Mr. Mojo

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<b>1868 President Johnson acquitted</b>


At the end of a historic two-month trial, the U.S. Senate narrowly fails to convict President Andrew Johnson of the impeachment charges levied against him by the House of Representatives three months earlier. The senators voted 35 guilty and 19 not guilty on the second article of impeachment, a charge related to his violation of the Tenure of Office Act in the previous year. Ten days earlier, the Senate had likewise failed to convict Johnson on another article of impeachment, the 11th, voting an identical 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal. Because both votes fell short--by one vote--of the two-thirds majority needed to convict Johnson, he was judged not guilty and remained in office.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Johnson, a U.S. senator from Tennessee, was the only senator from a seceding state who remained loyal to the Union. Johnson's political career was built on his defense of the interests of poor white Southerners against the landed classes; of his decision to oppose secession, he said, "Damn the negroes; I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats, their masters." For his loyalty, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him military governor of Tennessee in 1862, and in 1864 Johnson was elected vice president of the United States.

Sworn in as president after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, President Johnson enacted a lenient Reconstruction policy for the defeated South, including almost total amnesty to ex-Confederates, a program of rapid restoration of U.S.-state status for the seceded states, and the approval of new, local Southern governments, which were able to legislate "black codes" that preserved the system of slavery in all but name. The Republican-dominated Congress greatly opposed Johnson's Reconstruction program and passed the "Radical Reconstruction" by repeatedly overriding the president's vetoes. Under the Radical Reconstruction, local Southern governments gave way to federal military rule, and African American men in the South were granted the constitutional right to vote.

In March 1867, in order to weaken further Johnson's authority, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over his veto. The act prohibited the president from removing federal office holders, including cabinet members, who had been confirmed by the Senate, without the consent of the Senate. It was designed to shield members of Johnson's cabinet, like Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who was appointed during the Lincoln administration and was a leading ally of the so-called Radical Republicans in Congress. In the fall of 1867, Johnson attempted to test the constitutionality of the act by replacing Stanton with General Ulysses S. Grant. However, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on the case, and Grant turned the office back to Stanton after the Senate passed a measure in protest of the dismissal.

On February 21, 1868, Johnson decided to rid himself of Stanton once and for all and appointed General Lorenzo Thomas, an individual far less favorable to the Congress than Grant, as secretary of war. Stanton refused to yield, barricading himself in his office, and the House of Representatives, which had already discussed impeachment after Johnson's first dismissal of Stanton, initiated formal impeachment proceedings against the president. On February 24, the House voted 11 impeachment articles against President Johnson. Nine of the articles cited his violations of the Tenure of Office Act; one cited his opposition to the Army Appropriations Act of 1867 (designed to deprive the president of his constitutional position as commander in chief of the U.S. Army); and one accused Johnson of bringing "into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach the Congress of the United States" through certain controversial speeches.

On March 13, according to the rules set out in Section 3 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution, the impeachment trial of President Johnson began in the Senate. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided over the proceedings, which were described as theatrical. On May 16 and again on May 26, the Senate voted on the charges brought against President Johnson. Both times the vote was 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal, with seven moderate Republicans joining 12 Democrats in voting against what was a weak case for impeachment. The vote fell just short of a two-thirds majority, and Johnson remained in office. Nevertheless, he chose not to seek reelection on the Democratic ticket. In November, Ulysses S. Grant, who supported the Republicans' Radical Reconstruction policies, was elected president of the United States.

In 1875, after two failed bids, Johnson won reelection to Congress as a U.S. senator from Tennessee. He died less than four months after taking office, at the age of 66. Fifty-one years later, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Tenure of Office Act unconstitutional in its ruling in Myers v. United States.




Name another US President who has been impeached...



Also today - <a target=new href="http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/"><b>Nicholas II, the last czar, is crowned ruler of Russia</b></a>

<a target=new href="http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/oldwest.html"><b>1907 John Wayne is born</b></a>

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When I jerk off I feel good for about twenty seconds and then WHAM it's right back into suicidal depression

bullgoose

Hmmmm..... another American president that was impeached? Lessee, that would be William Jefferson Clinton, right? I believe he was also re-instated. New game: American presidents who SHOULD have been impeached. My candidates: Richard Milhaus Nixon and Warren Gamel Harding; Nixon resigned to escape impeachment; Harding died to escape impeachment; both Republicans.

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"If I had it to do all over,
I'd do it all over you."

Mr. Mojo

I asked that question to name another impeached president after my company did a report on NYC public schools. One of the questions on the test was a multiple choice to ‘name a impeached President.’ 89% said Nixon (never impeached because he resigned before anything could happen). Nobody picked Johnson, most didn’t even know he was president. The test was to show how students are not being taught basic American history.

I was curious to see how many TFPers would also say Nixon - due to media/personal bias, I don’t want to turn this into a political thread. I wanted others to know this history.

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When I jerk off I feel good for about twenty seconds and then WHAM it's right back into suicidal depression

bullgoose

Yeah; that's like asking who was the only man to be both vice-president and president without being elected to either office? Gerald R. Ford, for those who don't know; he was the president pro-tem of the Senate when Spiro Agnew resigned as VP, so he became Vice-president by constitutional succession, when Richard Nixon resigned 18 motnths later, Ford became president, again by constitutional succession; he never was elected to either office.

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"If I had it to do all over,
I'd do it all over you."

gov135

The question is an important one. You should know history.

But while never technically impeached, I thnk its ok that students relate Nixon to impeachment. Although not technically happening, the important part to know is that Harding and Nixon were awful Presidents with awful track records.

I always thought that picture of Nixon waving to the press before getting on that plane glamourized the situation....

But knowing about how corrupt the Harding administration was is important. When it happens again, we shouldn't be shocked.

bullgoose

It's an unfortunate truth that representative democracies are , by their very nature, prone to corruption; we should never be shocked when one of our elected representatives does something illegal; I was friends with a gentleman who was the county chairman for the Republican party in my area. We were discussing the whole Nixon thing one time and he said to me "Remember, a politician is someone who can't make it in the real world, government has NOTHING to do with reality." He sure was smart; I miss him.

__________________
"If I had it to do all over,
I'd do it all over you."

BBtB

I always knew that Johnson and Clinton were the only presidents ever impeached. We can not blame the students for lack of knowledge about history (or atleast more recent history like Nixon). Have anyone of you read a high school history book lately? They are terrible. I never knew why Johnsons was impeached. Thats one thing I tried to get out of my high school history book and failed (it only briefly mentioned that he was even impeached) This is all part of people wanting to decieve themselves into thinking none of this has happened before (Clinton, Bush) Thank you Mojo.

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Meridae'n once played "death" at a game of chess that lasted for over two years. He finally beat death in a best 34 out of 67 match. At that time he could ask for any one thing and he could wish for the hope of all mankind... he looked death right in the eye and said ...

"I would like about three fiddy"

Daval

it would be neat if you did a 'this day in history' more often. I love stuff liek that

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"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill