The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
February 24 — May 26, 1868
Fellow historians– this week we turn to an event that is all too forgotten today. We’ve read about many firsts in our research here at The Paper– the first US President to be assassinated; the first purchase of land by the US; the first anti-trust action by the US. In each of these cases, there was a similarity: no one had any idea what to do in these situations– they had literally never happened before. Today, we learn about another first for America: the impeachment of President Johnson.
Johnson had campaigned furiously to stop Tennessee from joining the Confederacy in the wake of the Civil War. But when it was clear that the state would too secede, Johnson was forced to flee to Washington on threats to his and his family’s life. In doing so, he became the only Southern Senator to abandon his state and remain in the Senate during the war. His fellow Southern congressmen hated him for this move, and even years later, they never let go of their disdain for Johnson.
You can read about Johnson’s background leading up to his Presidency, but the most important point you need to know is that Johnson was rather disliked in Congress. He had been the only Southern Senator to abandon his state when it seceded during the Civil War. But he later angered Northern radicals by joining Lincoln in arguing for a smooth reunification– those senators wanted to severely punish the Southern states. Though a few years separate these incidents and his impeachment, they were not forgotten. To make matters worse, Johnson’s off-the-cuff, impulsive, and unfiltered reputation in the public only gave the conspirators of impeachment in Congress more conviction in their action.
SPEECH OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON
“Your President is now the tribune of the people, and thank God I am, and I intend to assert the power which the people have placed in me. [Cheering]
Your President, standing here day after day, and discharging his duty, is like a horse on the tread-wheel; and because he dares to differ in opinion in regard to public measures, he must be denounced as a usurper and tyrant.
That is all there is in it. Hence I say that tyranny and power can be exercised somewhere else than by the Executive. He is powerless. All that I can do is to check legislation– to hold it in a state of abeyance till the people can consider and understand what is being done.
Then, for my life I cannot see where there is any tyranny. It is very easy to impugn motives and suspect the purity of the best acts of a man’s life. If you come forward and propose a certain thing, your motives are suspected and condemned; and if you withhold your opinion you are regarded as being opposed to the material, so that it is very hard to move one way or the other, so far as certain persons are concerned, in all questions pertaining to the interest of the great masses of the American people, for in them is my hope and the salvation of the country. [Applause]”
– The Western Democrat, May 01, 1866
Impeachment
On February 24th, 1868, a vote was convened in the House. The requirement for passing a motion was a 2/3 majority of present members. But the motion easily passed at 126 for to 47 against, and the House committees began drafting the articles of impeachment to be argued on the Senate floor.
CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS
Stevens, of Pennsylvania, closed the debate.
The reading of the speech was concluded at two minutes before 5 o’clock. The House then proceeded amid great by suppressed excitement, to vote on the resolution as follows:
Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors.
The Speaker stated that he could not consent that his constituents should be silent on so grave an occasion, therefore, as a member of the House, he voted “aye.”
The vote resulted: yeas 126, nays 47. The announcement of the result elicited no manifestation, but the immense audience which had filled the galleries and corridors all day gradually dispersed till it was reduced to less than one-fourth its original number.
– The Evansville Journal, May 01, 1866
Trial
The outcome of the resolution in the House was expected. But it was only the first step of the battle. While the disgrace of impeachment would remove Johnson from any hope of a future position, it wouldn’t remove him from his current power. That was reserved for the trial in the Senate– a massive, drawn-out legal battle for the ages.
Mr. Washburne, of Ill. declared he should vote for the resolution before the House. Acting with the majority of the Republican members of the House, he had not hitherto favored impeachment against the President of the United States, not because he did not believe him morally guilty of impeachable offenses; not because he did not execute his administration, but because that he felt that in the case as heretofore presented there might be a doubt of his conviction.
Rather than branch out on a doubtful experiment he had been disposed not to push impeachment in the hope that the President, warned of the power of the House, and indebted to its forbearance, would so conduct himself as to avoid the necessity of resorting to the extreme remedy provided by the Constitution. But all hopes had been disappointed. Every act of forbearance had been but a fresh invitation to further and more flagrant aggressions, until at last he had flung himself against the very bulwarks of the Constitution, defying the laws and overriding a co-ordinate branch of the Government. …With such a President, nearly all departments of the Government had become demoralized and corrupt to an extent which could find no parallel in the history of any country or any age.
Scenes in Wall Street
In Wall street the excitement over the news was of the most intense character. The bewildered brokers in their frenzy of joy or anger as the case happened to be, created the utmost consternation by the headlong rapidity with which they dashed about in the board rooms and in the street. Stocks were allowed to take care of themselves for a while, and whenever there was an extra or “something additional” about the great news, there went the brokers at break-neck pace. Apple stands were overturned and their contents spilled into the streets; even the small boys floating around lose forgetting their usual habit of “grabbing” in the general hubbub.
— The New York Herald, March 17, 1868
MIDNIGHT DISPATCHES
Congressional Proceedings. Senate.Washington, May 16–midnight–From dawn until late in the night the city has been the scene of intense excitement, such as was never witnessed before and will never be again. At an early hour the Senate Chamber was literally packed with men and women.
The interest centered mainly on the vote of doubtful Senators. Anthony’s vote of “guilty” was followed by a buzz in the galleries, but no loud demonstration. Cameron said guilty before the question was concluded by the Chief Justice. Everybody smiled. When Fessenden’s name was called, that Senator rose and stretched his tall form to its full length and stood erect. He placed his thumbs in his pants’ pockets, listened to the reading of the questions by the Chief Justice and responded in a clear, ringing tone, “not guilty.” Fowler repeated his vote of “not guilty,” as the first was not heard distinctly. Henderson rose nervously at the call. He had expressed no opinion on the 11th article, and when he said “not guilty,” the President’s friends breathed freer. Intense but suppressed excitement was felt when Ross’ name was called for. On his vote depended the fate of the Executive and country. “Not guilty,” he said, and consternation seized on the conspirators. It made no difference how Willey and the other doubtful Senators voted, for Ross secured acquittal on the article and impeachment was dead. Wade’s voting excited no remark, for it was known that he was without delicacy or decency.
The vote being announced, the reason for voting first on the eleventh article became apparent. The conspirators know if this could not secure conviction, the measure was defeated, and to prevent acquittal they now moved to postpone the vote on the balance of the articles, which, after filibustering, was carried. The cowardly dodge to evade the issue provoked contempt from all; but the unscrupulous majority was intent only in first breaking the force of the result, and then wanted more time for trickery. They would not have voted today, but they believed Ross was with them and Grimes would not be there, and they were caught in their own trap.
…
The President received the congratulations of his Cabinet and friends, to one of whom he said that he regarded the verdict not as a personal triumph, but as the triumph of Constitution and law and the cause of the people, and that it confirmed his belief in the strength of a Republican form of government.There is rumor to-night entitled to some credence that Grant has notified the National Radical Committee that he will not accept the nomination for President. He is deeply chagrined at the result of impeachment, and had threatened previously if the President was acquitted he would pursue this course. The radicals are in deep tribulation.
–Nashville Union and Dispatch, May 19, 1868
THE IMPEACHMENT
There was a hopeful feeling manifested by delegates and visitors who reached the city as early as Friday morning. The peculiar champions of Mr. Wade were first on the ground. They felt sanguine, in view of the dispatches received almost hourly from Washington, that the President would be removed and the offices of the country be at their command. Many expressed themselves, significantly, as already provided for, and were prepared to put Wade through the Convention for Vice President, on Wednesday next, with a hip, hip, hurrah, that could not be resisted. It may be easily imagined, therefore, that the news of the failure of impeachment on Saturday produced a painful collapse.
…
This feeling of despondency was lightened to some extent by the arrival of the New York delegation, who very confidently affirmed that the defeat of impeachment would do the party more good than harm. Although the Wade men could not exactly see it in that light, they were so disposed to accept crumbs of consolation, of whatever character, and at once set to work to secure the nomination of their favorite.
–The Evansville Daily Journal, May 20, 1868
