History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson,
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Edumud G. Ross >> History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson,
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ARTICLE VI.
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
unmindful of the high duties of his office and of his oath of
office, on the twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at Washington,
in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one
Lorenzo Thomas by force to seize, take and possess the property
of the United States in the Department of War, and then and there
in the custody and charge of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary for
said Department, contrary to the provisions of an act entitled
"An act to define and punish certain conspiracies," approved July
thirty-one, eighteen hundred and sixty one, and with intent to
violate and disregard an act entitled "An act regulating the
tenure of certain civil offices," passed March second, eighteen
hundred and sixty-seven, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President
of the United States, did then and there commit a high crime in
office.
ARTICLE VII.
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
unmindful of the high duties of his office and of his oath of
office, on the twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at Washington.
in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one
Lorenzo Thomas with intent unlawfully to seize, take, and possess
the property of the United States in the Department of War, in
the custody and charge of Edwin M. Stanton Secretary for said
Department, with intent to violate and disregard the act entitled
"An act regulating the tenure of certain civil offices" passed
March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, whereby said
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and
there commit a high misdemeanor in office.
ARTICLE VIII.
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
unmindful of the high duties of his office and of his oath of
office, with intent unlawfully to control the disbursements of
the moneys appropriated for the military service and for the
Department of War, on the twenty-first day of February, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at
Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully and
contrary to the provisions of an act entitled "An act regulating
the tenure of certain civil offices," passed March second,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and in violation of the
Constitution of the United States, and without the advice and
consent of the Senate of the United States, and while the Senate
was then and there in session, there being no vacancy in the
office of Secretary for the Department of War, and with intent to
violate and disregard the act aforesaid, then and there issue and
deliver to one Lorenzo Thomas a letter of authority in writing,
in substance as follows, that is to say:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir:--The 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, United
States Army, Washington, D. C.
Whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did
then and there commit and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in
office.
ARTICLE IX.
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. on the
twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at Washington, in the
District of Columbia. in disregard of the Constitution, and the
laws of the United States duly enacted, as commander-in-chief of
the army of the United States, dial bring before himself then and
there William H. Emory, a major-general by brevet in the army of
the United States, actually in command of the department of
Washington and the military forces thereof, and did then and
there, as such commander-in-chief, declare to and instruct said
Emory that part of a law of the United states, passed March
second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven entitled "An act making
appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending
June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight and for other
purposes," especially the second section thereof, which provides,
among other things, 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 in contravention of the commission of said Emory, and which
said provision of law had been theretofore duly and legally
promulgated by General Orders for the government and direction of
the army of the United States, as the said Andrew Johnson then
and there well knew. with intent thereby to induce said Emory, in
his official capacity as commander of the department of
Washington, to violate the provisions of said act, and to take
and receive, act upon, and obey such orders as he, the said
Andrew Johnson, might make and give, and which should not be
issued through the General of the army of the United States,
according to the provisions of said act, and with the further
intent thereby to enable him, the said Andrew Johnson, to prevent
the execution of the act entitled "An act regulating the tenure
of certain civil offices," passed March second eighteen hundred
and sixty-seven and to unlawfully prevent Edwin M. Stanton then
being Secretary for the Department of War, from holding said
office and discharging the duties thereof, whereby said Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there
commit and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
And the House of Representatives by protestation saving to
themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any
further articles, or other accusation or impeachment against the
said Andrew Johnson, President or the United States, and also of
replying to his answers which he shall wake unto the articles
herein preferred against him, and of offering proof to the same,
and every part thereof, and to all and every other article,
accusation, or impeachment which shall be exhibited by them, as
the case shall require, do demand that the said Andrew Johnson
may be put to answer the high crimes and misdemeanors in office
herein charged against him, and that such proceedings,
examinations, trials, and judgments may be thereupon had and
given as may be agreeable to law and justice
ARTICLE X.
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
unmindful of the high duties of his office, and the dignity and
proprieties thereof, and of the harmony and courtesies which
ought to exist and be maintained between the executive and
legislative branches of the government of the United States,
designing and intending to set aside the rightful authority and
powers of Congress, did attempt to bring into disgrace, ridicule,
hatred, contempt and reproach, the Congress of the United States,
and the several branches thereof, to impair and destroy the
regard and respect of all the good people of the United States
for the Congress and legislative powers thereof, (which all
officers of the government ought inviolably to preserve and
maintain.) and to excite the odium and resentment of all the good
people of the United States against Congress and the laws by it
duly and constitutionally enacted; and in pursuance of his said
design and intent, openly and publicly, and before divers
assemblages of the citizens of the United States, convened in
divers parts thereof to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as
the Chief Magistrate of the United States, did, on the eighteenth
day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six, and on divers other days and times, as well before
as afterward, make and deliver, with a loud voice, certain
intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues, and did
therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces. as well against
Congress as the laws of the United States duly enacted thereby,
amid the cries, jeer, and laughter of the multitudes then
assembled and in hearing.
ARTICLE XI.
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
unmindful of the high duties of his office, and of his oath of
offce, and in disregard of the Constitution and laws of the
United States, did, heretofore, to wit, on the eighteenth day of
August, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-six, at the City of
Washington, and the District of Columbia, by public speech,
declare and affirm, in substance, that the thirty-ninth Congress
of the United States was not a Congress of the United States
authorized by the Constitution to exercise legislative power
under the same. but, on the contrary, was a Congress of only part
of the States, thereby denying, and intending to deny, that the
legislation of said Congress was valid or obligatory upon him,
the said Andrew Johnson, except in so far as he saw fit to
approve the same, and also thereby denying, and intending to
deny, the power of the said thirty-ninth Congress to .propose
amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and, in
pursuance of said declaration, the said Andrew Johnson, President
of the United States, afterwards, to-wit, on the twenty first day
of February, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, at the city
of Washington, in the District of Columbia, did, unlawfully, and
in disregard of the requirements of the Constitution that he
should take care that the laws be faithfully executed, attempt to
prevent the execution of an act entitled "An act regulating the
tenure of certain civil offices," passed March second, eighteen
hundred and sixty-seven, by unlawfully devising and contriving,
and attempting to devise and contrive means by which he should
prevent Edwin M. Stanton from forthwith resuming the functions of
the office of Secretary for the Department of War,
notwithstanding the refusal of the Senate to concur in the
suspension theretofore made by said Andrew Johnson of said Edwin
M. Stanton from said office of Secretary for the Department of
War; and, also, by further unlawfully devising and contriving,
and attempting to devise and contrive means, then and there, to
prevent the execution of an act entitled "An act making
appropriations for the support of the army for the fiscal year
ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and for
other purposes," approved March second, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven; and also, to prevent the execution of an act
entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of
the rebel States," passed March second, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven, whereby the said Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States, did then, to wit, on the twentyfirst day of
February, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, at the city of
Washington, commit, and was guilty of, a high misdemeanor in
office.
Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Attest: Edward McPherson, Clerk of the House of Representatives.
At the conclusion of the reading of the Articles of Impeachment,
the President of the Senate responded that "the Senate will take
order upon the subject of impeachment, of which proper notice
will be given to the House of Representatives."
In addition to the Speaker and Managers, a large number of the
members of the House of Representatives were present to witness
the extraordinary and impressive proceedings, and at its close
all withdrew and the Senate resumed the routine business of the
day's session.
On Monday, March 23rd, 1868, the President, by his attorneys,
appeared at the bar of the Senate and made answer to the several
Articles of Impeachment, as follows:
(Answer to only the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 11th Articles, are here
given, as the 2nd, 3rd and 11th were the only Articles put to
vote--all others being abandoned, and as the 1st Article, though
never put to vote, contained practically all there was of the
impeachment.)
ANSWER TO ARTICLE I.
For answer to the first article he said: That Edwin M. Stanton
was appointed Secretary for the Department of War on the 15th day
of January, A. D. 1862, by Abraham Lincoln, then President of the
United States, during the first term of his presidency, and was
commissioned, according to the Constitution and laws of the
United States, to hold the said office during the pleasure of the
President; that the office of Secretary for the Department of
War was created by an act of the first Congress in its first
session, passed on the 7th day of August, A.D. 1789, and in and
by that act it was provided and enacted that the said Secretary
for the Department of War shall perform and execute such duties
as shall from time to time be enjoined on and intrusted to him by
the President of the United States, agreeably to the
Constitution, relative to the subjects within the scope of said
department; and furthermore, that the Secretary shall conduct
the business of the said department in such a manner as the
President of the United States shall, from time to time, order
and instruct.
And this respondent further answering, says that by force of the
act aforesaid and by reason of his appointment aforesaid the said
Stanton became the principal officer in one of the executive
departments of the government within the true, intent and meaning
of the second section of the second article of the Constitution
of the United States, and according to the true intent and
meaning of that provision of the Constitution of the United
States: and, in accordance with the settled and uniform practice
of each and every President of the United States, the said
Stanton then became, and so long as he should continue to hold
the said office of Secretary for the Department of War must
continue to be, one of the advisers of the President of the
United States, as well as the person intrusted to act for and
represent the President in matters enjoined upon him or entrusted
to him by the President touching the department aforesaid, and
for whose conduct in such capacity, subordinate to the President,
the President is, by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, made responsible.
And this respondent, further answering, says he succeeded to the
office of President of the United States upon, and by reason of,
the death of Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United
States, on the 13th day of April, 1865, and the said Stanton was
then holding the said office of Secretary for the Department of
War under and by reason of the appointment and commission
aforesaid; and, not having been removed from the said office by
this respondent, the said Stanton continued to hold the same
under the appointment and commission aforesaid, at the pleasure
of the President, until the time hereinafter particularly
mentioned: and at no time received any appointment or commission
save as above detailed.
And this repondent, further answering, says that on and prior to
the 5th day of August, A. D. 1867, this respondent, the President
of the United States. responsible for the conduct of the
Secretary for the Department of War, and having the
constitutional right to resort to and rely upon the person
holding that office for advice concerning the great and difficult
public duties enjoined on the President by the Constitution and
laws of the United States, became satisfied that he could not
allow the said Stanton to continue to hold the office of
Secretary for the Department of War without hazard of the public
interest; that the relations between the said Stanton and the
President no longer permitted the President to resort to him for
advice, or to be, in the judgment of the President, safely
responsible for his conduct of the affairs of the Department of
War, as by law required, in accordance with the orders and
instructions of the President; and thereupon, by force of the
Constitution and laws of the United States, which devolve on the
President the power and the duty to control the conduct of the
business of that executive department of the government, and by
reason of the constitutional duty of the President to take care
that the laws be faithfully executed, this respondent did
necessarily consider and did determine that the said Stanton
ought no longer to hold the said office of Secretary for the
Department of War. And this respondent, by virtue of the power
and authority vested in him as President of the United States by
the Constitution and laws of the United States, to give effect to
such his decision and determination, did, on the 5th day of
August, A. D. 1867, address to the said Stanton a note, of which
the following is a true copy:
Sir:--Public considerations of a high character constrain me to
say that your resignation as Secretary of War will be accepted.
To which note the said Stanton made the following reply:
War Department, Washington, August 5, 1867.
Sir:-Your note of this day has been received, stating that public
considerations of a high character constrain you "to say that my
resignation its Secretary of War will be accepted."
In reply I have the honor to say that public considerations of a
high character, which alone have induced me to continue at the
head of this department, constrain me not to resign the office of
Secretary of War before the next meeting of Congress.
Very respectfully yours. Edwin M. Stanton.
This respondent, as President of the United States, was thereon
of opinion that, having regard to the necessary official
relations and duties of the Secretary for the Department of War
to the President of the United States according to the
Constitution and laws of the United States, and having regard to
the responsibility of the President for the conduct of the said
Secretary, and having regard to the permanent executive authority
of the office which the respondent holds under the Constitution
and laws of the United States, it was impossible, consistently
with the public interests, to allow the said Stanton to continue
to hold the said office of Secretary for the Department of War;
and it then became the official duty of the respondent, as
President of the United States, to consider and decide what act
or acts should and might lawfully be done by him, as President of
the United States, to cause the said Stanton to surrender the
said office.
This respondent was informed and verily believed that it was
practically settled by the first Congress of the United States,
and had been so considered and uniformly and in great numbers of
instances acted on by each Congress and President of the United
States, in succession, from President Washington to, and
including President Lincoln, and from the first Congress to the
thirty-ninth Congress, that the Constitution of the United States
conferred on the President, as part of the executive power and as
one of the necessary means and instruments of performing the
executive duty expressly imposed on him by the Constitution of
taking care that the laws be faithfully executed, the power at
any and all times of removing from office all executive officers
for cause to be judged of by the President alone. This respondent
had, in pursuance of the Constitution, required the opinion of
each principal officer of the executive departments, upon this
question of constitutional executive power and duty, and had been
advised by each of them, including the said Stanton, Secretary
for the Department of War, that under the Constitution of the
United States this power was lodged by the Constitution in the
President of the United States, and that consequently, it could
be lawfully exercised by him, and the Congress could not deprive
him thereof; and this respondent, in his capacity of President of
the United States, and because in that capacity he was both
enabled and bound to use his best judgment upon this question,
did. in good faith and with an earnest desire to arrive at the
truth, come to the conclusion and opinion, and did make the same
known to the honorable the Senate of the United States by a
message dated on the 2nd day of March, 1867, that the power last
mentioned was conferred and the duty of exercising it, in fit
cases, was imposed on the President by the Constitution of the
United States, and that the President could not be deprived of
this, power or relieved of this duty, nor could the same be
vested by law in the President and the Senate jointly, either in
part or whole.
This respondent was also then aware that by the first section of
"An act regulating the tenure of certain civil offices," passed
March 2, 1867, by a constitutional majority of both houses of
Congress, it was enacted as follows:
"That every person holding any civil office to which he has been
appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and
every person who shall hereafter be appointed to any such office,
and shall become duly qualified to act therein, is and shall be
entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been in
like manner appointed and duly qualified, except as herein
otherwise provided: Provided, That the Secretaries of State, of
the Treasury, of War, of the Navy, and of the Interior, the
Postmaster General, and the Attorney General shall hold their
offices respectively for and during the term of the President by
whom they may have been appointed, and one month thereafter,
subject to removal by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate."
This respondent was also aware that this act was understood and
intended to be an expression of the opinion of the Congress by
which that act was passed, that the power to remove executive
officers for cause might, by law, be taken from the President and
vested in him and the Senate jointly; and although this
respondent had arrived at and still retained the opinion above
expressed, and verily believed, as he still believes, that the
said first section of the last mentioned act was and is wholly
inoperative and void by reason of its conflict with the
Constitution of the United States, yet, inasmuch as the same had
been enacted by the constitutional majority in each of the two
houses of that Congress, this respondent considered it to be
proper to examine and decide whether the particular case of the
said Stanton, on which it was this respondent's duty to act, was
within or without the terms of that first section of the act; or,
if within it, whether the President had not the power, according
to the terms of the act, to remove the said Stanton from the
office of Secretary for the Department of War, and having, in his
capacity of President of the United States, so examined and
considered, did form the opinion that the case of the said
Stanton and his tenure of office were not affected by the first
section of the last-named act.
And this respondent, further answering, says, that although a
case thus existed which, in his judgment as President of the
United States, called for the exercise of the executive power to
remove the said Stanton from the office of Secretary for the
Department of War, and although this respondent was of the
opinion, as is above shown, that under the Constitution of the
United States the power to remove the said Stanton from the said
office was vested in the President of the United States; and also
this respondent was also of the opinion, as is above shown, that
the case of the said Stanton was not affected by the first
section of the last named act, and although each of the said
opinions had been formed by this respondent upon an actual case,
requiring him, in his capacity of President of the United States.
to come to some judgment and determination thereon, yet this
respondent, as President of the United States, desired and
determined to avoid, if possible, any question of the
construction and effect of the said first section of the last
named act, and also the broader question of the executive power
conferred on the President of the United States, by the
Constitution of the United States, to remove one of the principal
officers of one of the executive departments for cause seeming to
him sufficient; and this respondent also desired and determined
that if, from causes over which he could exert no control, it
should become absolutely necessary to raise and have, in some
way, determined either or both of the said last named questions,
it was in accordance with the Constitution of the United States,
and was required of the President thereby, that questions
of so much gravity and importance, upon which the legislative and
executive departments of the government had disagreed, which
involved powers considered by all branches of the government,
during its entire history down to the year 1867, to have been
confided by the Constitution of the United States to the
President, and to be necessary for the complete and proper
execution of his constitutional duties, should be in some proper
way submitted to that judicial department of the government
instrusted by the Constitution with the power, and subjected by
it to the duty, not only of determining finally the construction
of and effect of all acts of Congress. but of comparing them with
the Constitution of the United States and pronouncing them
inoperative when found in conflict with that fundamental law
which the people have enacted for the government of all their
servants. And to these ends, first, that, through the action of
the Senate of the United States, the absolute duty of the
President to substitute some fit person in place of Mr. Stanton
as one of his advisers, and as a principal subordinate officer
whose official conduct he was responsible for and had lawful
right to control, might, if, possible. be accomplished without
the necessity of raising any one of the questions aforesaid; and,
second, if this duty could not be so performed then that these
questions, or such of them as might necessarily arise, should be
judicially determined in manner aforesaid, and for no other end
or purpose, this respondent. as President of the United States,
on the 12th day of August, 1867, seven days after the reception
of the letter of the said Stanton of the 5th of August,
hereinbefore stated, did issue to the said Stanton the order
following namely:
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