"RESOLVED, THAT ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, BE IMPEACHED FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS": THREE-VOLUME FIRST EDITION OF THE SENATE TRIAL OF ANDREW JOHNSON

(JOHNSON, Andrew) (UNITED STATES CONGRESS). Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, Before the Senate of the United States, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Published by Order of the Senate. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1868. Three volumes. Octavo, original cloth boards rebacked and recornered in period-style brown morocco, original marbled endpapers, speckled edges.

First edition of the official transcript of the dramatic Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, whose outcome substantially affected the separation of powers, ultimately preserving “the presidential system of government” (ANB), with a tipped-in ticket of admission to the Senate trial of Johnson dated April 11, 1868.

In 1868, in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act, President Andrew Johnson dismissed his Secretary of War, triggering impeachment proceedings. "Amid scenes of great excitement, the House impeached Johnson on 24 February… The [Senate] trial that followed" proved the most perilous challenge the president faced (ANB). As recorded herein, three issues were paramount. "First, the President had violated the Tenure of Office Act [later declared unconstitutional] by issuing orders to replaced Secretary of War Stanton… Second, even if the Tenure of Office Act were not applicable, the President had no authority to issue orders to remove an officer and name a replacement while the Senate was in session… The third major accusation… charged the President with devising means to prevent the execution of the Reconstruction laws" (Les Benedict, 144). After weeks of argument, "when a ballot was taken on the eleventh article of impeachment, seven Republicans deserted their party to acquit Johnson by one vote, with the same result on 26 May when the Senate considered the second and third articles. Thus the impeachment failed, partially because of a concern about the constitutional implications of a conviction for the separation of powers" (ANB). Harvard Law Catalogue II:1114. Library inkstamps to copyright pages.

Interiors generally fresh. Attractively bound.