To What Extent Was Johnson's Impeachment Right Or Wrong

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Johnson’s Impeachment Right or Wrong?
On February 24, 1868, something remarkable happened in the U.S. Congress. For the first time in history, the United States House of Representatives impeached a sitting president, Democrat Andrew Johnson. Johnson faced trial before the U. S. Senate. If guilty, he would be replaced in office. But was he really in violation of the Tenure of Office Act?
VP Johnson had ventured in office after John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln, on April 15, 1865. Abraham was a union man, yet his underlying foundations were in the South. "This is a country for white men," he had constantly stated, "and as long as I am president, it shall be a government for white men." Johnson had neglected to win support with the Radical Republicans. The radicals, who included men like Thaddeus Stevens and Benjamin Butler, needed to ensure the privileges of the freedmen. One way they attempted to do as such was by passing the Reconstruction Acts, laws that gave suffrage to liberated slaves and kept previous Southern radicals from recovering control of the state governments.
The main blow came after the entry of the Tenure of Office Act in 1867. This law made it unimaginable for the president to reject essential …show more content…

David Stewart contends, and I concur, that Johnson should have been expelled from office, yet not for the doubtful offense of disregarding the Tenure of Office Act or for being a boaster. Rather, Johnson ought to have been indicted on the grounds that he genuinely undermined endeavors to enhance the part of the nation's recently liberated slaves and on the grounds that he stood without moving by, and gave not a finger of government help, notwithstanding when ex-slaves were being butchered on southern expressways. Johnson was a fierce and obtuse president when the country frantically required somebody to mend the country's injuries - somebody like Abraham

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