Слике страница
PDF
ePub

public movement in the matter of the impeachment of the President, which resulted in his trial in May, 1868.

At a former session of Congress, bills were passed for the admission of the Territories of Colorado and Nebraska 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 or Nebraska 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. The Thirty-ninth Congress closed its last session on the 3d of March, and the Fortieth Congress began its first session immediately thereafter. In view of the conduct of the President, which threatened the country with revolution, this action of the National Legislature was deemed necessary for the public good. It adjourned on the 31st of March, to meet on the first Wednesday in July.

Congress assembled on the 4th of July, 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 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.

1 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.

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 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 [August 5, 1867] the Secretary to resign. Mr. Stanton refused.' A week later the President directed General Grant to assume the duties of Secre

EDWIN M. STANTON.

tary 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.

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.

[graphic]

Gen

eral 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 tlfat 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

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 was 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.

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.

On the 21st of February, the President caused a new and more intense excitement throughout the country, by a bolder 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 Adjutant-General, 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 supe

[graphic][merged small]

rior, 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 [February 22, 1868], 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."? On the 29th [February, 1868], a committee of the House, appointed for the pur

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 728) that the subject of the impeachment of the President was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. That committee submitted reports (Nov. 25, 1867) which were acted upon on the 7th of December, when the House of Representatives, taking into consideration the gravity of such a proceeding, and indulging a hope that the President would cease making war upon Congress and attend to his legitimate duties as simply the Executor of the poeple's will, expressed by their representatives, refused, by a large majority, to entertain a pro

pose,' 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 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 [1868], the Senate was organized as a jury for the trial of the President. Chief-Justice Salmon P. Chase presided. On the 7th the President was summoned to appear at the bar; and on the 13th, when the Senate was formally opened for the inquest, 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. The Senate allowed seven days, and on Monday, the 30th of March, the trial began. The examination of

position 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 impeachment.

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 (Feb.), when the Senate, by unanimous vote, referred the subject to a select committee of seven, to consider it.

"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 3. 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. Conspiring 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 8. Repeated the charge of conspiring to take possession of the War Department. 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 (see page 729), directing that "all orders and instructions relating to military opera tions, 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 jour ney from Washington to Chicago, already mentioned (page 727), 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.

The following members of the House of Representatives were chosen to be the 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, of Article I., of the National Constitution, in the Supplement.

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. So he escaped conviction by one vote.'

[graphic][ocr errors][merged small]

The political campaign preparatory to an election of a new President of the Republic, had begun about a week before the final act in the impeachment case. On the 20th of May, a national convention of representatives of the Republican party assembled at Chicago, and by unanimous voice nominated General Ulysses S. Grant for the presidency, and Schuyler Colfax, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, for Vice-President. The party was immediately organized for action. The Opposition deferred their nominations until the 4th of July, when, in a national convention

1 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."

2 See portrait of General Grant, on page 601.

« ПретходнаНастави »