Global InformationImpeachment trial of Andrew Johnson information
| Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson | |
|---|---|
 President Johnson's Senate impeachment trial, illustrated by Theodore R. Davis in Harper's Weekly | |
| Date | March 5, 1868– May 26, 1868 (2 months and 3 weeks) |
| Accused | Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States |
| Presiding officer | Salmon P. Chase (Chief Justice of the United States) |
| House managers: |
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| Defense counsel: |
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| Outcome | Acquitted by the U.S. Senate, remained in office |
| Charges | Eleven high crimes and misdemeanors |
| Cause | Violating the Tenure of Office Act by attempting to replace Edwin Stanton as secretary of war while Congress was not in session and other alleged abuses of presidential power |
| Accusation | Article XI |
| Votes in favor | 35 "guilty" |
| Votes against | 19 "not guilty" |
| Result | Acquitted (36 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction) |
| Accusation | Article II |
| Votes in favor | 35 "guilty" |
| Votes against | 19 "not guilty" |
| Result | Acquitted (36 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction) |
| Accusation | Article III |
| Votes in favor | 35 "guilty" |
| Votes against | 19 "not guilty" |
| Result | Acquitted (36 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction) |
| Motion | Motion to adjourn sine die |
| Votes in favor | 33 |
| Votes against | 17 |
| Result | Motion passed |
| The Senate held a roll call vote on only 3 of the 11 articles before adjourning as a court. | |
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15th Governor of Tennessee
16th Vice President of the United States
17th President of the United States
Vice presidential and Presidential campaigns
Post-presidency
Family
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The impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, was held in the United States Senate and concluded with acquittal on three of eleven charges before adjourning sine die without a verdict on the remaining charges. It was the first impeachment trial of a U.S. president and was the sixth federal impeachment trial in U.S. history. The trial began March 5, 1868, and adjourned on May 26.
The trial was held after the United States House of Representatives impeached Johnson on February 24, 1868. In the eleven articles of impeachment adopted in early March 1868, the House had chiefly charged Johnson with violating the 1867 Tenure of Office Act by attempting to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office and name Lorenzo Thomas secretary of war ad interim.
During the trial, the prosecution offered by the impeachment managers that the House had appointed argued that Johnson had explicitly violated the Tenure of Office Act by dismissing Stanton without the consent of the Senate. The managers contended that United States presidents were obligated to carry out and honor the laws passed by the United States Congress, regardless of whether the president believed them to be constitutional. The managers argued that, otherwise, presidents would be allowed to regularly disobey the will of Congress (which they argued, as elected representatives, represented the will of the American people).
Johnson's defense both questioned the criminality of the alleged offenses and raised doubts about Johnson's intent. One of the points made by the defense was that ambiguity existed in the Tenure of Office Act that left open a vagueness as to whether it was actually applicable to Johnson's firing of Stanton. They also argued that the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional, and that Johnson's intent in firing Stanton had been to test the constitutionality of the law before the Supreme Court of the United States (and that Johnson was entitled to do so). They further argued that, even if the law were constitutional, that presidents should not be removed from office for misconstruing their constitutional rights. They further argued that Johnson was acting in interest of the necessity of keeping the Department of War functional by appointing Lorenzo Thomas as an interim officer, and that he had caused no public harm in doing so. They also argued that the Republican Party was using impeachment as a political tool. The defense asserted the view that presidents should not be removed from office by impeachment for political misdeeds, as this is what elections were meant for.
The trial resulted in acquittal, with the Senate voting identically on three of the eleven articles of impeachment, failing each time by a single vote to reach the supermajority needed to convict Johnson. On each of those three articles, thirty-five Republican senators voted to convict, while ten Republican senators and all nine Democratic senators voted to acquit. After those three votes all failed to result in a conviction, the Senate then adjourned the trial without voting on the remaining eight articles of impeachment. The majority decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in its 1926 Myers v. United States decision later opined in dictum that the Tenure of Office Act at the center of the impeachment had been a constitutionally invalid law.