Stanton to vacate the office of Secretary of War; also another order to Adjutant-General Lorenzo B. Thomas, to enter and take the place of the deposed Secretary. These orders were officially communicated to the Senate on the same day, and drew from that body a resolution that the President had no authority, under the Constitution, for his act. Meanwhile Thomas had proceeded to the War Department and demanded the seals and the authority with which the President had invested him. Mr. Stanton, his official superior, refused to yield them, and ordered Thomas to return to the duties of his proper office. The President, satisfied that he would not be permitted to use military force to eject Mr. Stanton, did not attempt it, and that officer retained his place.

The patience and forbearance of Congress were now exhausted. This action of the President was such a flagrant violation of law and open defiance of the Legislature, that on the following day (February 22, 1868) the House of Representatives, by a vote of 126 to 47-an almost strictly party vote (only two Republicans voting with the minority)" Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors." A week later, a committee of the House, appointed for the purpose, presented articles of impeachment, nine in number; and these, with slight alterations, were accepted. They charged: (1) Unlawfully ordering the removal of Mr. Stanton, as Secretary of War, in violation of the provisions of the Tenure of Office Act; (2) unlawfully appointing General Lorenzo B. Thomas, as Secretary of War ad interim; (3) substantially the same as the second charge, with the additional declara tion that there was, at the time of the appointment of General Thomas, no vacancy in the office of the Secretary of War; (4) conspiring with one Lorenzo Thomas, and other persons to the House unknown, to prevent, by intimidation and threats, Mr. Stanton, the legally appointed Secretary of War, from holding office; (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; (6) conspiring with General Thomas and others to take forcible possession of the property in the War Department; (7) and (8) substantially the charge of conspiring to prevent the execution of the Tenure of Office Act, and for taking possession of the War Department; (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 by the General of the Army, and in case of his inability, through the

CHAP. XXVII.

IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT.

1717

next in rank," was unconstitutional, and not binding upon the commander of the Department of Washington; the intent being to induce the commander to violate the law and to obey orders issued by the President directly.

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, were appointed managers of the impeachment case, on the part of the House of Representatives. The chief management of the case was intrusted to Mr. Butler. At this stage of the proceedings the Democratic members of the House, to the number of forty-five, entered a formal protest against the whole action in the matter.

On the 3d of March (1868) the managers presented two additional charges against the President, which were adopted by the House, as a part of the impeachment indictment. The first charged that the President had, by inflammatory speeches during his journey, already mentioned, attempted, with a design to cast aside the authority of Congress, to bring that body into disgrace, and to excite the odium and resentment of the people against Congress and the laws they enacted. The second charged that in August, 1866, the President, in a public speech at Washington, declared that Congress was not a body authorized by the Constitution to exercise legislative powers. They then specified many of the President's offences in endeavoring, by unlawful means, to prevent the execution of laws passed by Congress.

These preliminary proceedings toward impeachment filled the loyal heart of the nation with the most profound satisfaction. Letters and telegrams covered the desks of members of Congress, all urging the most speedy and vigorous action toward impeachment. Appended is a copy of a despatch from Governor Oglesby, of Illinois, which is a fair specimen of the tone of the communications and expressive of the feelings of the people. It is dated "Springfield, Illinois; Executive Mansion, February 22, 1868," and is as follows:

"The usurpations of Andrew Johnson have created a profound sensation in this State. His last act is that of a traitor. His treason must be checked. The duty of Congress seems plain. The people of Illinois, attached to the Union, I firmly believe demand his impeachment, and will heartily sustain. such action by Congress. The peace of the country is not to be trifled with by this presumptuous demagogue. We know the National Congress will proceed wisely and cautiously; but let it proceed. Millions of loyal hearts

are panting to stand by the Stars and Stripes. Have no fear. All will be well. Liberty and order will again triumph."

On the 25th of February, Messrs. Stevens and Boutwell appeared before the Senate in behalf of the managers, and in the name of the people of the United States, impeached "Andrew Johnson of high crimes and misdemeanors," and demanded of that body an order for the accused President to answer the impeachment. The Senate, by a provision of the National Constitution, composes a jury for the trial of such cases; and on the 5th of March (1868) it was organized as such, with Chief-Justice Salmon P. Chase as president of the court. The accused was summoned to appear at the bar on the 7th; but the Senate was not formally opened as a High Court of Impeachment until the 13th, when he did so appear, by his counsel, who asked for a delay of forty days wherein to prepare an answer to the indictment. Ten days were granted, and the answer was presented on the 23d, when the House of Representatives, which was the accuser, solemnly denied every averment of that answer. Then the President's counsel asked for a postponement of the trial for thirty days, but only seven were allowed.

On the 30th of March the trial was begun. Public feeling was profoundly excited by the event, and there was danger that the reason and judgment of the Senate might be swayed by unwise influences. Fortunately there were men in that body whose prescience clearly comprehended the future, and they were governed by that more than by their feelings or the mandates of present expediency. All through the trial, these men counselled moderation, and their advice was heeded. They pointed out the danger, that a verdict of guilty might create greater evils than the foolish President could possibly inflict, in his comparatively helpless state.

When, after an examination of witnesses, which was concluded on the 22d of April; the presentation of the arguments of counsel, which continued until the 5th of May, and the debates, which consumed twenty days more, the votes of the fifty-four Senators present were taken on the verdict, thirtyfive of them were for conviction, and nineteen were for acquittal. Some of the latter votes were by Republicans. As two-thirds of the votes were necessary for conviction, the President was acquitted by one vote.

This verdict caused Secretary Stanton to send a letter to the President, informing him that as the resolution of the Senate reinstating the Secretary had not been supported by two-thirds of that body present and voting upon the articles of impeachment, he had relinquished the office; whereupon Mr. Johnson nominated General John M. Schofield to be Mr. Stanton's successor. The President, in his communication nominating General Schofield, said he

CHAP. XXVII.

GENERAL GRANT ELECTED PRESIDENT.

1719

was to succeed "E. M. Stanton, removed." The Senate adopted the following preamble and resolution: "Whereas, the order of the President remov ing Secretary Stanton from office was unconstitutional and illegal; but on account of Mr. Stanton having, on Tuesday, relinquished said office, therefore Resolved, That the Senate do advise and consent to the appointment of General Schofield."

The brilliancy and intrinsic value of General Grant's military services in behalf of the Republic, and his firmness and patriotism in defeating the designs of President Johnson at the capital, endeared him to the loyal people; and on the 19th of June (1868) the Republicans, in National Convention assembled at Chicago, nominated him for President of the United States, and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana for Vice-President. On the 4th of July following, a National Convention of representatives of the Democratic party met in Tammany Hall, in the city of New York, and nominated Horatio Seymour of the State of New York for President, and Francis P. Blair of Missouri for Vice-President. Wade Hampton, N. B. Forrest, and other prominent Confederate leaders, were members of that Convention, and were controlling architects of the platform there adopted, in which the acts of Congress for the reorganization of the Union were declared to be "usurpations, unconstitutional, revolutionary and void."

A few days before the meeting of the Convention, General Blair, the nominee for Vice-President, wrote a letter to James O. Brodhead, to be used at the Convention. In that letter he said, in contemplation of the election of the nominees: "There is but one way to restore the Government and the Constitution, and that is for the President-elect to declare these acts of Congress null and void; compel the army to undo its usurpations at the South; disperse the carpet-bag State governments (governments established under the authority of Congress); allow the white people to organize their own governments, and elect Senators and Representatives. The House of Representatives will contain a majority of Democrats from the North, and they will admit the Representatives elected by the white people of the South; and with the co-operation of the President, it will not be difficult to compel the Senate to submit, once more, to the obligations of the Constitution."

This revolutionary scheme-a scheme for inaugurating another Civil War-was so acceptable to the Convention, that its author was nominated for the second office in the gift of the people. But it was so distasteful to vast numbers of the patriotic and thinking members of the Democratic party, that the nominees were defeated at the polls by an overwhelming vote that elected Grant and Colfax.

During the unfortunate and unseemly controversy between President Johnson and the National Congress, the work of reorganization, according to the plans of the latter, had been going forward vigorously, in spite of the factious interference of the Chief Magistrate. A Fourteenth Amendment had been proposed by a joint resolution of Congress, adopted on the 13th of June, 1866. This amendment had been ratified by a sufficient number of States to make it a part of the supreme law of the land, in July, 1868, and on the 28th of that month the fact was officially promulgated by the

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT.

Secretary of State. That amendment secured the rights of citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;" politically disabled a certain class of chief offenders in the insurrection; declared the validity of the National debt; and forbade the payment of any part of the socalled "Confederate" debt. Refer to the National Constitution, in the Appendix, for the text of this amendment.

Seven of the disorganized States, namely, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, had ratified the amendment; and having, by that act, by the adoption of State constitutions approved by Congress, and by the election of National Senators and Representatives, complied with the prescriptions of Congress, they took their places as revived States of the Union. But the perfect reorganization was not effected until the spring of 1872, when, on the 23d of May, the remaining three States having taken their places with their sisters, every seat in Congress was filled, for the first time since the winter of 1861, when members from several of the slave-labor States abdicated them. On the previous day (May 22, 1872) an Amnesty Bill was passed for removing the political disabilities imposed by the third section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, from all persons excepting members of the Thirty-sixth Congress, heads of departments,