=The Succession to the Presidency.=--The Constitution declares that in case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the same shall devolve upon the Vice President. In case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and the Vice President, Congress is authorized to provide for the succession. The only way in which the President may be removed is by impeachment and conviction. President Johnson was impeached, mainly for the violation of the tenure of office act, but the senate failed by one vote to convict him. Had he been convicted the office would have been declared vacant. There has been no instance of the resignation of a President.[72] Five Presidents have died in office: Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. In each case the dead President was succeeded by the Vice President. No case of inability to discharge the duties of the presidential office has ever been construed as existing, though in fact such a case existed from July 2, 1881, when President Garfield was shot, to September 19, when he died. A similar case existed during the period in which President McKinley lingered on his deathbed, from September 6 to September 14, 1901. In neither case did the Vice President assume the reins of office until death had made the office vacant. Likewise during President Wilson's serious illness in 1919-1920, the Vice President did not act. [72] John C. Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency to become a senator from South Carolina. The statutes provide that the President shall signify his resignation, in case he resigns, by a letter to the secretary of state. _Succession Law of 1792._--Congress provided by law in 1792 that in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and the Vice President, the president _pro tempore_ of the senate should succeed, and after him the speaker of the house. There were several practical and political objections to this arrangement, however. In the first place, there might be considerable periods of time when there was no president _pro tempore_ of the senate or speaker of the house, and consequently no one to succeed in case of a vacancy.[73] Another objection to the law--political in character--was illustrated by the situation that existed in 1886. The Democratic Vice President Hendricks had died, and in case the presidential office had become vacant it would have been filled by a Republican president of the senate. Thus the executive branch of the government would have passed from the hands of the party that had carried the country at the last election, to the other party, merely by the death of a public officer.