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President Andrew Johnson Impeachment Documents, Histories and Newspapers - Download
President Andrew Johnson Impeachment Documents, Histories and Newspapers
7,342 pages of documents, histories, and newspapers covering the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, who became the first President of the United States to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He was impeached in 1868 for dismissing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without the approval of the Senate as required in the Tenure of Office Act and for attacking congressional policies on the Reconstruction in the South.
Materials include:
Congressional Transcripts and Reports
The Constitutionality and Rightfulness of Secession Speech before the U.S. Senate by Andrew Johnson (1860)
Speech of Hon. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, on the War for the Union; Delivered in the Senate of the United States, July 27, 1861 (1861)
Impeachment Investigation Testimony Taken before the Judiciary committee of the House of Representatives in the Investigation of the Charges Against Andrew Johnson (1867)
Report on the Impeachment of the President (1867)
Rules of the Senate of the United States, and Joint Rules of the Two Houses Also Rules of Practice and Procedure In The Senate When Sitting for the Trial of Impeachments. (1868)
Speech of General Butler, Against Further Delays in the Trial of Impeachment in the Senate Sitting on the Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Thursday, April 16, 1868 (1868)
Opening Argument of Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, One of the Managers on the Impeachment of the President (1868)
Proceedings in the Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, before the United States Senate, on Articles of Impeachment Exhibited by the House of Representatives. With an appendix. (1868)
Supplement to The Congressional Globe - Containing the Proceedings of the Senate sitting for the Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States Fortieth Congress, Second Session. (1868)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Volume 1 (1868)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Volume 2 (1868)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Volume 3 (1868)
Newspaper Articles
202 pages of Newspaper articles dating from January 1867 to June 1868 covering the impeachment of President Johnson. Most articles are from the Washington Evening Star, New York Tribune, New York Herald and the Chicago Tribune. Also includes newspapers from around the country such as the Charleston Daily News, Alexandria Gazette, Nashville Union and Dispatch, Dallas Herald, Daily Ohio Statesman, The Louisiana Democrat, New Orleans Republican, Memphis Daily Appeal, The Anderson Intelligencer (Anderson Court House, S.C.), The Grenada Sentinel (Grenada, Miss.) and others.
Thaddeus Stevens Papers
326 pages of Thaddeus Stevens, Republican representative from Pennsylvania, papers covering his work on the articles of impeachment and their presentation to the Senate. Led by an aging and ailing Thaddeus Stevens, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction rapidly drafted a resolution of impeachment. Stevens was one of the managers on behalf of the House of Representatives presenting the case for impeachment to the Senate.
Contemporary Histories
A Full and Impartial Report. The Great Impeachment (1868)
The Great Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson President of the United States. (1868)
The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth President of the United States; A History by David Miller Dewitt (1903)
Congressional Research Service Reports
Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment A Historical Overview September 16,1998 (1998), Impeachment Grounds - A Collection of Selected Materials October 29,1998 (1998), Impeachment Grounds Part 2 Selected Constitutional Convention Materials October 30,1998 (1998) and Impeachment and Removal October 29, 2015 (2015).
Modern Histories
National Park Service Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (2008)
National Park Service Impeachment and the 17th President Factsheet
National Park Service The Era Of Reconstruction, 1861-1900 A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study (2017)
The Senate Historical Office, Floyd M. Riddick Senate Parliamentarian, 1964-1974 Interview #6 The Impeachment Process (September 28,1978) (1978)
The Senate Historical Office, Senate Adopts First Impeachment Rules
The Senate Historical Office, U.S. Senate - The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1868) President of the United States
Impeachment Background
A second term for President Lincoln was not a foregone conclusion for much of 1864. Republican Party politics were unsettled heading into the 1864 Presidential election. The incumbent, Abraham Lincoln, was opposed by the “Radical Republicans” in his own party who did not believe he was doing enough to prosecute the end of the Civil War. At the same time, some pro-war Democrats supported Lincoln.
Consequently, the Republicans changed their name to the National Union Party for the 1864 Presidential election. As a gesture to the pro-war Democrats, the National Union Party nominated Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, as Lincoln’s running mate. Johnson was serving as the military governor of Tennessee at the time. Critical Union military victories earned Lincoln enough public support to win a comfortable victory in the November election.
The bullet that felled Abraham Lincoln in 1865 lead to Andrew Johnson becoming President, taking the oath of office on April 15, 1865. The last, large Confederate army surrendered on April 26, and in May he presided over several military reviews celebrating the Union victory. In early June, Johnson asserted his legitimacy as Lincoln’s successor by moving into the Executive Mansion.
The new chief executive backed a plan for quickly reintegrating the former Confederate states into the Union. Congress’s more radical Republicans demanded stronger measures to punish rebellious states and protect the rights of freed slaves. Johnson’s tenure became more troubled in December of 1865. Johnson appointed provisional governors for several of the defeated southern states. These defeated southern states began enacting what were known as “Black Codes,” which placed restrictions on freed slaves. The codes varied by state, but they included provisions that echoed limits African Americans had endured while enslaved, such as not being allowed to assemble without a white person present and being prohibited from learning to read and write.
Congress passed an extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau in February 1866. This was an attempt to combat the Black Codes in the ex-Confederate states. However, President Johnson vetoed the extension. In fall 1866, Johnson campaigned strongly against Radical Republicans running for Congress. However, the November elections went poorly for him, and the Republican Party came back for the next session of Congress with a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and a strong dislike for Johnson’s perceived treatment of the former Confederate states. The Republicans in Congress very quickly used their supermajority to pass the First Reconstruction Act in March 1867, over Johnson’s veto. They later overrode Johnson’s veto of the second and third Reconstruction Acts.
Just as important, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson’s veto in March 1867. This law prohibited Johnson from removing cabinet members without the Senate’s approval. The purpose of the Tenure of Office Act was to protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from removal. Johnson defied Congress in August 1867 by suspending Stanton and appointing Ulysses S. Grant the interim Secretary of War.
Congressional opposition to Johnson's policies on the Reconstruction of the southern states bubbled over and in 1867 the Committee on Judiciary of the House of Representatives conducted an investigation as a preliminary to impeaching Johnson.
On March 4, 1868, the House of Representatives formally presented 11 articles of impeachment to the Senate, making Andrew Johnson the first President in the country’s history to be impeached.
Most of the articles of impeachment dealt with various issues surrounding President Johnson’s alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act, although a few, like Article 11, did not do so directly. Article 11 accused President Johnson of declaring the 39th Congress unconstitutional because it was a Congress of only part of the states. Ultimately, the House managers decided that their best chance of conviction was with Article 11.
Chief Justice Salmon Chase presided over the trial. Former Attorney General Henry Stanbery led President Johnson’s defense team. He had resigned as Attorney General to devote all of his time and energy to the President’s trial defense. John A. Bingham of Ohio was the chairman of the House impeachment managers. Two other prominent House managers were Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts and Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania.
The Senate voted on first voted on article 11 of impeachment. On May 16, 1868, seven Republican senators defied party leaders, voting with the 12 Democrats to acquit Johnson of “high crimes and misdemeanors”—by a one-vote margin. The deciding vote turned out to be that of Edmund Ross. Those who knew him thought that Ross would vote in favor of conviction. However, when his turn to vote came, Ross very quickly voted “not guilty,” thus guaranteeing there would not be enough votes to convict President Johnson.
On May 26 the Senate also failed by the same margin (35 to 19) to convict Johnson on articles two and three.
Unsure of the next step forward, Republicans recessed temporarily before coming back 10 days later to vote on Articles 2 and 3. Both of those votes failed by the same one-vote margin, effectively ending President Johnson’s impeachment trial. Johnson went on to serve the last few months of his term.
To this day, Edmund Ross’s motives for voting “not guilty” are still being debated. One theory is that President Johnson’s friends made use of a $150,000 slush fund to bribe the senator. Another is that he was not happy with the prospect of Benjamin Wade, president pro tempore of the Senate, becoming President. It has even been put forward that multiple senators voting after Ross would have cast the deciding “not guilty” vote if Ross had not. Regardless, Ross’s vote sealed the “not guilty” verdict. Ross lost re-election after the Senate trial and later switched to the Democratic Party. He blamed the Senate trial vote for hurting his political career. Grover Cleveland, who was the first Democratic president to take office since the Civil War, named Ross as the governor of the New Mexico Territory.
Johnson returned to Washington in 1875 as a senator, the first former president to serve in the chamber.
Writ of Summons for the Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson Signed by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
7,342 pages of documents, histories, and newspapers covering the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, who became the first President of the United States to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He was impeached in 1868 for dismissing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without the approval of the Senate as required in the Tenure of Office Act and for attacking congressional policies on the Reconstruction in the South.
Materials include:
Congressional Transcripts and Reports
The Constitutionality and Rightfulness of Secession Speech before the U.S. Senate by Andrew Johnson (1860)
Speech of Hon. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, on the War for the Union; Delivered in the Senate of the United States, July 27, 1861 (1861)
Impeachment Investigation Testimony Taken before the Judiciary committee of the House of Representatives in the Investigation of the Charges Against Andrew Johnson (1867)
Report on the Impeachment of the President (1867)
Rules of the Senate of the United States, and Joint Rules of the Two Houses Also Rules of Practice and Procedure In The Senate When Sitting for the Trial of Impeachments. (1868)
Speech of General Butler, Against Further Delays in the Trial of Impeachment in the Senate Sitting on the Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Thursday, April 16, 1868 (1868)
Opening Argument of Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, One of the Managers on the Impeachment of the President (1868)
Proceedings in the Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, before the United States Senate, on Articles of Impeachment Exhibited by the House of Representatives. With an appendix. (1868)
Supplement to The Congressional Globe - Containing the Proceedings of the Senate sitting for the Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States Fortieth Congress, Second Session. (1868)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Volume 1 (1868)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Volume 2 (1868)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Volume 3 (1868)
Newspaper Articles
202 pages of Newspaper articles dating from January 1867 to June 1868 covering the impeachment of President Johnson. Most articles are from the Washington Evening Star, New York Tribune, New York Herald and the Chicago Tribune. Also includes newspapers from around the country such as the Charleston Daily News, Alexandria Gazette, Nashville Union and Dispatch, Dallas Herald, Daily Ohio Statesman, The Louisiana Democrat, New Orleans Republican, Memphis Daily Appeal, The Anderson Intelligencer (Anderson Court House, S.C.), The Grenada Sentinel (Grenada, Miss.) and others.
Thaddeus Stevens Papers
326 pages of Thaddeus Stevens, Republican representative from Pennsylvania, papers covering his work on the articles of impeachment and their presentation to the Senate. Led by an aging and ailing Thaddeus Stevens, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction rapidly drafted a resolution of impeachment. Stevens was one of the managers on behalf of the House of Representatives presenting the case for impeachment to the Senate.
Contemporary Histories
A Full and Impartial Report. The Great Impeachment (1868)
The Great Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson President of the United States. (1868)
The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth President of the United States; A History by David Miller Dewitt (1903)
Congressional Research Service Reports
Congressional Resolutions on Presidential Impeachment A Historical Overview September 16,1998 (1998), Impeachment Grounds - A Collection of Selected Materials October 29,1998 (1998), Impeachment Grounds Part 2 Selected Constitutional Convention Materials October 30,1998 (1998) and Impeachment and Removal October 29, 2015 (2015).
Modern Histories
National Park Service Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (2008)
National Park Service Impeachment and the 17th President Factsheet
National Park Service The Era Of Reconstruction, 1861-1900 A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study (2017)
The Senate Historical Office, Floyd M. Riddick Senate Parliamentarian, 1964-1974 Interview #6 The Impeachment Process (September 28,1978) (1978)
The Senate Historical Office, Senate Adopts First Impeachment Rules
The Senate Historical Office, U.S. Senate - The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1868) President of the United States
Impeachment Background
A second term for President Lincoln was not a foregone conclusion for much of 1864. Republican Party politics were unsettled heading into the 1864 Presidential election. The incumbent, Abraham Lincoln, was opposed by the “Radical Republicans” in his own party who did not believe he was doing enough to prosecute the end of the Civil War. At the same time, some pro-war Democrats supported Lincoln.
Consequently, the Republicans changed their name to the National Union Party for the 1864 Presidential election. As a gesture to the pro-war Democrats, the National Union Party nominated Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, as Lincoln’s running mate. Johnson was serving as the military governor of Tennessee at the time. Critical Union military victories earned Lincoln enough public support to win a comfortable victory in the November election.
The bullet that felled Abraham Lincoln in 1865 lead to Andrew Johnson becoming President, taking the oath of office on April 15, 1865. The last, large Confederate army surrendered on April 26, and in May he presided over several military reviews celebrating the Union victory. In early June, Johnson asserted his legitimacy as Lincoln’s successor by moving into the Executive Mansion.
The new chief executive backed a plan for quickly reintegrating the former Confederate states into the Union. Congress’s more radical Republicans demanded stronger measures to punish rebellious states and protect the rights of freed slaves. Johnson’s tenure became more troubled in December of 1865. Johnson appointed provisional governors for several of the defeated southern states. These defeated southern states began enacting what were known as “Black Codes,” which placed restrictions on freed slaves. The codes varied by state, but they included provisions that echoed limits African Americans had endured while enslaved, such as not being allowed to assemble without a white person present and being prohibited from learning to read and write.
Congress passed an extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau in February 1866. This was an attempt to combat the Black Codes in the ex-Confederate states. However, President Johnson vetoed the extension. In fall 1866, Johnson campaigned strongly against Radical Republicans running for Congress. However, the November elections went poorly for him, and the Republican Party came back for the next session of Congress with a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and a strong dislike for Johnson’s perceived treatment of the former Confederate states. The Republicans in Congress very quickly used their supermajority to pass the First Reconstruction Act in March 1867, over Johnson’s veto. They later overrode Johnson’s veto of the second and third Reconstruction Acts.
Just as important, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson’s veto in March 1867. This law prohibited Johnson from removing cabinet members without the Senate’s approval. The purpose of the Tenure of Office Act was to protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from removal. Johnson defied Congress in August 1867 by suspending Stanton and appointing Ulysses S. Grant the interim Secretary of War.
Congressional opposition to Johnson's policies on the Reconstruction of the southern states bubbled over and in 1867 the Committee on Judiciary of the House of Representatives conducted an investigation as a preliminary to impeaching Johnson.
On March 4, 1868, the House of Representatives formally presented 11 articles of impeachment to the Senate, making Andrew Johnson the first President in the country’s history to be impeached.
Most of the articles of impeachment dealt with various issues surrounding President Johnson’s alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act, although a few, like Article 11, did not do so directly. Article 11 accused President Johnson of declaring the 39th Congress unconstitutional because it was a Congress of only part of the states. Ultimately, the House managers decided that their best chance of conviction was with Article 11.
Chief Justice Salmon Chase presided over the trial. Former Attorney General Henry Stanbery led President Johnson’s defense team. He had resigned as Attorney General to devote all of his time and energy to the President’s trial defense. John A. Bingham of Ohio was the chairman of the House impeachment managers. Two other prominent House managers were Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts and Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania.
The Senate voted on first voted on article 11 of impeachment. On May 16, 1868, seven Republican senators defied party leaders, voting with the 12 Democrats to acquit Johnson of “high crimes and misdemeanors”—by a one-vote margin. The deciding vote turned out to be that of Edmund Ross. Those who knew him thought that Ross would vote in favor of conviction. However, when his turn to vote came, Ross very quickly voted “not guilty,” thus guaranteeing there would not be enough votes to convict President Johnson.
On May 26 the Senate also failed by the same margin (35 to 19) to convict Johnson on articles two and three.
Unsure of the next step forward, Republicans recessed temporarily before coming back 10 days later to vote on Articles 2 and 3. Both of those votes failed by the same one-vote margin, effectively ending President Johnson’s impeachment trial. Johnson went on to serve the last few months of his term.
To this day, Edmund Ross’s motives for voting “not guilty” are still being debated. One theory is that President Johnson’s friends made use of a $150,000 slush fund to bribe the senator. Another is that he was not happy with the prospect of Benjamin Wade, president pro tempore of the Senate, becoming President. It has even been put forward that multiple senators voting after Ross would have cast the deciding “not guilty” vote if Ross had not. Regardless, Ross’s vote sealed the “not guilty” verdict. Ross lost re-election after the Senate trial and later switched to the Democratic Party. He blamed the Senate trial vote for hurting his political career. Grover Cleveland, who was the first Democratic president to take office since the Civil War, named Ross as the governor of the New Mexico Territory.
Johnson returned to Washington in 1875 as a senator, the first former president to serve in the chamber.
Writ of Summons for the Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson Signed by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
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