616 THE PEOPLE'S APPROVAL OF THE ACTS OF CONGRESS.

Having laid aside the mask of assumed friendship for those who had labored most earnestly for the suppression of the rebellion and for the freedmen, the President used his veto power to the utmost in trying to thwart the representatives of the people in their efforts to reorganize the disorganized States, and to quickly secure a full and permanent restoration of the Union. on the basis of equal and exact justice.' He made uncompromising war upon the legislative branch of the Government, and caused members of his Cabinet, who could not agree with him, to resign, with the exception of the Secretary of War. The friends of the Republic urged that officer to remain, believing his retention of his bureau at that critical period in the life of the nation would be for the public benefit. He did so, and became the object of the President's hatred.

• 1866.

On the 2d of April," the President, by proclamation, declared the Civil War to be at an end. Congress, meanwhile, was working assiduously in perfecting its plans for reorganization. Tennessee was formally restored to the Union by that body on the 23d of July, and on the 29th of that month, after a long and arduous session, Congress adjourned. Meanwhile, notable events in the foreign relations of the Government had occurred.

b 1866.

The Emperor of the French had been informed that the continuation of French troops in Mexico was not agreeable to the United States, and on the 5th of April, Napoleon's Secretary for Foreign Affairs gave assurance to our Government that those troops should be withdrawn within a specified time. This was done, and the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, whom Louis Napoleon had placed on a throne in Mexico, with the title of Emperor, was deserted by the perfidious ruler of France, and after struggling against the native Republican Government for awhile, was captured and shot."

The State elections held in the autumn of 1866 indicated the decided approval by the people, of the reorganization plans of Congress as opposed to that of the President, who was now openly affiliated with the Democratic party and the late enemies of the Government, in the South and elsewhere. The majority in Congress felt strengthened by the popular approval of their course, and went steadily forward in perfecting measures for the restoration of the Union. They took steps for restraining the action of the President, who, it was manifest, had determined to carry out his own policy in defiance of that of Congress. And as an indication of the general policy of the latter, concerning suffrage, a bill was passed [December 14] by a large majority of both Houses for granting the elective franchise in the District of Columbia, over which Congress has direct control, to persons, "without any dis

tinction on account of color or race." The President vetoed this January 7, bill, when it was re-enacted by the constitutional vote of twothirds of the members of both Houses in its favor.

1867.

The steady opposition of the President to the measures for reorganization

1 On the 19th of February, 1866, he vetoed the act for enlarging the operations of the Freedmen's Bureau, established for the relief of freedmen, refugees, and abandoned lands. On the 27th of March he vetoed the act known as the Civil Rights Law, which was intended to secure to all citizens, without regard to color or a previous condition of slavery, equal civil rights in the Republic. This Act became a law, after it was vetoed by the President, by the vote of a constitutional majority, on the 9th of April.

2 See note 1, page 48.

· IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT PROPOSED.

617 adopted by Congress, and the uniform interposition of his veto, seemed so factious in intent, that on the day when he vetoed the District of Columbia Suffrage Bill, Mr. Ashley, Representative from Ohio, arose in his seat and charged "Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, and Acting-President of the United States, with the commission of acts which, in the estimation of the Constitution, are high crimes and misdemeanors, for which he ought to be impeached." He offered specifications and a resolution instructing the Committee on the Judiciary to make inquiries on the subject.' The resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and thirty-seven to thirty-eight, fortyfive members not voting. This was the first public movement in the matter of the impeachment of the President, which resulted in his trial, in April,

1868.

At a former session of Congress, bills were passed for the admission of the Territories of Colorado and Nevada, as States of the Union. The President interposed. Now similar bills were passed, prescribing as a preliminary to admission, a provision in their constitutions granting impartial suffrage to their citizens, and the ratification of the Amendment to the Constitution. The President vetoed them, when that for the admission of Nevada was passed over his veto. That Territory became a State on the first of March, making the thirty-seventh. A bill limiting the authority of the President in making official appointments and removals from office, known as the "Tenure-of-Office Act," was passed, and was vetoed by the President, when it was passed over the veto. Another bill was passed, vetoed, and passed over the veto, repealing so much of an act of July 17, 1862, as gave the President power to grant amnesty and pardon to those who had been engaged in the Rebellion. A bill was also passed, with the same opposition from the President, for the military government of the disorganized States.3 The Thirty-Ninth Congress closed its last session on the 3d of March, and the Fortieth Congress began its first session immediately thereafter. view of the conduct of the President, which threatened the country with revolution, this action of the National Legislature was necessary for the

Mr. Ashley presented the following: "I do impeach Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, and Acting-President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors. I charge him with usurpation of power and violation of law, (1) In that he has corruptly used the appointing power; (2) In that he has corruptly used the pardoning power; (3) In that he has corruptly used the veto power; (4) In that he has corruptly disposed of public property of the United States; and (5) In that he has corruptly interfered in elections, and committed acts which, in contemplation of the Constitution, are high crimes and misdemeanors."

On the 14th of January, Representative Loan, from Missouri, in the course of a debate concerning the duty of the House to proceed to the impeachment of the President, said that the leaders of the rebellion comprehended the advantages of having such a man as the then incumbent, in the Presidential chair. "Hence," he said, "the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. The crime was committed. The way was made clear for the succession. An assassin's hand, wielded and directed by rebel hand, and paid for by rebel gold, made Andrew Johnson President of the United States of America. The price that he was to pay for his promotion was treachery to the Republic, and fidelity to the party of treason and rebellion." Mr. Loan was called to order. The Speaker decided that he was not out of order, the subject of debate being the charges against the President, of "high crimes and misdemeanors," a member having the right, on his own responsibility, to make a specific charge. This decision was appealed from, when the Speaker was sustained by a vote of 101 to 8.

2 It took from the President, among other things, the power to remove a member of his cabinet, excepting by permission of the Senate, declaring that they should hold office for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the consent of the Senate." The act was passed over the veto by a vote in the Senate of 35 to 11, and in the House of 131 to 37.

Those States were divided into five military districts, and the following commanders were appointed: First District, Virginia, General J. M. Schofield; Second District, North and South Carolina, General D. E. Sickles; Third District, Georgia, Florida and Alabama, General J. Pope; Fourth District, Mississippi and Arkansas, General E. O. C. Ord; Fifth District, Louisiana and Texas, General P. H. Sheridan.

618

REMOVAL OF FAITHFUL MEN.

public good. It adjourned on the 31st of March, to meet on the first Wednesday in July. It assembled accordingly on the 4th of that month, and on the 20th adjourned to meet on the 21st of November. The chief business of the short session was to adopt measures for removing the obstructions cast by the President in the way of a restoration of the disorganized States. A bill supplementary to the one for the military government of those States was passed over the usual veto of the President, and it was believed that the Chief Magistrate would refrain from further acts calculated to disturb the public peace. Not so. Immediately after the adjournment of Congress, he proceeded, in defiance of that body, and in alleged violation of the Tenure-of-Office Act, to remove the Secretary of War (Mr. Stanton), and to place General Grant in his place. The President first asked the Secretary to resign. Mr. Stanton refused.' A week later the President directed General Grant to assume the duties of Secretary of War. Grant obeyed. Stanton retired, under protest, well satisfied that his office was left in the hands of a patriot whom the President could not corrupt, nor unlawfully control.

"Aug. 5,

1867.

a

The removal of the Secretary of War was followed by the removal of General Sheridan from the command of the Fifth District, and General Sickles from that of the Second District, by which the country was notified that the most faithful officers, who were working with the representatives of the people for the proper and speedy restoration of the Union, would be deprived of power to be useful. General Grant protested against these acts, but in vain. The country was greatly excited, and the loyal people waited with impatience the reassembling of Congress, upon which they relied in that hour of seeming peril to the Republic. That body met at the appointed time, and on the 12th of December the President sent to the Senate a statement of his reasons for removing the Secretary of War. They were not satisfactory, and on the 13th of January' the Senate reinstated Mr. Stanton, and General Grant retired from the War Department." Already Congress had made much progress toward the restoration of the disorganized States to the Union, by providing for conventions for framing constitutions and electing members of Congress; and a few days after the restoration of Mr. Stanton, a new bill for the further reorganization of those States was passed by the House of Representatives, in which larger powers were given to the General-in-Chief of the armies in their military government, and depriving the President of all power to interfere in the matter.

1868.

On the 21st of February, the President caused a new and € 1868. more intense excitement throughout the country, by a bolder

1 The President addressed a note to the Secretary, in which he said, "Grave public considerations constrain me to request your resignation as Secretary of War." The Secretary replied: "Grave public considerations constrain me to continue in the office of Secretary of War until the next meeting of Congress." It is believed that the President was then contemplating a revolutionary scheme, in favor of the late enemies of the country, and was seeking to use the army for that purpose.

2 The President was angry with General Grant for quietly giving up the office to Stanton, at the bidding of the Senate, and he charged the General-in-Chief with having broken his promises, and tried to injure his reputation as a soldier and a citizen. A correspondence ensued, which speedily found its way to the public. It assumed the form of a question of veracity between the President and the General-in-Chief. Finally, Grant felt compelled to say to the President: "When my honor as a soldier, and integrity as a man, have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I can but regard this whole matter, from beginning to end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law, for which you hesitated to assume the responsibility in orders. and thus to destroy my character before the country." The President did not deny this charge.

THE PRESIDENT IMPEACHED.

619

step in opposition to the will of Congress than he had hitherto ventured to take. On that day he issued an order to Mr. Stanton, removing him from the office of Secretary of War, and another to Lorenzo Thomas, the AdjutantGeneral, appointing him Secretary of War, ad interim. These orders were officially communicated to the Senate, whereupon that body passed a resolution that the President had no authority under the Constitution and laws to remove the Secretary of War. In the mean time, Thomas had appeared at the War Department and demanded the position to which the President had assigned him, when Mr. Stanton, his superior, refused to yield it, and ordered him to return to his proper office. The President being satisfied that he would not be permitted to use military force in the matter, did not attempt to eject Mr. Stanton by force, and so that officer retained his place. This action of the President was so manifestly in violation of law, that on the following day" the House of Representatives, by a vote of 126 to 47,"Resolved that Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors.”2 29th,' a committee of the House, appointed for the purpose, presented articles of impeachment, nine in number, and these, with slight alterations, were accepted on the 2d of March. The House then proceeded to the appointment of Managers, to conduct the business before the

Feb. 22, 1868.

On the

⚫ February.

1 This was an almost strictly party vote. Only two Republicans (Cary of Ohio, and Stewart of New York) voted in the negative, while all the Democrats voted against the resolution.

2 We have seen (page 617) that the subject of the impeachment of the President was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. That Committee submitted reports, which were acted upon on the 7th of December, when the House of Representatives, taking into consideration the gravity of such ⚫ Nov. 25, a proceeding, and indulging a hope that the President would cease making war upon Congress, and 1867. attend to his legitimate duties as simply the executor of the people's will, expressed by their representatives, refused, by a large majority, to entertain a proposition for impeachment. Now, so flagrant was the act of the President, that the Republican members were eager to place him upon trial, and several who were not present when the vote recorded in the text was taken, afterward entered their votes in favor of impeach

ment.

The committee consisted of Messrs. Boutwell, Stevens (who made the motion for impeachment), Bingham, Wilson, Logan, Julian and Ward. Messrs. Stevens and Bingham were appointed a committee to announce to the Senate the action of the House. This they did on the 25th of February, when the Senate, by unanimous vote, referred the subject to a select committee of seven to consider it.

4 The following is a brief summary of the charges in the Articles of Impeachment:-Article 1. Unlawfully ordering the removal of Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War, in violation of the provisions of the Tenure-of-Office Act. Article 2. Unlawfully appointing General Lorenzo Thomas as Secretary of War, ad interim. Article 8. Substantially the same as Article 2, with the additional averment that there was at the time of the appointment of General Thomas, no vacancy in the office of Secretary of War. Article 4. Conferring with one Lorenzo Thomas, and other persons to the House of Representatives unknown, to prevent, by intimidation and threats, Mr. Stanton, the legally appointed Secretary of War, from holding that office. Article 5. Conspiring with General Thomas and others to hinder the execution of the Tenure-of-Office Act, and in pursuance of this conspiracy, attempting to prevent Mr. Stanton from acting as Secretary of War. Article 6. Conspiring with General Thomas and others to take forcible possession of the property in the War Department. Article 7. Repeated the charge of conspiring to hinder the execution of the Tenure-of-Office Act, and prevent Mr. Stanton from executing the office of Secretary of War. Article 9. Charged that the President called before him the commander of the forces in the Department of Washington and declared to him that a law, passed on the 30th of June, 1867, directing that "all orders and instructions relating to military operations, issued by the President or Secretary of War, shall be issued through the General of the Army, and in case of his inability through the next in rank," was unconstitutional, and not binding upon the commander of the Department of Washington; the intent being to induce that commander to violate the law, and to obey orders issued directly

from the President.

On the 3d of March, the managers presented two additional articles, which were adopted by the House. The first charged that the President had, by inflammatory speeches, during his journey from Washington to Chicago, already mentioned (page 615), attempted, with a design to set aside the authority of Congress, to bring it into disgrace, and to excite the odium and resentment of the people against Congress and the laws it enacted. The second charged that in August, 1866, the President, in a public speech at Washington City, declared that Congress was not a body authorized by the Constitution to exercise legislative powers; and then went on to specify his offenses in endeavoring by unlawful means, to prevent the execution of laws passed by Congress. These formed the 10th and 11th Articles of Impeachment.

620

THE PRESIDENT'S TRIAL.

Senate,' when the Democratic members of the House, to the number of forty five, entered a formal protest against the whole proceedings.

On the 5th of March," the Senate was organized as a jury for the trial of the President. Chief-Justice Salmon P. Chase presided. On a 1868. the 7th the President was summoned to appear at the bar; and on the 13th, when the Senate formally reopened, he did so appear, by his counsel, who asked for a space of forty days wherein to prepare an answer to the indictment. Ten days were granted, and on the 23d the President's counsel presented an answer. The House of Representatives, the accuser, simply denied every averment in the answer, when the President's counsel asked for a postponement of the trial for thirty days. They allowed seven days, and on Monday, the 30th of March, the trial began. The examination of witnesses was closed on the 22d of April, and on the following day the arguments of counsel began. These closed on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 6th of May, when the case was submitted to the judgment of the Senate. Its decision was given on the 26th of the same month. Every member of the Senate was present, and voted. Thirty-five pronounced the President guilty, and nineteen declared him not guilty. He escaped legal conviction by one vote.3

While the unseemly controversy between Congress and the President was going on, the work of reorganization, in accordance with the plans of Congress, was in steady motion, in spite of the interference of the 1868. Chief Magistrate; and at a little past midsummer," a Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which formed an important feature in the so-called "reconstruction" measures, was ratified by the requisite number of State Legislatures, and became a part of the "supreme law of the land.”

1 The following members of the House of Representatives were chosen to be managers, on its part, of the impeachment case: Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania; Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts; John A. Bingham, of Ohio; George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts; James F. Wilson, of Iowa; Thomas Williams, of Pennsylvania, and John A. Logan, of Illinois. The chief management of the case, on the part of the House, as prosecutor, was intrusted to Mr. Butler.

See clause 6, section 3, article I., of the National Constitution.

3 The vote of the Senate was as follows:

For Conviction-Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Morgan, Morrill of Vermont, Morrill of Maine, Morton, Nye, Patterson of New Hampshire, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson and Yates. These were all " Republicans."

For Acquittal-Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Fowler, Grimes, Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, McCreery, Norton, Patterson of Tennessee, Ross, Saulsbury, Trumbull, Van Winkle and Vickers. Eight of these, namely: Bayard, Buckalew, Davis, Hendricks, Johnson, McCreery, Saulsbury and Vickers, were elected to the Senate as "Democrats." The remainder were elected as “Republicans."

4 This Amendment was a part of the "reconstruction" plan of the committee mentioned in note 2, page 615, and was first submitted to the lower house of Congress, in a report of that committee, on the 30th of April, 1866. It was amended by the Senate, and passed that body by a vote of 83 to 11, on the 8th of June. The House passed it on the 18th, by a vote of 120 yeas to 32 nays. The following is a copy of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution:

“ARTICLE XIV., SECTION 1.-All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

"SEC. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several States, according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed; but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State (being 21 years of age and citizens of the United States), or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in said State.