I was writing an essay on whether or not Andrew Johnson should have been found guilty or not guilty of the crimes he was impeached for. As I was writing I thought "This would make a good node." So without further ado, here it is.


Impeaching a president means to accuse of a high crime or misdemeanor. Andrew Johnson our 17th president was charged with eleven crimes nine of these crimes in violation of the tenure of office act. One charge is conspiring against congress and not enforcing laws. This last charge states that Johnson was unmindful of his duties. Andrew Johnson should not be found guilty of these charges.

The main charge is violation of the tenure of office act, which says that The President may not hire or fire anybody without congress approval. Johnson violated this act by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. He fired Stanton for being disloyal and not helping Johnson to do his job, which is what the cabinet is supposed to do. Stanton reacted to his firing by barricading his office and refusing to leave. His reaction was very immature and did not solve any problems. President Andrew Johnson should not be prosecuted for this because The Tenure of Office Act , being the law he violated, was later declared unconstitutional. It took power from one branch and gave it to the other. According to the United States Constitution these branches are to be “separate but equal.”

Another charge is “Drunken and inappropriate behaviour at Lincoln's 2nd inaugural.” He should not be charged with this. Johnson was not even president when it happened so it should not compromise his position of president when he is president. Andrew Johnson had been suffering from typhoid fever and generally was in poor health, during the weeks before the inaugural. Because of this he drank some medicine before the inaugural. Johnson had a few drinks at the inaugural , which may have caused a reaction with the medicine, causing his erratic behaviour.

The final charge against Seventeenth President Andrew Johnson is conspiring against congress. Johnson vetoed many laws congress proposed to him, some of these being The Tenure Of Office Act, The Civil Rights Act, and The Reconstruction act, among others. However I think it could just as easily be said that congress was conspiring against Johnson. All of these laws were passed over Andrew Johnson's veto. More than any other president before him. It is clear that the two groups did not like each other so of course their methods of doing things would differ but it was hardly conspiracy.

In conclusion, Andrew Johnson should not have been found guilty of the crimes with which he was charged. He had good reason to do what he did, and I don't believe any of it was criminal. The ultimate reason he shouldn't have been found guilty, is that he wasn't. If Johnson was guilty the Senate Jury would have found him guilty, but they didn't. Andrew Johnson was not guilty of the crimes for which he was impeached.

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