The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was the very nearly-successful impeachment of the racist and corrupt U.S. President, Andrew Johnson, that was initiated on February 24, 1868, when the United States House of Representatives resolved to impeach Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, for "high crimes and misdemeanors", which were detailed in 11 articles of impeachment. The primary charge against Johnson was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act, which was passed by Congress in March 1867, effectively overriding Johnson's veto.
Specifically, he had violated the Tenure of Office Act by dismissing Edwin Stanton, the secretary of war under Abraham Lincoln. The act was largely designed to protect. Stanton often sided with the Radical Republican faction that passed the act, and did not have a good relationship with Johnson, who attempted to replace Stanton with Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas. Earlier, while the Congress was not in session, Johnson had illegally suspended Stanton and appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as secretary of war ad interim.
On March 2–3, 1868, Johnson became the first American president to be formally impeached, when the House formally adopted the articles of impeachment and forwarded them to the United States Senate for adjudication. The trial in the Senate began three days later, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. On May 16, the Senate did not convict Johnson on one of the articles, with the 35–19 vote in favor of conviction falling one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority. A 10-day recess was called before attempting to convict him on additional articles. However, on May 26, the Senate did not convict the president on two articles, both by the same margin, after which the trial was adjourned without considering the remaining eight articles of impeachment.
Following Johnson's acquittal, according to one observer, U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens was described as "black with rage and disappointed", and when those outside of the room clamored for the result that occurred, Stevens got so angry and shouted, "This country is going to The Devil!" Despite his acquittal, Johnson, with his reputation in shambles, lost the nomination in the 1868 Democratic National Convention for his reelection to the Presidency. Right up to his death months later on August 11th, 1868, Representative Stevens constantly fought for the second impeachment of Johnson, which never came to be.
The impeachment, trial, and acquittal of Andrew Johnson by one vote had important political implications for the balance of federal legislative-executive power. One side maintained the principle that Congress should not remove the president from office simply because its members disagreed with him over policy, style, and administration of the office. It also resulted in diminished presidential influence on public policy and overall governing power, fostering a system of governance which future-President Woodrow Wilson referred to in the 1880s as "Congressional Government".
In a sense, Johnson destroyed his own presidency and reputation, which caused his impeachment, since he did not compromise with his opponents. If Senator Edmund G. Ross or another senator that voted for acquittal had instead voted to convict him, the 2/3 majority would have been reached, the Johnson presidency would have been over, and he would have been the first (and to date) only President to be removed from office. In addition to Johnson’s impeachment, several other presidents have undergone the similar impeachment investigation; starting with John Tyler in 1842 (the first time Congress formally attempted to impeach, but the formal vote of an impeachment proposal failed to take up the majority of votes because they all agree that Tyler's likely acquittal would upset the Whig Party), James Buchanan in 1860 (whom the Covode Committee declared his administration as one of the most corrupt in history, but declined to introduce an impeachment proposal against Buchanan, as they could not find enough evidence to support this accusation), Richard Nixon in 1974 (who resigned before his likely removal from office), Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019 and again in 2021. (Trump was acquitted in 2021, 57-43 despite the vote being in favor of conviction, as 67 votes, a supermajority, are necessary for removal of a president and/or conviction of a former president).
No United States President has ever been removed from office, as of 2021.