Senate Acquits Johnson of High Crimes & Misdemeanors
On this day in 1868, the U.S. Senate votes against impeaching
President Andrew Johnson and acquits him of committing “high crimes and
misdemeanors.”
In February 1868, the House of Representatives charged Johnson
with 11 articles of impeachment for vague “high crimes and misdemeanors.” (For
comparison, in 1998, President Bill Clinton was charged with two articles of
impeachment for obstruction of justice during an investigation into his
inappropriate sexual behavior in the White House Oval Office. In 1974, Nixon
faced three charges for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.) The main issue
in Johnson’s trial was his staunch resistance to implementing Congress’ Civil
War Reconstruction policies. The War Department was the federal agency
responsible for carrying out Reconstruction programs in the war-ravaged
southern states and when Johnson fired the agency’s head, Edwin
Stanton, Congress retaliated with calls for his impeachment.
Of the 11 counts, several went to the core of the conflict
between Johnson and Congress. The House charged Johnson with illegally removing
the secretary of war from office and for violating several Reconstruction Acts.
The House also accused the president of hurling slanderous “inflammatory and
scandalous harangues” against Congressional members. On February 24, the House
passed all 11 articles of impeachment and the process moved into a Senate
trial.
The Senate trial lasted until May 26, 1868. Johnson did not
attend any of the proceedings and was not required to do so. After all the
arguments had been presented for and against him, Johnson waited for his fate,
which hung on one swing vote. By a vote of 35-19, Johnson was acquitted and
finished out his term. Presidents Johnson and Clinton are the only presidents
for whom the impeachment process went as far as a Senate trial. Nixon resigned
before the House of Representatives could vote on impeachment.