THE IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON

In the fall of 1867 President Johnson tried to remove Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War. Radical Republicans loudly proclaimed that Johnson had flouted the United States Constitution by directly violating the Tenure of Office Act, and began impeachment proceedings against him. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson on February 24, 1868, making him the first president of the United States to be impeached (Bill Clinton was the second). The trial of Johnson in the Senate began in May. By the Constitution, two-thirds of the Senate have to vote to convict the president for him to be removed; Andrew Johnson escaped conviction by one vote (the deciding vote was a Republican from Kansas by the name of Edmund Ross, who was opposed to Johnson but felt there was insufficient evidence to actually remove him from office).

Johnson served the remainder of his term without incident. In the 1868 presidential election, Ulysses S. Grant, a hero of the Civil War with little political knowledge and few stated political opinions, led the Republican party to victory.