Impeachment
Impeachment involves the expression of power by the legislature which allows it make formal charges against civil officers of the government committed while executing office duties (David & Janice, 1947). It is similar to indictment in the normal court proceedings. In America, President Andrew Johnson was charged with various cases which would eventually lead to his impeachment. Johnson was charged with high crimes such as firing Secretary of War Stanton. The Tenure of Office Act prevented the president from relieving cabinet members without the senate’s Concurrence. Apart from this crime, Johnson was charged with several other major crimes such as the appointment of Thomas Secretary despite the lack of a vacant post in the office, appointing Thomas without consulting the senate, plotting to take and own property in America (David & Janice, 1947). Johnsons was also charged with issuing Thomas the permission to enter the office of war with illegal intent to manage the distribution of the money set aside for the military service. Johnson was also charged with other crimes which made it worthy to support the impeachment. The impeachment of President Johnson was as constitutional as his election and therefore the people of America had to impeach President Johnson in order to judge his actions. This is because, the constitution defined the various offences that may lead to impeachment. The U.S government could not have removed Johnson from his government because this would be an extraordinary measure and therefore impeachment would help to address his case (David & Janice, 1947). The other reason why the impeachment of Johnson can be supported is because it was voted for by many people in the congress and this shows the depth of the charges made against him.
President Johnson was seen as obstruction to reconstruction because he had opposing views with other people in the congress. His difference in the congress was able to furnish a sufficient occasion for impeachment and thus impeachment became an ordinary measure for the congress to question Johnson’s actions. The impeachment of Johnson would also have helped to end the tension that was between the president and legislative branches. This tension would have destroyed the cooperation between the executive and the legislative branches and therefore it was necessary to impeach President Johnson in order to clear that tension (David & Janice, 1947). Moreover, there was a lengthy battle between Johnson and the congress for the control of the reconstruction process and this led to various disagreements which culminated to the impeachment. In order to gain political expediency, the impeachment of Johnson was supported because Johnson had defied The Tenure of Office Act which led to his little regard of the will of common man. The intentional violation of The Tenure of Office Act acted as proper grounds for the impeachment of President Johnson (David & Janice, 1947). The president was also further charged with issuing orders to directly to the Army officers instead of sending the orders through the general grant. Moreover, the eleven articles adopted for impeachments also served as good support for the impeachment of President Johnson. This is because, impeachment would have helped to bring harmony between the executive and legislative bodies in order to promote good services to the public. It was essential for the President to appoint a Secretary who could be approved by the congress in order to promote harmony. In this connection, the impeachment of President Johnson can be supported because it could help him to ensure good services to the public.
Reference:
David, J. and Janice L. (1947). The Granger Collection. New York
