Andrew Johnson: Lawbreaker Or Innocent?

Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, was impeached on February 24, 1868, for high crimes and misdemeanors. Johnson was the first US president to be impeached. The primary charge against him was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act by removing Edwin Stanton from the position of Secretary of War and replacing him with Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas. Johnson was a Democrat and former slave owner who was opposed by the Radical Republicans, who wanted to guarantee the rights of freed slaves. Johnson's impeachment trial began on March 4, 1868, and lasted 11 weeks, with the Senate ultimately voting against convicting him by a margin of 35-19, one vote short of the required two-thirds majority.

Johnson's impeachment

On February 24, 1868, the United States House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors". The vote was 126-47, with almost all Republicans voting in favour of impeachment and all Democrats voting against it.

The primary charge against Johnson was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act by removing Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, from his position. Stanton was a Radical Republican who supported the Reconstruction policies of Congress, which Johnson opposed. Johnson's dismissal of Stanton was seen as a challenge to congressional authority and an attempt to test the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act.

The impeachment of Johnson was also influenced by his racist views and his opposition to granting voting rights to Black men. Johnson, a white supremacist, believed that African Americans were an inferior race unfit to govern themselves and that the South should be readmitted to the Union with white Southerners resuming their dominance over Blacks. This position clashed with the Reconstruction policies of the Radical Republicans, who sought to guarantee the rights of freed slaves and prevent former Southern rebels from regaining control.

The impeachment of Andrew Johnson had significant political implications. It affirmed the principle that Congress should not remove a president from office simply because of policy disagreements. However, it also resulted in diminished presidential influence and a "weak presidency" system, with governing power shifting to congressional committee leaders and cabinet secretaries.

The Tenure of Office Act

The Act was passed over President Johnson's veto and was intended to shield members of Johnson's cabinet from losing their positions if they disagreed with the President. This was particularly beneficial to those who disagreed with him on big issues like Reconstruction—men like Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who was aligned with the Radical Republicans and was in charge of carrying out Congressional Reconstruction plans.

In August 1867, with the Senate out of session, Johnson suspended Stanton, pending the next session of the Senate. When the Senate refused to ratify the removal, Johnson attempted to replace Stanton with Lorenzo Thomas. This was in direct defiance of the newly passed Tenure of Office Act, and the Senate was furious, reinstating Stanton. Johnson's attempt to fire Stanton and hire Ulysses S. Grant in his place was one of the primary charges against Johnson when he became the first U.S. President to be impeached.

The impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson had important political implications for the balance of federal legislative-executive power. It maintained the principle that Congress should not remove the President from office simply because its members disagreed with him over policy, style, and administration of the office. It also resulted in diminished presidential influence on public policy and overall governing power.

The Command of the Army Act

The constitutionality of the Command of the Army Act was questionable, even at the time of its passage. Several of the Senate's lawyers believed that the law infringed on the constitutional authority of the president as commander-in-chief of the United States armed forces. The language in the law was created by Edwin Stanton, the secretary of war.

The Act was passed as a measure of the Army Appropriations Bill for 1867-1868. It was initially passed in the House of Representatives on February 20, 1867, with a vote of 90-32. The final version of the bill, agreed upon by a conference committee, was passed by Congress on March 2, 1867, along with the Tenure of Office Act, which prohibited the president from removing certain federal officials without Senate approval. Despite taking issue with the Command of Army Act, President Johnson signed the appropriations bill containing it on March 4, 1867.

Alleged violations of the Command of Army Act by President Johnson were later cited in the articles of impeachment against him. While most of the articles of impeachment dealt primarily with the alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act, the ninth and eleventh articles accused Johnson of violating the Command of Army Act by pressuring General William H. Emory to ignore the act and take orders directly from Johnson instead of through General Grant.

The House vote

On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson by a margin of 126 to 47, with 17 members not voting. This was the first time in history that the House impeached a sitting president. The vote came after Johnson attempted to dismiss and replace Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The Act, passed by Congress in March 1867 over Johnson's veto, required the president to seek the Senate's approval before removing certain federal officials.

The House resolution to impeach Johnson stated that he be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors", but no specific charges were included in the resolution. The vote followed a lengthy debate during which Republican members of the House Select Committee on Reconstruction argued that Johnson's effort to dismiss Stanton and appoint Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas as secretary of war ad interim was a specific violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

The impeachment resolution was approved by the House on February 22, 1868, by a vote of 7-2 along party lines. The resolution stated that Johnson be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors in office". The vote on the resolution came three days after Johnson moved to dismiss and replace Stanton.

After the House passed the impeachment resolution, it turned its attention to the adoption of articles of impeachment, which the Senate would then try Johnson on. The House approved a pair of resolutions creating a two-person committee to present the impeachment resolution to the Senate and a seven-person committee to prepare and report articles of impeachment. The seven-person committee initially delivered ten proposed articles of impeachment to the House on February 29, 1868, which were then revised and reduced to nine articles before being voted on.

On March 2, 1868, one week after the House voted to impeach Johnson, it adopted eleven articles of impeachment against the president. The first nine articles were approved on March 2, while the last two were approved on March 3. The House subsequently drew up eleven charges against the president, principally associated with his alleged violations of the Tenure of Office Act and the Command of the Army Act, but also including charges that his actions had brought "disgrace and ridicule" to the presidency.

The Senate trial

On March 5, 1868, the trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the Senate, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. The House managers, aided by a team of five prominent lawyers, presented their case from March 30 to April 9. Senators also spoke during the trial, including Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, who summed up Radical disapproval of Johnson, stating:

> "Andrew Johnson is the impersonation of the tyrannical slave power. In him, it lives again... His attempt to substitute himself for Congress in the work of reconstruction was sheer usurpation. The veto power was turned into a weapon against Congress. The power of removal was seized as an engine of tyranny."

On the other side, James Grimes of Iowa, one of seven Republican senators who voted for acquittal, said:

> "I cannot agree to destroy the harmonious working of the Constitution for the sake of getting rid of an unacceptable President... However widely... I may and do differ with the President [for] his political views and measures, and however deeply I have regretted, and do regret, the differences between himself and Congress... I am not able to record my vote that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors by reason of these differences. In my opinion, the President has not been guilty of an impeachable offense."

On May 16, the Senate voted against convicting Johnson on one of the articles, with its 35-19 vote falling one vote short of the two-thirds majority required. A 10-day recess was called before the Senate reconvened to vote on additional articles. On May 26, the Senate voted against convicting the president on two more articles by identical margins to the first vote. After this, the trial was adjourned without votes being held on the remaining eight articles of impeachment.

The impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson had important political implications. It maintained the principle that Congress should not remove the president from office simply because its members disagreed with him over policy, style, and administration of the office. It also resulted in diminished presidential influence on public policy and overall governing power, leading to what future President Woodrow Wilson referred to as "Congressional Government".

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