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Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

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Impeachment of Andrew Johnson • Reconstruction •AIM: • Why was President Johnson Impeached? Cabinet Am I the only one ever?? Not so fast Andrew!! They tried to get me for perjury!! April 8, 1868 I. Johnson Vs. Congress • President Johnson continues to veto laws/acts/programs sent from the Radical Republicans. • Those programs/laws helped freedmen and angered the South • Many Republicans seek to Impeach Johnson. Johnson is delaying Republican Reconstruction with his veto pen • Johnson wishes to Fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. • Stanton is a Radical Republican and hates Johnson. Stanton • Congress passes a law making it illegal for a President to fire a cabinet member without Congressional approval. • The Tenure of Office Act. • Johnson fires Stanton Tenure of Office Act - Tenure of Office Act, in U.S. history, measure passed on Mar. 2, 1867, by Congress over the veto of President Andrew Johnson; it forbade the President to remove any federal officeholder appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate without the further approval of the Senate. With this measure the radical Republicans in Congress hoped to assure the continuance in office of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and thus prevent any interference with the military occupation of the South in their Reconstruction plan. In order to bring about a court test of the constitutionality of the act, Johnson dismissed Stanton, but the Supreme Court, intimidated by the radicals, refused to pass on the case. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, whom Johnson appointed Secretary ad interim, turned the office back to Stanton when the Senate refused to approve his dismissal. Johnson then appointed Gen. Lorenzo Thomas Secretary of War, but Stanton, barricading himself in the department, refused to yield. Johnson's alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act was the principal charge in the impeachment proceedings against him. When this move failed (May, 1868), Stanton finally gave up. The act, considerably modified in Grant's administration, was in large part repealed in 1887, and in 1926 the Supreme Court declared its principles unconstitutional. II. Impeachment • President Johnson is charged with high crimes and misdemeanors for his firing of Stanton. • His trial begins on April 6th 1868. • Johnson wins by one vote!! April 8, 1868 April 11, 1868 Nay! John F. Kennedy, who wrote in Profiles in Courage (1956) that Edmund Ross' "heroic" vote "may well have preserved ... Constitutional government in the United States." Ross wasted no time exploiting Johnson's debt to him. On June 6, he wrote to Johnson to have him install one of his cronies as Southern superintendent of Indian affairs, and Johnson agreed to oust his own friend in order to comply. Sensing opportunity, Ross kept upping the ante, like a Mafia henchman running a protection racket. ("Nice little presidency ya got here--hate to see anything happen to it.") On June 23, he wrote to Johnson to secure a position for Perry Fuller, his 1867 election sponsor. On July 1, he asked Johnson to make his brother a federal mail agent. On July 10, he pressed the president for jobs for three more friends, invoking his impeachment vote, just in case Johnson had forgotten. SUMMARY The dispute: Both Presidents Lincoln and Johnson favored a lenient approach to reconstruction. It was their belief that the nation could be best served by leaving the brutality of the Civil War behind quickly. Radical Republicans, led by Thadeaus Stevens, argued that the South should be punished for starting the Civil War. Eventually, the dispute would lead to an attempt to impeach and remove President Johnson. Although the official reason for the impeachment of Johnson was his violation of the Tenure of Office Act, the underlying reason was Congress' disagreement with Johnson over Reconstruction. Although Johnson was impeached by the House, the Senate fell just short of convicting and removing him. October 14, 1865 March 10, 1866 April 18, 1866 March 28, 1868 April 4, 1868 April 18, 1868.
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