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Today in History: President Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment Trial Ends in Acquittal
05/16/10
On May 16, 1868, the historic impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended in his acquittal by the U.S. Senate. The effort to remove Johnson from office failed by a single vote.
Johnson had assumed the presidency in April 1865, following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and immediately confronted the difficult task of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Johnson’s lenient plans for dealing with the defeated South ran into opposition from Republicans in Congress, who favored a more radical approach. Johnson vetoed a number of Reconstruction acts passed by Congress, including the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Act, and Congress passed several acts over his veto.
The conflict between the president and Congress came to a head in 1867, when Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton—one of his main political rivals—from his cabinet without Congressional approval, in violation of the Tenure of Office Act that had been passed earlier that year. Congress responded by passing eleven articles of impeachment against Johnson. The resulting trial captivated the American people until it finally ended in the president’s acquittal.
Read the ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON
Read ANDREW JOHNSON’S VETO OF THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU BILL
Read ANDREW JOHNSON’S VETO OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT