Impeachment of a President, Part 2

Impeachment of a President, Part 2: 150 years ago (Aug. 12, 1867), President Andrew Johnson pulled the trigger on his own impeachment. Fed up with the disloyalty of his Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, who was colluding with his enemies, the Radical Republicans in Congress, the president suspended Stanton. His action violated the Tenure of Office Act, a law passed by Republicans in March 1867 with the expressed purpose of preventing the president from removing any official approved by the Senate. Johnson fervently denied the constitutionality of the law; however, he worked within the boundaries of that law to secure a replacement for Stanton who would be acceptable to the Republicans. He turned to the most popular man in the United States, General Ulysses S. Grant.

From left to right: President Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant, Sec. of War Edwin M. Stanton

Grant, a man many believed to be apolitical, above the political mudslinging over the outcome of the Civil War and the direction in which the nation should go (Reconstruction) that had poisoned the relationship between the executive and the legislative branch, was, in fact, anything but apolitical. And Johnson's circle of friends knew it. They tried adamantly to convince Johnson not to appoint Grant in Stanton's place. But blinded by his vitriolic hate of Radicals, Johnson thought Grant would win him allies elsewhere in Congress among moderate and conservative Republicans. Above all, the president thought he could pull Grant's strings.

Though he was not willing to yield to Johnson's order, Stanton did step aside on August 12, 1867 when Grant was named as his replacement because he knew where Grant stood and that the general could serve as a check on the president, to keep him from removing key military officials who were working hand-in-hand with the Republican Congress to implement a Radical Reconstruction of the former Confederate states.

Grant's role during the period between Appomattox (April 1865) and his election as President (Nov. 1868) was the topic of my master's thesis. Before the new wave of Grant revisionism kicked in during the mid-2000s, I was arguing that Grant was political and working with Republicans to undermine Johnson's administration. More on the sneaky Grant, operating in the shadows, in the next installment.