In US history , since independence of that country, there were several notable events against the presidents of the Republic. Some were murdered (such as Lincoln and John Kennedy ) and, in other cases, there was a resignation (by Richard Nixon, as a result of the scandal from Watergate ) and impeachment proceedings . In the latter case, two presidents have already undergone this type of process:Bill Clinton, in 1999, and Andrew Johnson, in 1868. The present text will approach this last case.
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Presidential Republic and impeachment
The United States of America were the first nation on the American continent to adopt the republican system . This occurred when the then Thirteen Colonies , located on the East Coast of the current USA, declared themselves independent from the English crown in 1776. The republican regime adopted by the former colonies was also presidential, that is, the maximum representative of the Executive Power would be the President of the Republic, who would gather in his person the positions of Head of Government and head of state; unlike, therefore, the Parliamentary Republic , in which the president only assumes the headship of the state, while the prime minister is the head of government.
In this (presidential) system, the only recourse foreseen to remove the President of the Republic from office is the opening of a process of impeachment , which must have a legal basis, that is, the president must be formally accused of some crime against the responsibility of his political duties or of some common crime, and political consideration and judgment in the two houses of the National Congress:the Chamber of Representatives (deputies) and the Senate , respectively.
President Andrew Johnson has been impeachment in 1868, in a very troubled context.
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End of the Civil War, assassination of Lincoln and rebuilding the country
Andrew Johnson was Vice President of the Republic when Abraham Lincoln, then President, was shot in the head on April 14, 1865, inside the Theatre Ford , while watching the play Our American Cousin. With Lincoln's death, Johnson had to assume power. The problem is that the moment was one of the most delicate in US history.
The American Civil War , which began in 1861, ended in that year of 1865. Lincoln, as president, was at the head of the Union, that is, of the federal power - supported by the states of the North of the country -, and against the separatists of the South, the self-styled States Confederates . As is known, the North won the South, but the war had caused the destruction of many cities in the country. As slavery was abolished, the southern slaveholding agrarian model had to be replaced by another structure of rural production. All these problems were being evaluated by Lincoln and his political base when his assassination came. Johnson, in turn, had to command the arduous task of rebuilding the country.
Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln after his assassination
The main objective of the reconstruction was the restoration of the federal system with the reincorporation of the Southern States. The problem is that Johnson's reconstruction projects ended up colliding with the prospects of a considerable part of congressmen, especially the House of Representatives. Johnson, despite not viewing the situation of former Confederates with great affection, ended up giving them greater freedom to develop their own legal definitions for the situation of freed blacks in their territory and went on to veto Congressional bills that aimed at a greater integration of blacks into the meshes of the states.
The most radical congressmen, in order to confront the president, began to put into practice what became known as “Reconstruction Radical” . These congressmen went on to draft laws that, among other things, provided for the distribution of land from large estates to blacks on an equal footing with whites. In addition, these laws also provided for the reincorporation of Southern States accompanied by military intervention. The feud between the presidency and Congress became intense, and the most fierce congressmen in the fight against Johnson found in an 1867 law a possible basis for opening an impeachment process.
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Remaining in Office Act, 1867:Basis for impeachment
Radical Republican deputies twice tried in the Supreme Court for a judicial intervention against the president. Failing to succeed in these attempts, the same deputies found in the Law of Remaining in Office , of 1867, the prerogative to open a process of impeachment against Andrew Johnson in 1868. With only one year of validity, this law provided that the President of the Republic could not dismiss his secretaries of state without authorization from Congress.
On August 12, 1867, Johnson had failed to observe the Remaining in Office Act and removed the then Secretary of War (appointed by Lincoln), Edwin Stanton . Stanton was an ally of the radicals. His removal was the loophole used for the process to begin, as historians Luís Tinham Fernandes and Marcos Vinícius de Morais say:
“This (Remaining in Office) law, passed in a context of dubious constitutionality, prohibited the dismissal of members of the presidential cabinet without the approval of the Congress. Johnson had tried to fire Secretary of Gerra Edwin Stanton, who had been appointed by Lincoln, and in 1868 the House of Representatives voted to impeach the president based on a long and nebulous set of accusations.” [1]
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Process and Judgment
The House of Representatives voted to admit the impeachment on February 24, 1868, approving by 124 to 46 votes. The process went to the Senate, which, at the time, had 54 members. It took 2/3 of the senators' votes for President Johnson to actually be removed from office. Therefore, 36 senators should vote in favor of impeachment.
The trial began on March 30, 1868. On May 26, the final vote took place. 35 senators voted in favor of impeachment, thus not completing the necessary 2/3. Johnson was cleared of impeachment by just a single vote!
NOTES
[1] FERNANDES, L.E.; MORAIS, M.V. “America in the 19th Century”. In:KARNAL, L. American History – From Origins to the 21st Century . São Paulo:Context, 2015. p. 144.
By me. Claudio Fernandes