Impeachment in the United States is a constitutional mechanism allowing the President and other high-ranking officials to be charged with gross misconduct, and potentially removed from office. The first US President to be impeached was Andrew Johnson, a white supremacist Southern Democrat with controversial views on Reconstruction and the civil rights of former slaves. As Abraham Lincoln’s Vice-President, Johnson assumed the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. Due to his white supremacist opposition to Reconstruction, repeated clashes with Congress, and general disregard for the post-Civil War political landscape, Johnson was impeached in 1868.
Road to the White House
Andrew Johnson was born into poverty in North Carolina in 1908. Unable to read and write he became an apprentice tailor before moving to Greeneville, Tennessee as a teenager. Despite having no formal education, Johnson became a skilled orator and against the odds entered politics.
He was elected alderman in 1829 and later served as mayor of Greeneville in 1935. Johnson’s political career progressed rapidly: he joined the state legislature, was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1843, served as governor of Tennessee twice, and eventually became a US Senator.
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Sign up to our Free Weekly NewsletterJohnson remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, despite the succession of Tennessee. His loyalty as a “Union Democrat” led to his appointment as military governor of Tennessee and later earned him a place on Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 ticket as vice president. When Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson became the 17th president of the United States.
President Johnson In Power
Taking office after Lincoln’s death, Johnson faced the critical task of leading the nation through Reconstruction. Though he was known to be an affable extrovert and a skilled administrator, Johnson was an ideologically committed white supremacist, committed to obstructing civil and political rights for black Americans.
In office, he pursued a policy of Presidential Reconstruction that sought the rapid reintegration of Southern states into the Union, without securing protections for former slaves, and including pardons for ex-Confederates. Johnson’s opposition to Civil Rights for blacks and his lenient approach towards the South led to frequent conflicts with the Republican-controlled Congress.
A vocal advocate for his own class, poor Southern whites, Johnson viewed the Southern planter class as an enemy. However, he was also a former slave owner vehemently opposed to the idea of interracial democracy. He referred to the idea of equal rights for black Americans as an unacceptable “Africanization” of the country.
Impeachment and Trial
Rather than seeking to forge a compromise between the goals of radical Republicans and moderates in Congress, Johnson pressed forward with his white supremacist agenda. He opposed key Reconstruction legislation, including the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the Fourteenth Amendment (which established the idea of universal US citizenship).
The first attempts to impeach President Johnson began in 1867. The tipping point came when he violated the Tenure of Office Act – a law passed by Congress to restrict the president’s power to remove certain officeholders without Senate approval – by dismissing Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, a close ally of the radical Republicans.
Stanton’s dismissal, alongside the president’s general contempt for Congress, served as the pretext for impeachment. Johnson’s Senate trial ultimately fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction, allowing him to finish his term, albeit from a radically weakened position.
Legacy
Andrew Johnson’s legacy is deeply intertwined with the failure of Reconstruction, one of the most pivotal periods in US history. During this time, America faced monumental challenges: healing the wounds of the Civil War, reintegrating the southern states, and addressing the status of newly freed slaves.
Johnson failed to rise to the challenge. Instead, he actively undermined the progress made in securing rights for formerly enslaved people. His policies emboldened white supremacists to wage guerrilla war against black American citizens, resist the push for racial equality, and paved the way for the rise of Jim Crow.
Many historians view Johnson as one of the worst presidents in US history, particularly given the critical juncture at which he served. His failure to guide the nation through Reconstruction – to the benefit of all citizens – effectively earned him the distinction of being the first US President to be impeached.
