Presidential Impeachment

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The constitutional standard for impeachment of a President in the United States is “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” (The History Place, 2000). If the Constitution’s verbiage seems vague, that’s because it is. Gerald Ford once famously said: an impeachable offense “is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history” (United States Senate, n.d.). The Constitution does specify who has the power to impeach a President: the House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach a president, while the Senate the sole power to remove a President (United States Senate, n.d.). What if the American people want a president impeached, but the House won’t impeach them? Even if …show more content…

The first occurred in 1868, and even then, the movement was propelled along partisan lines (Linder, 1995). President Andrew Johnson, who took office after Lincoln’s assassination, was impeached for his removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act (Linder, 1995). The move to impeach Johnson was led by the “Radical Republicans”, who sought to force the southern states to respect the rights of the newly freed slaves (Linder, 1995). Johnson, on the other hand, believed the freed slaves should never be given the right to vote (Linder, 1995). Frustrated at Johnson’s use of his appointment powers to put in men charge who shared his views on Reconstruction, the Republicans passed the Tenure of Office Act, which prohibited the president from firing any confirmed appointees without the Senate's agreement (Linder, …show more content…

Clinton was, at first, adamant in his denial of the allegations of a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, even going as far as to say he had never been alone with her (Linder, 1995). Yet the details of his affair with Lewinsky were on tape, after Lewinsky was secretly recorded by Linda Tripp, and DNA evidence of Clinton’s semen was found on Lewinsky’s now famous blue dress (Linder, 1995). Again, the move to impeach Clinton was propelled along party lines. The Republican-controlled House insisted that Clinton had lied to the public, and as President of the United States, was held to a higher standard than a common man who lies about an affair. Clinton was acquitted by the Democrat-controlled

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