Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

About the Author

When Thaddeus Stevens and John A. Bingham went to the Senate to inform them of the House's successful decision to impeach the president, they had not yet written any articles detailing precisely what crimes and misdemeanors President Johnson was accused of perpetrating. Instead, a committee was formed to write the articles after the vote to impeach Johnson was successful.

The committee charged with writing the Articles of Impeachment included the following men: John A. Bingham (R-OH), George S. Boutwell (R-MA), George W. Julian (R-IN), John A. Logan (R-IL), Thaddeus Stevens (R-PA), James F. Wilson (R-IA), and Hamilton Ward (R-NY). Boutwell was the chair of the committee. Bingham and Wilson had once been moderates and were not in favor of impeachment; however, they approved John Covode's resolution to impeach the president and served on the committee. They were influenced, in part, by Johnson's breach of the Tenure of Office Act to join the ranks of those in favor of impeachment.

The committee began its work by conducting interviews with witnesses to Johnson's activities. After the interview process, the committee composed and agreed on ten articles of impeachment. These articles accused Johnson of crimes and misdemeanors regarding his attempted removal of Stanton and installation of Thomas as secretary of war, his disregard of the Tenure of Office Act, and his assertion that the Command of the Army Act (which required Johnson to issue orders through the general of the army, Ulysses S. Grant) was unconstitutional. The main problem with these accusations, however, was that they had all been debated before—the committee had not revealed anything about Johnson's conduct that was not already common knowledge. Wilson and Stevens worked together to write the eleventh article.