Johnson's action infuriated Congress, which moved swiftly to impeach him. The House Committee on Reconstruction, headed by Rep. Thaddeus stevens of Pennsylvania, one of the Radical Republican leaders, reported an impeachment resolution on February 22, 1868. The full House approved the measure two days later by a 126–47 vote that divided along party lines.

In early March, the House approved specific charges, called articles of impeachment, against Johnson and chose seven of its members to prosecute the charges before the Senate. There were eleven articles in all, the main one concerning Johnson's removal of Stanton. The Senate trial ran from March 30 to May 26. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided, as required by the Constitution in a presidential impeachment trial. The president himself did not appear. He was represented by a team of lawyers headed by Henry Stanbery, who had resigned as attorney general to lead the defense.

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