A Brief Overview of Johnson\'s

A Brief Overview of Johnson's Impeachment Andrew Johnson's presidency is one of the most poorly received by historians, who rank his tenure as one of the worst on record. Certainly, this impression is strongly supported by the fact that he was the first-and until Bill Clinton over a century later, the only-U.S. president to see the articles of impeachment brought before him. In consideration of this impeachment and trial from a fully objective standpoint, though, we find that it serves less as a window into the failures of his presidency and more into the politicization which stimulated the invocation of his impeachment. Certainly, the challenges of division were heavily incumbent upon Johnson, who came into office under the worst of circumstances. Upon the armistice ending the bloody Civil War and the subsequent assassination of Abraham Lincoln, vice president Johnson was sworn in to office in 1865. As a lone Southern Democrat remaining on the side of the Union during the war, he used his middling role to bridge the emotional gap between the North and South. The tactic backfired on him as Northern Republicans viewed with hostility his interest in reconciling fast and returning the south to viability. Bitter northerners felt this denoted a suspect allegiance and brutally attacked his policies, especially his effort to create a cabinet more sympathetic to his interest in reconciliation. By outcome, his opponents amongst northern republicans struck preemptively. "Sensing vulnerability, Congress moved against Johnson by passing the Tenure of Office Act, which limited Johnson's ability to remove cabinet officials without congressional approval." (Bacon, 1) When the inevitable struck and Johnson attempted to remove a divisive secretary of war, fringe elements of congress rallied for his impeachment. Though his presidency was preserved by one vote, his fate as a divider and a president made impotent by political opposition was sealed.