Andrew Johnson's Impeachment

President Andrew Johnson assumed office following Lincoln’s assassination. Johnson had his own ideas of Reconstruction and tried to take his own course of action in putting the Union back together following the Civil War. A series of bitter political quarrels between President Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction Policy in the South eventually led to his impeachment.

The Impeachment of President Johnson was a result of a political battle with radical Republican movement.

Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon should have been impeached. Andrew Jackson was in violation of tenure of office act because he replaced another person without the senate approval. Richard Nixon was accussed for the watergate break in which it was the tape recording that it was recorded. He knew about the break in at the watergate. Nixon was looking at impeachment and conviction but instead of those he resigned as a president. Nixon took the smart move was to take the money if he resigned from presidency if he was impeached he would not get the money. That tells me he was desperate for money. So he took the easy way out. Bill Clinton had the sex scandal going on with Monica and he had faced the impeachment of prejury and obstruction of justices.

Only one U.S. president has been censured by the United States Senate and this was Andrew Jackson for what the senate believed to be abuse of presidential power during the Bank War. Andrew Jackson should be removed from the $20 bill. While Jackson was the 7th president of the united states and a national war hero after defeating the British in New Orleans during the War of 1812 he got rid of a whole government program because it didn't go along with his viewpoints. In 1816 the second bank of the United States was created five years after the First bank's charter expired. The bank had been run by a board of directors with ties to industry and manufacturing, however Jackson disagreed with the ways that the federal money was being spent as well

With the assassination of President Lincoln, the presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southerner named Andrew Johnson. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate Presidents. Over time there has been a controversial debate as to whether Johnson deserved to be impeached, or if it was an unconstitutional attempt by Congress to infringe upon the president's authority. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was politically motivated. The spirit of the Jacksonian democracy inspired Andrew Johnson. In 1857, Johnson was then elected to represent Tennessee in the US Senate. "While serving in the Senate, Johnson became an advocate of the Homestead Bill, which was opposed by most Southern Democrats and their

The first president to ever be put on trial for impeachment was Andrew Johnson. Johnson would start out as the running mate for Lincoln and would become his vice president. In 1865, Johnson would take over as president following Lincoln’s assassination. During his presidency his power and popularity would decline massively. Within months of each other he would veto the Freedman’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill, but they would be passed over his veto. Riots would soon start to break out. In February 1867, congress would pass the Tenure of Office Act, which would in hopes keep the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, at ease. Johnson would be punished because he violated this act due to suspending and then dismissing the Secretary of War. His impeachment trial began in 1868. The trial began in the Senate and Johnson would be acquitted with a vote of

The election of Ulysses S. Grant to President in 1868, was out of a need to for Radical Republicans to have a like-minded president in office unlike that of President Johnson who had been impeached, but not fired by Congress. This was a political power play that the Republicans needed to maintain control and to continue their version of Reconstruction upon the South. During his presidency his ability to wage war and place the correct people in charge did not transition well into the civilian role as President. President Grant’s terms would be plagued by indecision that nearly destroyed the nation’s economy, took advantage of the spoils of his position, and failed to maintain a platform which to politically stand on. President Grant may have been an excellent military General, but he was unable to let go the military man that he was and

During his presidency he faced numerous issues affecting the nation at the time. His reactions to the issues were often enacted with good intentions but horrible results. Or more often, his reactions were often of "fix it and forget it". His heavy handed Indian removal policy was quickly enacted without the initial cooperation of tribal officers. The removal policy was also one of submission rather than cooperation. To date, his administration is the only one to have paid off the national debt. However, this only lasted one year and was followed by a four year long depression. Another important reaction was the "nullification crisis" or the "succession crisis". Due to the "Tariff of Abominations" the southern states felt as though they were being punished by the taxes and the northern states rewarded. President Jackson threatened military action to enforce the law, which may be considered as one of the initial roots of the coming civil war.

Impeachment is the act of bringing charges to someone that challenges their integrity and or validity. People in high authority with the government can be impeached for bribery, treason, other high crimes, or even misdemeanors. The House is given the power to impeach a person but it requires a majority vote. Then the Senate has the right to try the person that the charges are being brought on but for this to happen they need a ⅔ vote. This process has happened only twice in American history; once with Andrew Jackson and once

From my perspective, I think President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment was justified. Even though I know that this impeachment was basically a set-up by a Congress controlled by Radical Republicans and the result of political conflict, Johnson himself was a poor President for many reasons. The official reason for the impeachment of Johnson was violating the Tenure of Office Act, a law passed in 1867 by the Congress. However, the essential reason that many in Congress hated him and set up this impeachment was his moderate plans for the readmission of the Southern states and his obstruction of Congressional legislation for Reconstruction in the south. Also, I think he was a virulent racist because he repeatedly vetoed laws that were intended to

At the conclusion of his trial, the Senate voted Johnson not guilty. Therefore, his innocence was proven by law and he should not have been impeached. One accusation stated against him read: “...did unlawfully and in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States issue and order in writing for the removal of Edwin M. Stanton from the office of Secretary for the Department of War, said Edwin M. Stanton…”. Congress accused Johnson of breaking a law that was meant for him to break. Congress set a clear trap for Johnson just to fulfill their desire to remove the opposing president from office. Some members of Congress reconsidered their actions and Johnson’s during the long period of his trial. This indicates that the impeachment was an act of impulsive hate against the president. In conclusion with the Senate voting Johnson not guilty, Andrew Johnson returned to office where he rightfully belonged the entire

This was partly due to Johnson being so lenient to grant pardons to the ex-Confederates. Not only that, but he also gave them special amnesty so that they could serve (The Agony of Reconstruction, 2011, p. 392). Congress, on the other hand, refused to seat the newly elected Southern delegates. A division was starting to form between Johnson and Congress. Congress wanted to restrict the role that ex-Confederates had in politics (The Agony of Reconstruction, 2011, p. 392). Congressional members also were striving to give basic rights and opportunities to African Americans. Due to this, Congress started to reject Johnson’s approach since it was going in the opposite direction of what Congress wanted. This division only became more prominent when Johnson vetoed two bills geared toward giving more rights to African Americans. After Congress instigated their plan for reconstruction in the South, Johnson tried to prevent the Congress from enforcing their plan. He would dismiss people in office who sympathized with this new reconstruction plan (The Agony of Reconstruction, 2011, p. 396). The moment it became apparent that Johnson would not give up his fight against Congress, they started to seek an impeachment. They used the argument that Johnson had abused his powers trying to disrupted Congress’s new plan for reconstruction. He had also gone against the Tenure of Office Act when he tried to dismiss Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, from office (Davidson, et al., 2013, p. 447). Congress was unable to remove Johnson from office; however, they managed to get him to continue with the reconstruction plan that the majority of Congress agreed too (The Agony of Reconstruction, 2011, p.

A crucial event that occurred was the impeachment of a president. Andrew Johnson was the president during the time of the reconstruction. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act (1991, History.com Staff). This act was passed to require the president to have approval from the House and Senate before removing any government officials. However, Johnson suspended Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, in August 1867. The Republicans in the House came together to vote for an impeachment. The vote came back, “thirty-five senators

Even do it was politically correct, I believe that Andrew Jackson loss his first run for presidency due to corrupt political arrangements between Henry Clay & John Quincy Adams. It was politically correct because even do, Jackson was the popular’ vote winner, the Electoral College did not gave him the majority needed to become president. Political influence and management of election mechanism gave time and enough votes to John Quincy Adams to become president, who after became president, appointed Clay as his secretary of state. By giving Clay the position of secretary of state, Adams returned him the favor of his support to become president. According to US, a narrative history, “ After he (Clay) met privately with Adams, he rallied the

During this period President Johnson continued his pardons and the 10% plan continued to readmit states to the union. Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia were a few of the 10% states readmitted. In opposition to Johnson's readmission policies and his Reconstruction plan, Radicals began to refuse to allow Democrats to sit in Congress. Congress also passes the Tenure of Office Act inhibiting the power of the President.