For the Radical Republicans, humbling President Johnson was not enough. They sought to remove him from office. In 1868, Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached. Johnson's major crime was the violation of the Tenure of Office Act. This act stated that the president could not remove someone from his Cabinet without the approval of the Senate. Disregarding this law, Johnson fired his Secretary of War, Henry Stanton.

The impeachment trial of President Johnson was a national event and people lined up for tickets to the Senate gallery to watch the proceedings. When it was over, Johnson survived by one vote.

Impeachment Primer

Impeachment is the start of the formal process to remove someone from the presidency. The Constitution says it can be done for "high crimes and misdemeanors."

The House of Representatives can impeach a President by a simple majority vote. They accuse the President of specific crimes, known as the "articles of impeachment."

Once a President has been impeached, the process moves to the Senate where he or she is put on trial. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court serves as the judge for the trial and the Senators are the jury. It takes a two-thirds vote by the Senate to actually remove a President from office.

As of 2012, only two Presidents have ever been impeached, Johnson and Bill Clinton. Neither were removed from office. Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency before Congress could impeach him.

Historical Controversy: The Tenure of Office Act and Political Impeachment

The impeachment of Andrew Johnson raised two controversial issues about the workings of the federal government: the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act and the proper use of impeachment.

The Tenure of Office Act was based on a simple idea. If a President needs the advice and consent of the Senate to hire a Cabinet member, he or she should also need Senate approval to fire that person—even though the Constitution says nothing about removing a Cabinet member.

The opposing viewpoint states that a Cabinet member helps run the Executive branch of government and advise the president. If the President, as Chief Executive, does not want that person anymore, he or she should not have to ask for Senate permission to fire him or her. The Tenure of Office Act was repealed in the 1880s and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1960s.

The other controversial part of impeachment is what constitutes a "high crime and misdemeanor" worthy of impeachment. Many observers believed that Johnson was impeached because the Radical Republicans disliked him, not because they thought he committed a great crime. Similar observations were made when President Clinton was impeached in 1998. Both Johnson and Clinton saw their popularity increase as a result of impeachment because the public thought they were being treated unfairly by Congress.

→ Reflection: Where do you stand on these two issues? Should the president have the ability to fire his advisors at will, even if he or she needs Senate consent to hire them? What type of crime is great enough to remove an elected president from office? Answer in your notes.