Mr. Johnson's veto of the Tenure-of-Office Bill, and the passage of that
bill over his veto, of course intensified the antagonism between himself
and Congress. He not unnaturally regarded that Act as an infringement
of the Executive function which it was his duty to his office and to
himself to resent. The culmination came upon his official notification
to the Senate on February 21st, 1868, of his removal of Mr. Stanton
from the office of Secretary of War, and his appointment of Gen.
Lorenzo Thomas as Secretary ad interim, nothwithstanding the assumed
interdiction of the Tenure-of-Office Act.
Immediately on receipt of this notification, the Senate went into
executive session, and the following proceeding was had:
IN EXECUTIVE SESSION Senate of the United States February 21st, 1868
Whereas, The Senate have read and considered the communication of the
President, stating that he had removed Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War, and had designated the Adjutant General of the Army to act as
Secretary of War ad interim. interim... Therefore,
Resolved, by the Senate of the United States, That under the
Constitution and laws of the United States, the President has no power
to remove the Secretary of War and designate any other officer to
perform the duties of that office ad interim.
The journal of the Senate shows that this Resolution was adopted by the
following vote:
Yeas--Messrs. Cameron, Cattell, Cole, Conkling, Cragin, Drake, Ferry,
Harlan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Patterson of New
Hampshire, Pomeroy, Ramsay, Ross, Sprague, Stewart. Sumner. Thayer,
Tipton, Trumbull. Van Winkle, Wade, Willey Williams. Wilson. Yates--23.
Nays--Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Doolittle, Edmunds, Hendricks, Patterson
of Tennessee--6.
Absent or not voting--20. Note. (Note--It is due to myself to say here,
that the entry of my name in the above vote, was incorrect. My distinct
recollection is, that though present, I declined to vote, and from the
consideration mentioned. I was totally unaware of my name being recorded
as voting on the proposition until long after I left the Senate, when of
course there was no opportunity to secure a correction of the journal.)
This was an extraordinary proceeding. A proposition to impeach the
President had till recently been pending in the House for nearly a year,
and the ingenuity of the majority had been taxed to the utmost to find
some basis for an indictment upon which a successful impeachment might
be possible. There is ground for the suggestion that much was hoped for
in that direction from the Tenure-of-Office Bill, at least so far as the
House was concerned. That hoped for opportunity had now come--nor is
it an unreasonable surmise, that this very extraordinary action of
the Senate was forced by outside as well as inside influences for the
purpose of testing the Senate, and committing it in advance and in
anticipation of the preferment of another impeachment by the House.
As to the question of the guilt or innocence of the President of the
commission of an impeachable offense, this vote of the Senate was in
the nature of a vote of "guilty." It was therefore to a degree an
impeachment and conviction combined by the Senate, prior to the bringing
of an accusation by the House of Representatives, the constitutional
body for the preferment of an impeachment of the President--and was an
improper, and not far removed from an indecent proceeding on the part of
the Senate. In effect, the President was thereby condemned by the
Senate without trial, and his later arraignment was simply to receive
sentence-it being solely upon the removal of Mr. Stanton that the
impeachment was brought by the House.
It is noticeable, and possibly indicative, that the names of twenty out
of fifty-four members of the Senate do not appear in this list--a very
unusual occurrence in divisions of that body; especially in the exciting
conditions that then prevailed. The absentees, or at least abstentions
from voting, were fifteen Republicans and five Democrats, more than
one-third of the body. That very unusual absence or abstention from
voting may well be attributed to the very proper hesitancy of Senators
to commit themselves in advance, either way, on a proposition that was
reasonably certain to lead to an impeachment of the President, then
virtually pending and imminent in the House, and upon which the Senate
was equally certain to be called upon to act.
The action of the President was also communicated to the House of
Representatives by Mr. Stanton, at the same hour of the same day,
February 21st, 1868, in the following communication, enclosing a copy of
the President's notification of his dismissal.
War Department, Washington City, Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir:--Gen. Thomas has just delivered to me a copy of the enclosed order,
which you will please communicate to the House of Representatives.
(Signed) E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker
House of Representatives.
This gave new life to the impeachment cause, which had a few weeks
before been defeated in the House and since then had, for lack of
material, been laming, to the discouragement of many of its advocates:
and the gleeful ejaculations, on the floor of the House, in the lobbies,
and on the streets, on receipt of this news, and more especially after
the action of the Senate became known, which was not long in reaching
the public, with a common greeting slid clasping of hands: "Well, we've
got him now!"
The communication of Mr. Stanton to the House of Representatives was
immediately, after reading, referred to the Committee on Reconstruction.
In the evening of the same day, Mr. Covode, of Pennsylvania, offered a
resolution to impeach the President, which was also referred to the same
Committee.
On the next day, Feb. 22d, 1868, Mr. Stevens, Chairman of that
Committee, made the following report:
The Committee on Reconstruction, to whom was referred, on the 27th day
of January last, the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the Committee on Reconstruction be authorized to inquire
what combinations have been made or attempted to be made to obstruct the
due execution of the laws; and to that end the committee have power
to send for persons and papers and to examine witnesses oil oath, and
report to this House what action, if any, they may deem necessary; and
that said committee bade leave to report at any time."
And to whom was also referred, on the 21st day of February, instant,
a communication from Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, dated on
said 21st day of February, together with a copy of a letter from Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States, to the said Edwin M. Stanton,
as follows:
Executive Mansion, Washington. D. C., Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir:-By virtue of the power and authority vested in me, as President, by
the Constitution and laws of the United States, you are hereby removed
from office as Secretary for the Department of War, and your functions
as such will terminate upon the receipt of this communication.
You will transfer to Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant
General of the Army, who has this day been authorized and empowered
to act as Secretary of War ad interim, all records, books, papers, and
other public property now in your custody and charge.
Respectfully yours. Andrew Johnson. Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Washington,
D. C.
And to whom was also referred by the House of Representatives the
following resolution, namely:
"Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be
impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors."
Have considered the several subjects referred to them, and submit the
following report:
That in addition to the papers referred to the committee, the committee
find that the President, on the 21st day of February, 1868, signed
and issued a commission or letter of authority to one Lorenzo Thomas,
directing and authorizing said Thomas to act as Secretary of War ad
interim, and to take possession of the books, records, and papers, and
other public property in the War Department, of which the following is a
copy:
Executive Mansion, Washington, Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir:--Hon. Edwin M. Stanton having been this day removed from office
as Secretary for the Department of War, you are hereby authorized and
empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim, and will immediately
enter upon the discharge of the duties pertaining to that office. Mr.
Stanton has been instructed to transfer to you all the records, books,
papers, and other public property now in his custody and charge.
Respectfully yours, Andrew Johnson.
To Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant General of the United
States Army. Washington, District of Columbia.
Official copy respectfully furnished to Hon. Edwin M. Stanton.
L. Thomas. Secretary of War ad interim.
Upon the evidence collected by the committee, which is herewith
presented, and in virtue of the powers with which they have been
invested by the House, they are of the opinion that Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and
misdemeanors. They therefore recommend to the House the adoption of the
accompanying resolution. Thaddeus Stevens, George S. Boutwell, John A.
Bingham, C. T. Hulburd, John F. Farnsworth, F. C. Beaman, H. E. Paine.
Resolution providing for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of
the United States.
Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be
impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors in office.
The following is a brief synopsis of the debate which ensued: Mr.
Stevens, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, it is not my intention in the
first instance to discuss this question; and if there be no desire on
the other side to discuss it we are willing that the question should be
taken upon the knowledge which the House already has. Indeed, the fact
of removing a man from office while the Senate was in session without
the consent of the Senate, if there were nothing else, is of itself, and
always has been considered, a high crime and misdemeanor, and was never
before practiced. But I will not discuss this question unless gentlemen
on the other side desire to discuss it. It they do, I shall for the
present give way to them and say what I have to say in conclusion.
Mr. Brooke, (Dem. of N. Y.) Mr. Speaker, I had hoped to have an
opportunity, at least, to submit a minority report before we entered
upon this august proceeding of impeaching the chief executive officer of
this Government. But after a session of the Committee on Reconstruction,
hardly an hour in length, violating an express rule of this House by
sitting during the session--for Rule 72, provides that no committee shall
sit during the session of the House without special leave--we have
been summoned upon a very partial submission of facts, without any
comprehension, in reality, of the charges which are made against the
President of they United States, upon a new indictment, in a new form
once more, and in a more alarming manner than ever, in this but a
partial Congress, representing but a section of a portion of the
people--in my judgment not representing the people of the United States
at all--to act as a grand jury, with a large portion of that grand jury
excluded from the jury-room here; and suddenly, impromptu perhaps, a vote
is to be forced this very day--to impeach the President of the United
States!
I am utterly inadequate to discharge the duty which has devolved upon me
on this august day, the anniversary of the birthday of the Father of his
country. I am utterly unable upon this occasion either to do my duty to
the people or to express myself with that deep solemnity which I feel
in rising to resist this untoward, this unholy, this unconstitutional
proceeding. Indeed, I know not why the ghost of impeachment has appeared
here in a new form. We have attempted to lay it hitherto, and we have
successfully laid it upon the floor of this House. But a minority of
the party on the other side, forcing its influence and its power upon
a majority of a committee of this House, has at last succeeded in
compelling its party to approach the House itself in a united, and
therefore in a more solemn form, and to demand the impeachment of the
President of the United States.
Sir, we have long been in the midst of a revolution. Long, long has our
country been agitated by the throes of that revolution. But we are now
approaching the last and the final stage of that revolution in which,
like many revolutions that have preceded it, a legislative power not
representing the people attempts to depose the executive power, and thus
to overthrow that constitutional branch of the Government.
There is nothing new in all this. There is nothing new in what we are
doing, for men of the present but repeat the history of the past. We are
traversing over and over again the days of Cromwell and Charles I and
Charles II, and we are traversing over and over again the scenes of the
French revolution, baptized in blood in our introductory part, but I
trust in God never again to be baptized by any revolutionary proceeding
on the part of this House.
I have not and never have been a defender of all the opinions of
General Jackson, but those on the other side who pretend to hold him
as authority and those on this side who have ever held him as authority
will find that in uttering the opinions which I have I but reutter the
opinions which he advanced in his veto of July 10, 1832, when he said:
"The Congress, the Executive, and the court must each for itself be
guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each public officer who
takes the oath to support the Constitution swears that he will support
it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others."
The President of the United States has given his opinion upon the
official tenure-of-office act and upon the Constitution of the United
States by the appointment of Adjutant General Thomas as Secretary of War
ad interim. and because of the exercise of that Constitutional right we
are called upon here at once to pronounce him guilty of high crimes and
misdemeanors and to demand his deposition and degradation therefor. * *
* * *
Mr. Spalding, (Rep. of Ohio). Mr. Speaker, I feel myself to be in no
proper frame of mind or heart to attempt rhetorical display on this
occasion. I can appreciate the sentiments of the gentleman from New
York [Mr. Brooks] when he says the question before us is filled with
solemnity; but when he attempts by gasconade to deter members on this
side of the House from the conscientious discharge of their duty I say
to my friend that he has mistaken his calling. Sir, no more important
duty could be devolved upon this House of Representatives than that
of considering the question whether articles of impeachment shall be
preferred against the Chief Magistrate of the United States; and for
long months, ay, for more than a year, sir. I have resisted, with all my
efforts and all my personal influence, the approach of that crisis which
is now upon us and before us. The President has done many, very many,
censurable acts: but I could not, on my conscience, say that he should
be holden to answer upon a charge of "high crimes and misdemeanors"
until something could be made tangible whereby he had brought himself in
open conflict with the Constitution and laws of the Union.
It has seemed to me, sir, for weeks, that this high officer of our
government was inviting the very ordeal which, I am sorry to say, is now
upon us, and the dread consequences of which will speedily be upon
him. He has thrown himself violently in contact with an Act of Congress
passed on the 2d day of March last by the votes of the constitutional
two-thirds of the Senate and two-thirds of the House of Representatives
over his veto assigning his reasons for withholding his assent. Now, it
matters not how many acts can be found upon the statute books in years
gone by that would sanction the removal of a cabinet officer by the
President; the gentleman from New York numbers three. He may reckon
up thirty or three hundred and still if, within the last six or nine
months, Congress has, in a constitutional manner, made an enactment
that prohibits such removal, and the executive wantonly disregards such
enactment and attempts to remove the officer, he incurs the penalty as
clearly and as certainly as if there never had been any legislation
to the contrary. That subsequent enactment, if it be constitutional,
repeals, by its own force, all other prior enactments with which it
may conflict; and in nothing is that enactment more significant than
in this, that the President shall not remove any civil officer, who has
been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without
the concurrence of that body, when it is itself in session.
Mr. Bingham, (Rep.) of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, all right-minded men must
concede that the question under consideration is one of supreme moment
to till the people of the Republic. I protest for myself, sir, that I am
utterly incapable of approaching the discussion of this question in the
spirit of a partisan. I repel, sir, the intimation of the gentleman from
New York, Mr. Brooks, that I am careless of the obligation of my oath or
unconcerned about the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws. I look
upon the Constitution of the country as the very breath of the nation's
life. I invoke this day upon the consideration of this great question
the matchless name of Washington, as did the gentleman, and ask him,
in the consideration of the matter now before us, to ponder upon those
deathless words of the Father of our Country, wherein he declares that
"the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit
and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon
all"--upon all sir, from the President to the humblest citizen--standing
within the jurisdiction of the Republic. Washington but echoed the
words that himself and his associates had imbedded in the text of the
Constitution, that "this Constitution and the laws passed in pursuance
thereof shall be the supreme law of the land." It shall be supreme over
every officer; it shall be supreme over every State; it shall be supreme
over every territory; it shall be supreme upon every deck covered
by your flag in every zone all round the globe. Every man within its
jurisdiction, official and unofficial, must bow to the supremacy of the
Constitution.
The gentleman says that the issue involved is an issue about an
office. I beg the gentleman's pardon. The issue involved is whether
the supremacy of the Constitution shall be maintained by the people's
Representatives. The President of the United States has assumed, sir, to
set himself above the Constitution and the laws. He has assumed to defy
the law, he has assumed to challenge the people's Representatives to sit
in judgment upon his malfeasance in office. Every man who has considered
it worth while to observe my conduct touching this question that has so
long agitated this House and agitated this country may have discovered
that I have kept myself back and have endeavored to keep others
back from making any unnecessary issue between the President and
Representatives of the people touching the manner in which he discharged
the duties of his great office. I had no desire, sir, to have resort
unnecessarily to this highest power reposed by the people in their
Representatives and their Senators for the vindication of their own
violated Constitution and violated laws. Notwithstanding there was much
in the conduct of the President to endanger the peace and repose of the
country, yet, so long as there was any doubt upon the question of his
liability to impeachment within the text and spirit of the Constitution,
I was unwilling to utter one syllable to favor such a proposition or to
record a vote to advance it. * * *
Mr. Beck, (Dem. of Ky.) The single question upon which the decision of
this House is now to be made is that the President has attempted to test
the constitutionality of a law which he believes to be unconstitutional.
All the testimony heretofore presented upon which to base an impeachment
of the President was decided by even a majority of the Republican
members of this House to be insufficient to justify impeachment. All
questions growing out of the combinations and conspiracies lately
charged upon the President were ruled by the Reconstruction Committee
to be insufficient, and were not brought before this House. And the sole
question now before us is, is there anything in this last act of the
President removing Mr. Stanton and appointing Adjutant General Thomas
Secretary of War ad interim to justify his impeachment by this House?
I maintain that the President of the United States is in duty bound
to test the legality of every law which he thinks interferes with his
rights and powers as the Chief Magistrate of this nation. Whenever he
has powers conferred upon him by the Constitution of the United States,
and an act of Congress undertakes to deprive him of those powers, or any
of them, he would be false to his trust as the Chief Executive of this
nation, false to the interests of the people whom he represents, if he
did not by every means in his power seek to test the constitutionality
of that law, and to take whatever steps were necessary and proper to
have it tested by the highest tribunal in the land, and to ascertain
whether he has a right under the Constitution to do what he claims the
right to do, or whether Congress has the right to deprive him of the
powers which he claims have been vested in him by the Constitution of
the United States, and that is all that he proposes to do in this case.
* * *
Mr. Logan, (Rep. of Ills.) Now, Mr. Speaker, let us examine this
question for a moment. It seems to me very plain and easy of solution.
It is not necessary, in order to decide whether this action of the
President of the United States comes within the purview and meaning of
this statute, for us to talk about revolutions or what this man or that
man has said or decided. What has been the act of the President is the
question. The law is plain. If the President shall appoint or shall give
a letter of authority or issue a commission to any person, without the
consent of the Senate, he is guilty of--what? The law says of a high
misdemeanor. And, under and by virtue of the Constitution, the President
can be impeached--for what? For high crimes or misdemeanors. This law
declares the issuing a commission to, or giving a letter of authority
to, or appointing to or removing from office, any person, without the
advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, shall be a high
misdemeanor, which is within the meaning and within the pale of the
Constitution of the United States.
Now, what is the evidence presented to this body by one of its
committees? It is of this character: The Secretary of War, Edwin M.
Stanton, has been declared by a solemn vote of the Senate to be the
Secretary of War, by virtue of--what? By virtue of an appointment to
that office; by reason of the fact that Andrew Johnson did not relieve
him from office when he had the right to present the name of somebody
else--soon after his taking the presidential chair--not the right to
turn him out, but the right to nominate some one else to the senate and
ask them to confirm him to that office. That the President failed to
do. Then, acting under the provisions of this statute, the President
suspended Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War, but the Senate passed upon
that act, and decided that the reasons given by the President for
suspending Mr. Stanton were not satisfactory; and accordingly, by virtue
of this law, Mr. Stanton was confirmed and reinstated in his position as
Secretary of War.
Now, all this having been done, it cannot certainly be claimed that
the President, in his recent course in regard to Mr. Stanton, has acted
without any intention of violating the law. Nor can it be claimed that
the President is ignorant of the law. * * *
Mr. Holman (Dem., Ind.) We have listened to much excited eloquence upon
this question. It is too manifest that Congress, moving on with that
impetus which is ever the result of excessive political power seeks to
usurp those powers which are by the Constitution vested in the other
Departments of the Government. I do not propose to discuss this subject
or answer the speech of the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Logan] with any
words of my own. I have before me a paper which is full of mature wisdom
and patriotic counsel, a speech that comes from the solemn past, yet
speaks to every heart that beats for the Union of these States, and the
prosperity of the American people; a voice that is answered back from
every battlefield of the Revolution, and from the grave of every soldier
who has fallen in defense of American liberty. I ask that this speech
may be read to the House, as appropriate to this day, the 22nd of
February, a day once so venerated. I ask that this immortal address to
the American people, a speech that needs no revision: a speech in which
there can be no interruptions made in this moment of passion, be read
to the American Congress, for I can well afford to be silent while
that great voice speaks to the Representatives of the people of this
Republic.
The Clerk commenced the reading of Washington's Farewell Address.
Mr. Peters: I rise to a question of order. I insist that that address is
not germane to the question before the House.
Mr. Holman: I insist that it is exceedingly germane.
Mr. Lawrence, of Ohio: Allow me to suggest that it is germane, for the
reason that it relates to retirement from office. [Laughter.]
Mr. Peters: That is too remote.
The Speaker pro tempore, (Mr. Blaine, in the chair.) The Chair sustains
the point of order.
Mr. Holman: I hope no gentleman will object to the completion of the
reading: it will only occupy the time I am entitled to.
Mr. Peters: It is doubtless very instructive, and so would a chapter
of the Bible be, but it has nothing to do with the question before the
House, and I insist upon the point of order.
The Speaker pro tempore. Up to this point the discussion has been
pertinent and germane to the question--very closely so--and the Chair is
compelled to rule, the question of order being raised, that this is not
germane or in order. The gentleman from Indiana will proceed in order.
Mr. Holman: I suppose, Mr. Speaker, the Constitution of the United
States would scarcely be in order. I will not ask to have it read.
The debate continued in the vein illustrated in the foregoing extracts,
from the morning of February 22, notwithstanding it was a National
Holiday, such was the haste of the impeachers, to the evening of the
24th, almost without interruption. It was at times illustrated by marked
ability, and on the Republican side by intense bitterness and partisan
malignity. A large number of the members of the House participated in
the debate.
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens then closed the debate in the following arraignment
of the President:
Now in defiance of this law, (the Office-Tenure Act) Andrew Johnson,
on the 21st day of February, 1868, issued his commission or letter of
authority to one Lorenzo Thomas, appointing him Secretary of War ad
interim. and commanded him to take possession of the Department of War
and to eject the incumbent. E M. Stanton, then in lawful possession
of said office. Here, if this act stood alone, would be an undeniable
official misdemeanor--not only a misdemeanor per se, but declared to be
so by the act itself, and the party made indictable and punishable in
a criminal proceeding. If Andrew Johnson escapes with bare removal
from office, if he be not FINED AND INCARCERATED IN THE PENITENTIARY
AFTERWARD UNDER CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS, he may thank the weakness or the
clemency of Congress and not his own innocence.
We shall propose to prove on the trial that Andrew Johnson was guilty
of misprision of bribery by offering to General Grant, if he would unite
with him in his lawless violence, to assume in his stead the penalties
and to endure the imprisonment denounced by the law Bribery is one of
the offenses specifically enumerated for which the President may be
impeached and removed from office. By the Constitution, article two,
section two, the President has power to nominate and, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all officers of the United
States whose appointments are not therein otherwise provided for and
which shall be established by law, and to fill up all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which
shall expire at the end of their nest session. Nowhere, either in the
Constitution or by statute, has the President power to create a vacancy
during the session of the Senate and fill it without the advice and
consent of the Senate, and yet, on the 21st day of February, 1868, while
the Senate was in session, he notified the head of the War Department
that he was removed from office and his successor ad interim appointed.
Here is a plain, recorded violation of the Constitution and laws, which,
if it stood alone, would make every honest and intelligent man give his
vote for impeachment. The President had persevered in his lawless
course through along series of unjustifiable acts. When the so called
Confederate States of America were conquered and had laid down their
arms and surrendered their territory to the victorious Union the
government and final disposition of the conquered country BELONGED TO
CONGRESS ALONE, according to every principle of the law of nations.
Neither the Executive nor the judiciary had any right to interfere with
it except so far as was necessary to control it by military rule
until the SOVEREIGN POWER OF THE NATION had provided for its civil
administration. No power but Congress had any right to say WHETHER EVER
OR WHEN they should be admitted to the Union as States and entitled to
the privileges of the Constitution of the United States. And yet Andrew
Johnson, with unblushing hardihood, undertook to rule them by his own
power alone; to lead them into full communion with the Union: direct
them what governments to erect and what constitutions to adopt, and
to send Representatives and Senators to Congress according to his
instructions. When admonished by express act of Congress, more than
once repeated, he disregarded the warning and continued his lawless
usurpation. He is since known to have obstructed the re-establishment
of those governments by the authority of Congress, and has advised the
inhabitants to resist the legislation of Congress. In my judgment his
conduct with regard to that transaction was a high-handed usurpation of
power which ought long ago to have brought him to impeachment and trial
and to have removed him from his position of great mischief.
I trust that when we come to vote upon this question we shall remember
that although it is the duty of the President to see that the laws be
executed, THE SOVEREIGN POWER OF THE NATION RESTS IN CONGRESS, who have
been placed around the executive as muniments to defend his rights, and
as watchmen to enforce his obedience to the law and the Constitution.
His oath to obey the Constitution and our duty to compel him to do it
are a tremendous obligation, heavier than was ever assumed by mortal
rulers. We are to protect or to destroy the liberty and happiness of a
mighty people, and to take care that they progress in civilization and
defend themselves against every kind of tyranny. As we deal with the
first great political malefactor so will be the result of our efforts to
perpetuate the happiness and good government of the human race. The God
of our fathers, who inspired them with the thought of universal freedom,
will hold us responsible for the noble institutions which they projected
and expected us to carry out.
The Clerk then read the Resolution and the House proceeded to vote, as
follows:
Resolution providing for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of
the United States:
Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be
impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors in office.
Yeas--Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Arnell, Delos R. Ashley, James M.
Ashley, Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Beaman, Beatty, Benton, Bingham,
Blaine, Blair, Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall. Buckland, Butler, Cake,
Churchill, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Coburn, Cook,
Cornell, Covode, Cullom, Dawes, Dodge, Driggs, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot,
Farnsworth, Ferries. Ferry, Fields, Gravely, Griswold, Halsy, Harding,
Higby, Hill, Hooper, Hopkins, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard,
Hulburd, Hunter, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey,
Ketcham, Kitchen Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Lincoln,
Loan, Logan, Loughridge, Lynch, Mallory, Marvin, McCarthy, McClurg,
Mercur, Miller, Moore, Moorhead, Morrell, Mullins, Myers, Newcomb,
Nunn, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Perham, Peters, Pike, Pile, Plants, Poland,
Polsley, Price, Raum, Robertson, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Selye,
Shanks, Smith, Spalding, Starkweather, Aaron F. Stevens, Thaddeus
Stevens, Stokes, Taffe, Taylor, Trowbridge, Twitchell, Upson, Van
Aernam. Burt Van Horn, Van Wyck, Ward, Cadwalader C. Washburn, Elihu B.
Washburn, Williams, Washburn, Welker, Thomas Williams, James F.
Wilson, John T. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, Woodbridge and the
Speaker--126.
Nays--Messrs. Adams, Archer, Axtell, Barnes, Barnum, Beck, Boyer,
Brooks, Burr, Cary, Chanler, Eldridge, Fox, Getz, Glossbrenner,
Galladay, Grover, Haight, Holman, Hotchkiss, Richard D. Hubbard,
Morrissey, Mungen, Niblack, Nicholson, Phelps, Pruyn, Randall, Ross,
Sitgreaves, Stewart, Stone, Taber, Lawrence S. Trimble, Van Auken, Van
Trump, Wood and Woodward--47.
On motion of Mr. Stevens the following resolutions were adopted:
Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to go to the Senate and,
at the bar thereof, in the name of the House of Representatives and
of all the people of the United States, to impeach Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors in
office, and acquaint the Senate that the House of Representatives will,
in due time, exhibit particular articles of impeachment against him and
make good the same; and that the committee do demand that the Senate
take order for the appearance of said Andrew Johnson to answer to said
impeachment.
Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to prepare and report
articles of impeachment against Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States, with power to send for persons, papers and records, and to take
testimony under oath.
The Speaker announced the following committee under these resolutions:
Committee to Communicate to the Senate to the Senate the action of the
House ordering AN IMPEACHMENT of the of the President of the United
States.---Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, and John A. Bingham, of
Ohio.
Committee to declare articles of Articles of Impeachment against the
President of the United States.--George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts;
Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania; John A. Bingham, of Ohio; James
F. Wilson, of Iowa; John A. Logan, of Illinois; George W. Julian, of
Indiana, and Hamilton Ward, of New York.