Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)
Senate trial of Johnson - Theodore Davis
The affair became a national scandal - tickets were sold for the trial
May 26th 1868: President Johnson acquitted
On this day in 1868, President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial ended, finding him not guilty by one vote. Johnson became President in 1865 after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and was thus in power during the crucial stage of Reconstruction after the Civil War. However, Johnson did little to support the newly emancipated slaves, and opposed measures like the Fourteenth Amendment which granted them citizenship. A Tennessean and lifelong Democrat, Johnson was only chosen as Lincoln’s running-mate to give the impression of national unity. In power, Johnson was more sympathetic to the southern states than a northern counterpart may have been, frequently vetoing Republican proposals and issuing generous pardons to former Confederates. The unpopular President was impeached in February by the House of Representatives, with the main charge being that he violated the Tenure of Office Act by removing Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War. Johnson was then put on trial in the Senate, with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Salmon P. Chase presiding. He was tried by two articles of impeachment, and both fell short - by just one vote - of the required two thirds majority needed to find him guilty and remove him from office. Whilst Congress gave specific reasons for the impeachment, many still consider the affair a mostly political retaliation by Radical Republicans against the President’s Reconstruction policies. Johnson and Bill Clinton in 1998 remain the only two Presidents to have been impeached.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário