History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by the House of Representatives, and his trial by the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, 1868Ross, Edmund G. (Edmund Gibson)
History
History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by the House of Representatives, and his trial by the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, 1868
Ross, Edmund G. (Edmund Gibson)
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875 -- Impeachment
What is our position to-day? Can this House and the Senate, with the
knowledge they have of the Presidents purposes and of the character
of the men who surround him, give him the necessary power? (to remove
alleged dishonest officials.) Do they not feel that if he be alloyed
such power these places will be given to worse men? Hence, I say that
with Mr. Johnson in office from this time until the 4th of March, 1869,
there is no remedy for these grievances. These are considerations why we
should not hesitate to do that which justice authorizes us to do if we
believe that the President has been guilty of impeachable offenses.
Mr. Speaker, all rests here. To this House is given by the Constitution
the sole power of impeachment; and this power of impeachment furnishes
the only means by which we can secure the execution of the laws, and
those of our fellow citizens who desire the administration of the law
ought to sustain this House while it executes that great law which is in
its hands and which is nowhere else, while it performs a high and solemn
duty resting on it by which that man who has been the chief violator of
law shall be removed, and without which there can be no execution of the
law any where. Therefore the whole responsibility, whatever it may be,
for the non-execution of the laws of the country, is, (in the presence
of these great facts) upon this House. * * * I think that we can not do
otherwise than believe, that he has disregarded that great injunction of
the Constitution to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
that there is but one remedy. The remedy is with this House, and it is
nowhere else. If we neglect or refuse to use our powers when the
case arises demanding decisive action, the Government ceases to be a
Government of law and becomes a Government of men.
Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Committee, closed the debate in the
following remarks:
The gentleman from Massachusetts has remarked that the President may
interfere with the next Presidential election in the Southern States;
that he may station soldiers at the voting places and overawe the loyal
people of those States, especially the colored vote: and we must, I
suppose, guard against the possibility of this by his impeachment
and removal from office. This position, if I state it correctly, is
startling. Are we to impeach the President for what he may do in
the future? Do our fears constitute in the President high crimes and
misdemeanors? Are we to wander beyond the record of this case and found
our judgment on the possibilities of the future? This would lead us
beyond the conscience of this House.
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