Description:

Johnson Andrew 1808 - 1875 Historic Day! Ticket to President Andrew Johnson's Impeachment Trial for March 23, 1868, the day he answered the articles of impeachment

Printed Ticket, 3.5" x 3". [Washington, D.C.], March 23, 1868. Orange ticket. Fine condition.

Ticket to the "Gallery," imprinted "U.S. Senate / Impeachment of the President / Admit The Bearer / March 23rd 1868. / Geo. T. Brown / Sergeant-at Arms." Printed by "Philip & Solomons Washington," the publishing-house that held the U.S. government's printing contracts.

On March 23, 1868, "The Bearer" of this ticket heard President Andrew Johnson's answer to the articles of impeachment presented by his lawyers. On March 24, 1868, the Chicago Tribune reported, in part, "He admits that he removed Mr. Stanton, and that, Stanton being removed, there was a vacancy to which he appointed Lorenzo Thomas ad interim. He denies the constitutionality, and, of course, the binding character of the office tenure law; and to this defence he adds that, even if the law be constitutional, it is not applicable to the case of Mr. Stanton. These two points of defence to the first charge he elaborates with all the legal ability which Stanbery, Curtis and Evarts could supply himŠ—..." President Johnson's defense lawyers included his Attorney General Henry Stanberry, former Supreme Court Justice Benjamin R. Curtis, and William M. Evarts, later his Attorney General and Hayes' Secretary of State.

From nps.gov: "The political backing to begin impeachment proceedings against the president came when Johnson breached the Tenure of Office Act by removing Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, from the cabinet. The Tenure of Office Act, passed over Johnson's veto in 1867, stated that a president could not dismiss appointed officials without the consent of Congress. Both Lincoln and Johnson had experienced problems with Stanton, an ally of the Radicals in Congress. Stanton's removal, therefore, was not only a political decision made to relieve the discord between the president and his cabinet, but a test of the Tenure of Office Act as well. Johnson believed the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional and wanted it to be legally tried in the courts. It was the president, himself, however, who was brought to trial.

"President Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 24, 1868 and the Senate tried the case in a trial that lasted from March to May 1868. In the end, the Senate voted to acquit President Andrew Johnson by a margin of 35 guilty to 19 not guilty - one vote short of the two-thirds needed to convict."

Accompanied by a 5.25" x 3" postmarked envelope franked "Free E B Washburne" by Elihu B. Washburne, a Republican Member of the House of Representatives, who, as House Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, presented the Articles of Impeachment to the U.S. Senate. Addressed by Washburne to his son, Hempstead Washburne, future Mayor of Chicago. Slight tears, mostly on verso where opened.

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