Impeachment is often thought to mean the removal from office of an official. This is not true. Impeachment involves accusing an official and the trial that follows the accusations. Once a trial is conducted, it must result in acquittal or a guilty verdict. Impeachment is most commonly used to remove federal judges from office, but only two Presidents, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have been impeached and gone to trial. President Richard Nixon resigned after the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives brought three articles of impeachment against him. He resigned because conviction in the Senate was guaranteed. The terms of impeachment in the U.S. are detailed in the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 3, which states, “The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present” (Cigler and Loomis A-5). All three Presidents had impeachment charges brought against them based on the argument that they had violated Article II, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution, “The President…shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and on conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors” (Cigler et. al A-9).
This analysis will examine all three Presidents involved in impeachment in U.S. history. The major issues of their terms in office, the charges brought against them, and, the evidence used against them will be addressed. A conclusion will provide what happened to each President, and how the writer would vote on each one if a member of the House and a member of the Senate.
President Andrew Johnson served during a time of bitter hatred and lawlessness after the end of the Civil War. He and Congress had long been at odds over his per...