Andrew Johnson was the Republican President from 1865-1869. From the beginning of his Presidency after the assassination of Lincoln Johnson had already given a horrible first impression as to how he might be as a President during his inauguration. Johnson had been a congressman before for Tennessee, but now he faced the nation. He revealed to the nation that he was an alcoholic, as he was completely drunk during his inauguration. Johnson had been elected in a time where the nation would need a President who could quickly restore the Union.
In March of 1867, the Radical Republicans wanted to start their own Reconstruction plans, as Johnson's was not working the way they wanted it. Johnson's plan was generally effective, but very slow, and not completely thought out. The Radicals were able to pass a law that enabled them devise their own plans for reconstruction and keep Johnson out of it. On the side of the Radicals was Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton often worked with the Radicals. This in my opinion did not seem to be the worst of ideas as the Radicals could work on things and help out in speeding up the process of reconstruction. What did seem the worst of ideas was allowing the Radicals to primarily do anything they wanted in the name of reconstruction, and not be affected by the President. Due to this, Johnson had Stanton removed from office without the approval. After which, Johnson himself was impeached for doing so. His impeachment did not follow in the removal of office as he remained in office due to 1 single vote. The act of his impeachment came so fast, that the House of Representatives had not even adopted any specific terms of impeachment consisted of.
The committee worked eleven months trying to formulate answers to questions from its members — What is impeachment? What represents “treason, bribery, and other high crimes or misdemeanors?" (Hearn)
"The first problem conservatives faced involved the precedents. To bolster their arguments, proponents of the restrictive theory of impeachment turned to English Law." (Benedict)
Johnson should have in the first place not have even fired Stanton as Stanton might have been the best way to control the Radicals if needed. The permission had already been granted to the Radicals, and there was not much that Johnson himself could have done to stop it, and dismissing anyone from office sure was not the solution. During the impeachment the first two steps of impeachment were skipped primarily because Johnson had the unpopular vote of most everybody, which was probably not the most fair thing to do but...
The New York World expressed the opinion that impeachment would be carried because it was a party necessity. According to the Democratic paper, the Republicans simply could not permit the existing situation to continue for two more years. (Hans)The final outcome all of this was not really settling for anybody. Johnson returned to Tennessee. He was able to finish his Presidency, but died just five months later on July 31, 1875. The covernment would forever be effected by this as it now had articles of impeachment.
Benedict, Michael Les. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. W. W. Norton & Company. 1999
Hans, Louis Trefousse. Impeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Blacks, and Reconstruction. Forham University Press. United States. 1999
Hearn, Chester G.. The Impeachment Andrew Johnson. McFarland & Company. United States. 2000
No comments:
Post a Comment