President Andrew Johnson was impeached by a vote of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 24, 1868, and the country was once again set for battle along political and geographic lines.

So, let’s talk about the details of impeachment. What does the U.S. Constitution say about it? There are several references in our founding document, as explained by the U.S. Constitution Annotated:

— Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 grants the sole power of impeachment to the House of Representatives;
— Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 assigns the Senate sole responsibility to try impeachments;
— Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 provides that the sanctions for an impeached and convicted individual are limited to removal from office and potentially a bar from holding future office, but an impeachment proceeding does not preclude criminal liability;
— Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 provides that the President enjoys the pardon power, but it does not extend to cases of impeachment; and
— Article II, Section 4 defines which officials are subject to impeachment and what kinds of misconduct constitute impeachable behavior.
— Article III does not mention impeachment expressly, but Section 1, which establishes that federal judges shall hold their seats during good behavior, is widely understood to provide the unique nature of judicial tenure.
— And Article III, Section 2, Clause 3 provides that trials, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by jury.

When the House Impeachment Committee forwarded its 11 Articles of Impeachment to the Senate on March 4, the Senate set in motion the trial of the president of the United States. According to the Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides; ergo, Chief Justice Salmon Chase prepared for Andrew Johnson’s trial, with the Senate serving as the jury, as dictated by the Constitution.

While there were 11 Articles of Impeachment approved by the House and accepted by the Senate, the central issue was President Johnson’s violation of the Tenure of Office Act. However, the issue was also more fundamental: Who was to be in charge of Reconstruction? Who is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military? Congress had instructed the U.S. Army to enforce Reconstruction polices opposed by the president.

Why had Congress stepped in — other than its dislike of the president and his overall policies regarding Reconstruction?

In 1867, Johnson had removed several military commanders, a somewhat common practice — think Abraham Lincoln and the stream of Union commanders during the Civil War — but the problem from Congress’s viewpoint was that the president had replaced each with a commander who was lenient on “white rule” in the South. Additionally, Johnson had attempted to create a command post in Washington, DC, for a new “Army of the Atlantic,” which was viewed as an attempt to intimidate congressional opposition. It was this action that caused General Ulysses S. Grant to shift allegiance to Congress. He was adamant that the U.S. military “serves the people,” not the executive branch, recalling the stories of the Caesars and the Roman legions.

While Johnson’s behavior had been “intemperate, inflammatory and scandalous,” was that an impeachable offense? I’m pausing while you consider actions of presidents during your lifetime.

Intemperate? Several comments by former presidents might come to mind.

Inflammatory? Oh, my. Isn’t hyperbole a tool used frequently by elected officials as a group?

Scandalous? Well, I choose to avoid that question.

One other issue had to be considered in the impeachment trial. Johnson had moved into the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination and there was no vice president. If Johnson was removed from office, Benjamin Wade, president pro tem of the Senate, would become president until the election in November 1868. That was a fly in the ointment since Wade was a Republican who had taken an extremist attitude toward the South. He was also no friend of the manufacturing and industrial leaders in the North who preferred Grant for the 1868 Republican Party presidential nomination. Many historians consider that Wade’s possible ascension to power moved several Johnson opponents into the “No” column when the roll call for the “removal from office” vote occurred.

When the final vote was counted, seven Republicans had voted to acquit, and Johnson served the remainder of his term without taking any direct opposition to congressional actions. He, in fact, became a “lame duck,” and congressional action would cast a shadow over the presidency, leading to a quarter-century of “Powerless Presidents.”

Andrew Johnson left office after not securing the Democratic nomination for president and observing his “enemy,” General Grant, be elected. Johnson returned to Tennessee and vowed to remain involved in politics, having learned much during his time as a local, state, and national leader.

In a historical footnote, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1874 in a victory that Johnson applauded as more important to him than being “elected President of the United States.” He had campaigned in Tennessee against what he perceived as the widespread corruption of the Grant administration, and his constituents had returned him to service, making him the only former president to be elected to the Senate.

That fight did not last long, for Johnson suffered a stroke in July 1875 and died before making good on his pledge to Tennesseans. He was buried with honors in his hometown, Greeneville, in the shadows of the Appalachian Mountains. The “Little Tailor” had certainly earned a place in presidential history, even if it was not the one he would have chosen.