Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

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The impeachment of Andrew Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors" was initiated by the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 1868. The alleged high crimes and misdemeanors were afterwards specified in eleven articles of impeachment adopted by the House on March 2 and 3, 1868. The primary charge against Johnson was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act by replacing Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, with Lorenzo Thomas ad interim. The Act had been passed by Congress in March 1867, Johnson's veto overruled, with the primary intent of protecting Stanton from being fired without the Senate's consent. Stanton often sided with the Radical Republican faction and had a good relationship with Johnson. Johnson was the first United States president to be impeached. After the House formally adopted the articles of impeachment, they forwarded them to the United States Senate for adjudication. The trial in the Senate began on March 5, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding...

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