Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson

rdf:langString Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson

rdf:langString Acquitted by the U.S. Senate, remained in office

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rdf:langString Illustration of the secretary of the United States Senate preparing the Senate's summons for President Johnson

rdf:langString Chief Justice Chase's writ of summons to Johnson

rdf:langString Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Nelson administers oath the Chief Justice Chase

rdf:langString preparing a summons for President Johnson

rdf:langString Chief Justice Chase administering the oath to Benjamin Wade

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rdf:langString President Johnson's Senate impeachment trial, illustrated by Theodore R. Davis in Harper's Weekly

rdf:langString Violating the Tenure of Office Act by attempting to replace Edwin Stanton as secretary of war while Congress was not in session and other alleged abuses of presidential power

rdf:langString Third image: Chief Justice Chase's writ of summons to Johnson

rdf:langString Second image: Illustration of spectators having their tickets checked upon entrance

rdf:langString First illustartion:Associate justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Nelson administers oath to Chief Justice Chase

rdf:langString Second illustration:Chief Justice Chase administering the juror's oath to Benjamin Wade

rdf:langString First image:Illustration of the John Weiss Forney preparing the Senate's summons for President Johnson

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rdf:langString Writ of Summons to Andrew Johnson by Chief Justice Samuel P. Chase .jpg

rdf:langString George T. Brown, sergeant-at-arms, serving the summons on President Johnson - sketched by T.R. Davis. LCCN92520335 .jpg

rdf:langString J.L. Christie, Messenger of the Senate, Receiving Tickets at the Entrance during the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson .png

rdf:langString Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Washington, D.C. - preparing the summons for President Johnson to appear before the court of impeachment LCCN2003655357 .jpg

rdf:langString The Senate held a roll call vote on only 3 of the 11 articles before adjourning as a court.

rdf:langString William Tecumseh Sherman

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rdf:langString Alexander Randall

rdf:langString Burt Van Horn

rdf:langString John W. Jones

rdf:langString Gideon Welles

rdf:langString Richard T. Merrick

rdf:langString George Knapp

rdf:langString William E. Chandler

rdf:langString Foster Blodgett

rdf:langString Barton Able

rdf:langString Charles A. Tinker

rdf:langString Charles E. Creecy

rdf:langString Daniel C. McEwen

rdf:langString DeWitt C. Clarke

rdf:langString Francis H. Smith

rdf:langString Edgar T. Welles

rdf:langString Edward O. Perrin

rdf:langString Everett D. Stark

rdf:langString Frederick W. Seward

rdf:langString George W. Karsener

rdf:langString George W. Wallace

rdf:langString Henry F. Zeider

rdf:langString James B. Sheridan

rdf:langString James K. Moorhead

rdf:langString James O. Clephane

rdf:langString Joseph A. Dare

rdf:langString L. L. Walbridge

rdf:langString Lorenzo Thomas

rdf:langString M.H. Wood

rdf:langString Return J. Meigs III

rdf:langString Robert S. Chew

rdf:langString Samuel Wilkeson

rdf:langString Thomas W. Ferry

rdf:langString Walter A. Burleigh

rdf:langString Walter Smith Cox

rdf:langString William G. Moore

rdf:langString William H. Emory

rdf:langString William J. McDonald

rdf:langString William N. Hudson

rdf:langString William W. Armstrong

rdf:langString Acquitted

rdf:langString Motion passed

rdf:langString Andrew Johnson

rdf:langString The impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, was held in the United States Senate and concluded with acquittal on three of eleven charges before adjourning sine die without a verdict on the remaining charges. It was the first impeachment trial of a U.S. president and was the sixth federal impeachment trial in U.S. history. The trial began March 5, 1868, and adjourned on May 26. The trial was held after the United States House of Representatives impeached Johnson on February 24, 1868. In the eleven articles of impeachment adopted in early March 1868, the House had chiefly charged Johnson with violating the 1867 Tenure of Office Act by attempting to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office and name Lorenzo Thomas secretary of war ad interim. During the trial, the prosecution offered by the impeachment managers that the House had appointed argued that Johnson had explicitly violated the Tenure of Office Act by dismissing Stanton without the consent of the Senate. The managers contended that United States presidents were obligated to carry out and honor the laws passed by the United States Congress, regardless of whether the president believed them to be constitutional. The managers argued that, otherwise, presidents would be allowed to regularly disobey the will of Congress (which they argued, as elected representatives, represented the will of the American people). Johnson's defense both questioned the criminality of the alleged offenses and raised doubts about Johnson's intent. One of the points made by the defense was that ambiguity existed in the Tenure of Office Act that left open a vagueness as to whether it was actually applicable to Johnson's firing of Stanton. They also argued that the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional, and that Jonhson's intent in firing Stanton had been to test the constitutionality of the law before the Supreme Court of the United States (and that Johnson was entitled to do so). They further argued that, even if the law were constitutional, that presidents should not be removed from office for misconstruing their constitutional rights. They further argued that Johnson was acting in interest of the necessity of keeping the Department of War functional by appointing Lorenzo Thomas as an interim officer, and that he had caused no public harm in doing so. They also argued that the Republican Party was using impeachment as a political tool. The defense asserted the view that presidents should not be removed from office by impeachment for political misdeeds, as this is what elections were meant for. The trial resulted in acquittal, with the Senate voting identically on three of the eleven articles of impeachment, failing each time by a single vote to reach the supermajority needed to convict Johnson. On each of those three articles, thirty-five Republican senators voted to convict, while ten Republican senators and all nine Democratic senators voted to acquit. After those three votes all failed to result in a conviction, the Senate then adjourned the trial without voting on the remaining eight articles of impeachment. The majority decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in its 1926 Myers v. United States decision later opined that the Tenure of Office Act at the center of the impeachment had been an invalid law.

rdf:langString Article II

rdf:langString Article III

rdf:langString Article XI

rdf:langString Motion to adjourn sine die

rdf:langString Votes

rdf:langString Salmon P. Chase