IMPEACHMENT
The London Times, with its usual profound knowledge of
American affairs, says that the scheme of impeachment looks like a fatal blow at the
Constitution. But the impeachment of a President is as Constitutional as his election. The
Constitution defines certain offenses for which he may be impeached, and adds to them
"other high crimes and misdemeanors." The occasion of impeachment is thus left
to the discretion of Congress, and the measure becomes merely one of expediency. But the
removal of the executive head of the Government is in its nature an extraordinary measure
to be invoked only in the last extremity. If difference with the majority in Congress is
to furnish an adequate occasion for such a movement, it is plain that impeachment of the
Executive will become an ordinary party measure; and the independence of the Executive
contemplated by the Constitution being thus destroyed the balance of the whole system
comes to an end. Undoubtedly, and justly, the chief power of our system is given to the
Legislature as the immediate representative of the public will. The authority confided to
it of impeaching and removing the President, and of organizing the Supreme Court, gives
Congress, under certain stringent conditions, the supreme power. But that power is limited
not only by express provision but by moral considerations which can not be safely
disregarded.When the country sees
that the President has intentionally prostituted the power of his position to the
overthrow of the government, or that his personal habits incapacitate him for the
discharge of his duties, it would universally acquiesce in his impeachment and removal,
and the Government would not be severely strained by the proceeding. The London Times
would learn that if our system could endure such a shock as the assassination of the late
President, it would easily bear that of the impeachment of the present. But to engineer an
impeachment, to agitate for an impeachment, to twist and torture and refine upon the
reasons for an impeachment, is to alienate the national sympathy and approval which are
essential to justify it.
The Senate, in trying an impeachment, is
not a political assembly, it is a court of law. It must deal with overt acts, not with
words or opinion. The present President can not be fairly impeached for Tylerizing. He can
not be tried for returning to his old party. We who elected him are justly punished for
supposing that a modern Southern democratic politician could comprehend the American
principle of equal rights, or work heartily for its development; but we can not fairly
revenge our disappointment by impeaching him. The President is in open political alliance
with those who denounced and opposed the war. He steadily resists every effort to secure
its just results. He is the great impediment in the path of a swift and prosperous
national settlement. But he resists thus far under Constitutional forms. He exercises the
right of veto; he removes from office those who do not support his views; he has abused
Congress in his speeches like a drab; he has denied its authority; he advises the
unrepresented States to reject the Amendment; and he tenaciously insists that the late
rebel States may return to Congress without any other conditions than those which he has
himself imposed.
But all this conduct, baffling and
annoying as it is, is yet not a violation of his official oath nor inconsistent with the
Constitution as he understands it. When he proceeds to thwart Congress by force, when he
deliberately and undeniably refuses to execute the laws, when he practically as well as
theoretically denies the authority of the people of the United States in Congress, his
impeachment would be felt to be a national act of justice and not a partisan measure, and
would then be of the highest expediency.
If, therefore, Mr. Ashley (Representative
James Ashley of Ohio) gives to the Committee upon the Judiciary, to which his charges have
been referred, indisputable and conclusive evidence of criminal act or design upon the
part of the President, there will be no serious hostility of public feeling to the trial.
If, as the Boston Commonwealth intimates, there are facts known which point to
civil commotions instigated by the President, let them be presented, and he would be as
unanimously and cordially removed as Mr. Lincoln was re-elected. Mr. Ashley charges the
President with "corruptly" abusing the appointing power and the pardoning power;
with "corruptly" disposing of the public property of the United States, and
conspiring high crimes with others. Let these charges be plainly proved, not quibbled and
inferred, by the evidence which he lays before the Committee, and his accusation will
unquestionably be sustained by the country. But if Mr. Ashley know no more than we all
know, then we venture to say that the country does not demand an impeachment, and it would
therefore be a highly inexpedient movement.
Every President in opposition is, of
course, and obstacle to the majority; but does the Constitution provide impeachment as
remedy for that difficulty? If the ordinary methods of our system can not endure such a
strain as the performances of Andrew Johnson, what would become of them under the pressure
of a sagacious and powerful conspirator? The President is a temporary obstacle to
reconstruction, but he does more to confirm and develop the saving radical purpose of the
country than a hundred Thaddeus Stevenses, however sturdy and efficient. The New Orleans
massacre, the stumping and staggering orgies to the grave of Douglas, the
exhortations to the late rebel States to reject the Amendment, the Copperhead society in
which he loves to dwell, and the coarse vituperation of Senators and Representatives by
name? these are all things which the intelligent mind and the generous heart of the
people constantly meditate, and they have left Andrew Johnson morally impeached, amorally
condemned to a disgrace more undying than that of James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce.
Of course, in extremity moral impeachment
is not enough. But what is the situation? The President may delay but he can not defeat
the accomplishment of the popular purpose. He is practically powerless. Commander of the
army and navy, he can use them only to enforce the laws of Congress. They are not his
creatures. He can not seat a single member of Congress from the disabled States. He can
not count a solitary Presidential vote for them before their restoration to their
functions in the Union. The new Congress will assemble and organize as the old dissolves.
The utmost that the President can do is to veto laws which Congress will pass, and
nominate officers whom the Senate will not confirm. Neither the Secretary of War, nor the
General of the Army, nor the Secretary of the Treasury, can be suspected of complicity in
any Presidential plot, however upon certain points they may differ with Congress. Above
all, the people are thoroughly awake and in earnest. They watch constantly and closely.
Heartily united, every unfriendly word and act of the President only binds them more
firmly together. They will hear with attention and interest what Mr. Ashley has to say.
But if it be a mere repetition of General Butlers speech, it will not persuade them
that the President ought to be impeached. And as for the droll effort to
make adhesion to the wisdom of impeachment, without further knowledge, the test of
Radicalism? in the sense of the true national policy? it is just as wise and will prove
just as successful as the attempt during the war to make contempt and distrust of
Mr. Lincoln the measure of patriotic fidelity.
Articles Related to Military Reconstruction:
News Items
January 19, 1867, page 35
Impeachment
January 26, 1867, page 50
Congress and
Impeachment
February 16, 1867, page 98
The Probability of
Impeachment
February 23, 1867, page 114
The Louisiana Bill
March 2, 1867, page 130
Reconstruction
March 9, 1867, page 146
The Thirty-Ninth
Congress
March 9, 1867, page 146
The Veto of the Reconstruction Bill
March 16, 1867, page 162
The Fortieth Congress
March 30, 1867, page 195
The Fortieth Congress
April 6, 1867, page 211
Sprats and Vetoes
April 6, 1867, page 210
Adjournment of Congress
April 13, 1867, page 226
Prometheus Bound
March 2, 1867, page 137
The Result
March 30, 1867, page 194
The Southern Commanders
April 6, 1867, page 218
The Debate upon Impeachment
March 23, 1867, page 178
We Accept the Situation (cartoon)
April 13, 1867, page 240
The Big Thing (cartoon)
April 20, 1867, page 256
The End of Impeachment
June 22, 1867, page 386
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