President Johnson's Responsibility Of Congressional Reconstruction After The Civil War

The deadliest war in American history may have saved the Union but it left both the North and South in shambles. Towns were charred to ashes, railroads were twisted to coils, and a Southern economy was on the verge of collapse. On top of it all a whole group of people were given freedom and placed into a society alien to them. Perhaps the biggest battle America had to fight came after the Civil War: reconstruction.

Many in the US government believed they had the best plan to rebuild the country. Before Lincoln’s assassination even he had ideas on how to put the country’s pieces back together. His reconstruction plan called for peace not punishment. His Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction of 1863 called to pardon most Southerners
The act narrowed Johnson’s power to control Congressional Reconstruction by forcing him to issue military action through Ulysses S. Grant, the General of the Army at the time. Johnson could no longer deal with the military in the South himself despite being Commander and Chief. This was most likely put in place in order to give Radical Republicans more control of Southern reconstruction. It made Johnson go through a third party, General Grant, in order to make critical executive decisions about
The bill made it so the President had to get approval by Congress in order to fire or appoint a member of his cabinet. Despite the act, Johnson still attempted to fire his Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who was appointed during Lincoln’s terms as President, during a congressional recess. Stanton sided with Radical Republicans and disagreed with Johnson’s ideas for reconstruction. His plans were to replace him with Grant whose beliefs were better aligned with Johnson’s ideals. The Senate opposed Johnson’s release of Stanton so to avoid consequences and scandal Grant resigned. In retaliation Johnson hired Major General Lorenzo Thomas who was then arrested by Stanton for unlawfully taking office. Johnson’s deliberate defiance of this act was the reason behind his impeachment. The impeachment was passed by the House of Representatives on February 24, 1868 by a vote of 126 to 47.

Impeachment according to Oxford Dictionary is the the action of “calling into question the integrity or validity of something and in this case the President of the United States.” In America, impeaching is the process of bringing formal charges against an official holding office. In the constitution it is said that impeachment is for “conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Very serious offenses call for impeachment but these acts are not necessarily criminal