Impeachment


 * Impeachment**

Q: What does impeachment mean? A: A government process by which a legislative body can remove agovernment official from office, including presidents, judges, and representatives.

Q: Who was impeached during the Reconstruction and why? A: During the Reconstruction Era, President Andrew Johnson was impeached due to many political reasons. He had different views than the other Congressmen, and it caused much conflict between the branches. One of the main reasons why Johnson was impeached was when he violated the Tenure of Office Act and removed his Secretary of War and radical Requblicans leader Edwin Stanton from the Presendential Cabinet, he caused a political uproar and caused his popularity to downfall. Johnson purely thought that the Tenure of Office Act was unconsitutional, for it stated that the President could not remove federal officeholders withough permission from the Senate.

Q: What was the outcome of the impeachment? A: Johnson had been hurting and weakening the political power of the United States, so his impeachment helped the whole United States government, including the fact that the conflicts between the branches ceased. Johnson was then kicked out of office, and a new president, Ulysses S. Grant, was elected.

Q: Explain the articles of impeachment against the President. A: When Andrew Johnson was going to remove his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, many of the radical Republicans became angry and impeached Andrew Johnson in 1868. It took a few attempts for them to get what they wanted, and their first attempt to impeach the president was in December 1867. Their final attempt on May 26, 1868 succeeded, with the vote being 35 to 19, just one vote short of required two thirds, and Johnson was kicked out of office.

Works Cited: ~//Andrew Johnson - Johnson's impeachment trial//. (n.d.). Retrieved May 5, 2009, from []

~(2008). Andrew Johnson. In //The Columbia Encyclopedia// (6th ed., pp. 1-2). Columbia: Columbia University Press. Retrieved May 5, 2009 from []

~Park Service. (2006, June 10). //Andrew Johnson Nationalo Historic Site - The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (U.S. National Park Service).// Retrieved May 5, 2009, from []

~Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Tenure of Office Act Infoplease.com. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from []