Timeline of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson

rdf:langString Timeline of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Andrew Johnson became the first president of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 1868 after he acted to dismiss Edwin Stanton as secretary of war in disregard for the Tenure of Office Act. Before Johnson's February 21, 1868 effort to dismiss Stanton, there had already been an active push by Radical Republicans to impeach Johnson, but this was met with resistance from many in the moderate wing of the Republican Party. Radical Republicans were frustrated by Johnson's efforts to obstruct their plans for Reconstruction. The Republican Party held a large majority in both chambers of the United States Congress at the time. The early push to impeach Johnson saw the launch of two impeachment inquiries. After the conclusion of the first impeachment inquiry (which saw the House Committee on the Judiciary recommend impeaching Johnson), there was a December 7, 1867 vote in which the House broadly voted against impeaching Johnson. A second impeachment inquiry was launched in January 1868. However, only shortly before Johnson's attempted dismissal of Stanton in February, it had shortly appeared that the prospect of impeachment was a dead issue. After the February 24, 1868 passage of the resolution impeaching Johnson, eleven articles of impeachment were adopted by the House in early March. An impeachment trial was held by the United States Senate in which Johnson was acquitted on three of the articles before the trial adjourned sine die without voting on the remaining articles of impeachment. All three articles voted on saw an identical acquittal, with the Senate coming only a single vote short of the two-thirds support needed to convict Johnson.