The Impeachment the President Mirrors Our Nation’s First

by

       M. Richard Maxson

      The impeachment of Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, was initiated on February 24, 1868. The United States House of Representatives resolved to impeach Johnson, for "high crimes and misdemeanors," which were detailed in 11 articles of impeachment. On March 2–3, 1868,Johnson became the first American president to be impeached when the House formally adopted the articles of impeachment and forwarded them to the United States Senate for adjudication.

      The primary charge against Johnson was violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The Tenure of Office Act was a United States federal law (in force from 1867 to 1887) that was intended to restrict the power of the president to remove certain office-holders without the approval of the Senate. The law was enacted on March 2, 1867, over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. This was an attempt by Congress to have control over and to restrict the powers of the executive branch. This was clearly un- constitutional without an amendment to the Constitution. It purported to deny the president the power to remove any executive officer who had been appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless the Senate approved the removal during the next full session of Congress.

       The trial in the Senate began three days later, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. On May 16, the Senate failed to convict Johnson on one of the articles, with the 35–19 vote in favor of conviction falling short of the necessary two-thirds majority by a single vote. A 10-day recess was called before attempting to convict him on additional articles. The delay did not change the outcome, however, as on May 26, it failed to convict the president on two articles, both by the same margin, after which the trial was adjourned. 

 

      The act was significantly amended on April 5, 1869, by President Ulysses S. Grant. Congress repealed the act in its entirety in 1887, exactly 20 years after the law was enacted. Lyman Trumbull(R) of Illinois one Republican senators whose refusal to vote for conviction prevented Johnson's removal from office noted in the speech he gave explaining his vote for acquittal, that "had President Johnson been convicted, the main source of the president's political power—the freedom to disagree with the Congress without consequences—would have been destroyed, and the Constitution's system of checks and balances along with it."

       Trumbull, in a speech defending his decision he stated, “Once set the example of impeaching a President for what, when the excitement of the hour shall have subsided, will be regarded as insufficient causes, as several of those now alleged against the President were decided to be by the House of Representatives only a few months since, and no future President will be safe who happens to differ with a majority of the House and two thirds of the Senate on any measure deemed by them important, particularly if of a political character. Blinded by partisan zeal, with such an example before them, they will not scruple to remove out of the way any obstacle to the accomplishment of their purposes, and what then becomes of the checks and balances of the Constitution, so carefully devised and so vital to its perpetuity? They are all gone.” He was correct. while evaluating the constitutionality of a similar law in Myers v. United States (1926), the Supreme Court stated that the Tenure of Office Act was likely invalid.

       The impeachment of President Trump is almost a mirror of our nation’s first impeachment in an attempt to control the executive branch. The President is an outsider who does not go through traditional channels to get things done. His distrust for “the swamp,” as he calls it, has inflamed the political elite and they have used their immense power to attempt to regain their control over the government. The impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson had important political implications for the balance of federal legislative–executive power. It maintained the principle that Congress should not remove the president from office simply because its members disagreed with him over policy, style, and administration of the office.