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[JOHNSON, ANDREW, President.] Manuscript document headed "Fortieth Congress, U.S. Second Session, House of Representatives...Resolved. That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be Impeached of High Crimes and Misdemeanors in Office," signed by: SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE SCHUYLER COLFAX, the House Clerk and 126 CONGRESSMAN who voted in favor of indicting Johnson, Washington, D.C., 24 February 1868. 1 page, elephant folio, 550 x 395mm. (21 5/8 x 15 1/2 in.), elaborately engrossed by a House clerk in a calligraphic hand, ON VELLUM, portions of the ink faded (but mostly legible), extreme edges yellowed.
THE IMPEACHMENT OF A PRESIDENT: 128 CONGRESSMEN VOTE TO INDICT PRESIDENT JOHNSON
A record of the House members who voted in favor of Johnson's impeachment at the bar of the Senate on 15 February 1868, apparently prepared for ceremonial purposes. Johnson had attempted to follow former President Lincoln's lenient Reconstruction policies. In the wake of Lincoln's assassination, however, the radical Republicans in Congress took a more punitive view of the former Confederate states. While Johnson vetoed 29 harsh Reconstruction acts, he was overridden in 15 cases. In 1867, Congress passed, over Johnson's veto, the Tenure of Office Act, forbidding the President to remove certain officials without the Senate's consent. When President Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, whom he believed had worked to undermine his administration, the House retaliated by voting 126 to 47 to begin the proceedings to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors." The President requested 40 days to prepare his defense; the Senate allowed him just 10 days. Ultimately Johnson was acquitted on 3 of the 11 charges brought against him, 8 of which were never brought to a vote. For each of the 3 charges brought to a vote, Johnson was acquitted by only a single vote, owing to 7 Republicans who broke party ranks to protect the President. He was, however, denied renomination in 1868.
[With:] A Matthew Brady photograph of the "Managers of the House of Representatives of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson," 210 x 225mm. (16 x 17 3/4 in.), clean tear taped from verso. A formal portrait of Republican congressmen Benjamin F. Butler, Thaddeus Stevens, Thomas Williams, John A. Bingham, James F. Wilson, George S. Boutwell, and John A. Logan (signatories of the above document); together 2 items.
Provenance: Philip D. and Elsie O. Sang (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 20 June 1979, lot 727). (2)
THE IMPEACHMENT OF A PRESIDENT: 128 CONGRESSMEN VOTE TO INDICT PRESIDENT JOHNSON
A record of the House members who voted in favor of Johnson's impeachment at the bar of the Senate on 15 February 1868, apparently prepared for ceremonial purposes. Johnson had attempted to follow former President Lincoln's lenient Reconstruction policies. In the wake of Lincoln's assassination, however, the radical Republicans in Congress took a more punitive view of the former Confederate states. While Johnson vetoed 29 harsh Reconstruction acts, he was overridden in 15 cases. In 1867, Congress passed, over Johnson's veto, the Tenure of Office Act, forbidding the President to remove certain officials without the Senate's consent. When President Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, whom he believed had worked to undermine his administration, the House retaliated by voting 126 to 47 to begin the proceedings to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors." The President requested 40 days to prepare his defense; the Senate allowed him just 10 days. Ultimately Johnson was acquitted on 3 of the 11 charges brought against him, 8 of which were never brought to a vote. For each of the 3 charges brought to a vote, Johnson was acquitted by only a single vote, owing to 7 Republicans who broke party ranks to protect the President. He was, however, denied renomination in 1868.
[With:] A Matthew Brady photograph of the "Managers of the House of Representatives of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson," 210 x 225mm. (16 x 17 3/4 in.), clean tear taped from verso. A formal portrait of Republican congressmen Benjamin F. Butler, Thaddeus Stevens, Thomas Williams, John A. Bingham, James F. Wilson, George S. Boutwell, and John A. Logan (signatories of the above document); together 2 items.
Provenance: Philip D. and Elsie O. Sang (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 20 June 1979, lot 727). (2)