Sold – During the Trial After President Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment, He Declares That He Has Been “Prevented by the pressure of official duties” from Handling His Normal Workload
In an uncommon letter as President, he is grateful for the encouragement of his supporters.
After President Johnson notified Congress on February 21, 1868, that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War and replaced him with Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas, it took the House of Representatives only three days to impeach him for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Meanwhile, Stanton refused to abandon his office and had...
After President Johnson notified Congress on February 21, 1868, that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War and replaced him with Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas, it took the House of Representatives only three days to impeach him for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Meanwhile, Stanton refused to abandon his office and had Thomas arrested for attempting to exercise the duties of the Secretary of War. Johnson’s trial in the Senate, which he did not attend, began on March 23 and was presided over by Chief Justice Salmon B. Chase. There were eleven articles of impeachment, and conviction was considered a strong possibility.
Johnson had plenty of detractors, but the ordeal through which the President was passing brought out his supporters as well. These were mainly Democrats, as that party’s followers were lukewarm about the impeachment or opposed it altogether. In New York a mass meeting had been held on September 17, 1866, when Johnson first came under concerted attack. It asked people to attend who were in favor of an immediate restoration of the Union (as opposed to a period of reconstruction) and who “desire to forget the dissensions of the past and restore peace to a distracted country, and who approve the open, manly and patriotic course of Andrew Johnson, in opposition to the illegal assumptions and usurpations of a partisan Congress.” The various National Union Associations and Johnson Clubs were invited to cooperate in the movement. The meeting passed a resolution: “Resolved, That we are profoundly grateful that Andrew Johnson, in his high office, untempted by the proffer from Congress of almost despotic power, has maintained that love for the Constitution of our fathers which characterizes the true American citizen; and that, in his masterly State papers and familiar conversations with the people, he has demonstrated that he not only comprehends the Constitution, but that, true to his oath of office, he will preserve, protect and defend it.” Prominent New York Democrats like August Belmont, James Bowne and John Dix attended, and many notables such as orator Hiram Ketchum spoke.
As the pressure on Johnson escalated in the weeks before he removed Stanton in 1868, Jacob A. Westervelt, a Democrat and former Mayor of New York, sent a copy of the remarks at that 1866 meeting, as a way of showing Johnson support. Johnson was way too busy amidst the crisis, impeachment and start of the trial to respond to such messages of encouragement, but in April with the trial underway he found a little time to do so.
Letter Signed, on Executive Mansion letterhead, Washington, April 11, 1868, to Westervelt. “I regret that an earlier acknowledgement of your communication of the 7th of February last has been prevented by the pressure of official duties. I beg that you will tender to Mr. Bowne and Mr. Ketchum my thanks for a copy of the remarks of the latter gentleman, so neatly and ingeniously transcribed, delivered in Union Square September 17, 1866. With assurances of my appreciation of the kind expressions contained in your letter…Andrew Johnson.” Letters of Johnson as President are uncommon, and any relating to his impeachment or trial are all the more so. This is the first we have had.
Although this shows Johnson’s supporters offering encouragement, it also illuminates the pickle that Johnson was in, in that the quotations of enthusiastic support sent to him were two years old.
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