The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

A detailed Summary of The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

The impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson was on the surface a trial about a violation of the Tenure of Office Act, when in actuality there were other stronger underlying causes. Andrew Johnson's impeachment by the Radical Republicans was caused by his lenient policies of Reconstruction, his opposition to the fourteenth Amendment, and his veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Act. Andrew Johnson couldn't be impeached solely because of his awful policies and therefore the radical Republicans waited patiently for a slip up which they would later find in the Tenure of Office Act. In 1868, the United States Senate was only one vote away from removing Andrew Johnson from office.

Andrew Johnson was a Democrat who became the 17th president of the United States after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, on April 15, 1865. Johnson was a slave owner and pro-Union. As president he was in a struggle with the radical Republicans over how to restore the Union after the Civil War. The contest over reconstruction was so harsh that he was impeached by the House of Representatives and tried before the U.S. Senate, which found him not guilty of the charges. Ironically Johnson was expected to be a great president when initially coming into office

When his term ended in 1869, Johnson returned to Tennessee, where he was again in conflict with the old leaders of the Democratic Party. He rebuilt his Democratic organization, and after several unsuccessful runs for Congress, he got elected again to the U.S. Senate in 1875. He died shortly afterwards, however, on July 31, 1875.

Andrew Johnson came within a single vote of being impeached from office. He was hands down an awful president. He was a racist and a power hungry man who practiced his powers to their most extreme limitations. Johnson was uncompromising, with lenient ineffective policies, and he vetoed important and effective bills. However, although he was an awful president and undeserving of being in office, the grounds for his impeachment were based on a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The Tenure of Office Act was worth vetoing because it gave too much power to the Senate. William Everts, a defense lawyer for the President, contended in his closing argument in the impeachment trial that the violation of the Tenure of Office Act did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense: "They wish to know whether the President has betrayed our liberties or our possessions to a foreign state. They wish to know whether he has delivered up a fortress or surrendered a fleet. They wish to know whether he has made merchandise of the public trust and turned the authority to private gain. And when informed that none of these things are charges, imputed, or even declaimed about, they yet seek further information and are told that he has removed a member of his cabinet." 1 It is obvious that the main reason why Johnson was impeached was not because of the Tenure of Office Act but rather because of other reasons. Andrew Johnson was impeached because of his lenient policies of Reconstruction, his opposition to the fourteenth Amendment, and his veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Act.

The radical Republicans strongly op

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Category: History