Changes

Johnson handed out numerous [[pardon]]s to former slaveholders, Confederate officers, and the rank and file.  This brought Johnson into conflict with Lincoln's [[Secretary of War]], who had been confirmed by the Senate, vowing to carry out the Republicans' civil rights efforts for Blacks in occupied military districts of [[the South]] after the war.

Johnson handed out numerous [[pardon]]s to former slaveholders, Confederate officers, and the rank and file.  This brought Johnson into conflict with Lincoln's [[Secretary of War]], who had been confirmed by the Senate, vowing to carry out the Republicans' civil rights efforts for Blacks in occupied military districts of [[the South]] after the war.

President Johnson vetoed Republican civil rights legislation and even called their leaders "traitors". Flush from winning the war, Republican Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (PA) and Sen. Charles Sumner (MA) were not about to back down on the agenda of delivering equality for former black slaves and punishing Democrats who ripped society apart and tried to destroy the Union. Sumner in 1856 delivered an unconscionably disrespectful speech against elderly South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, author of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] which legalized [[slavery]] in Western territories north of the [[Mason-Dixon Line]], whereupon Butler's outraged nephew Preston Brooks beat Sumner senseless with a cane inside the [[U.S. Capitol]].<ref>Sumner's Senate floor speech accused proponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of the "rape of virgin territory" by bringing slavery into Kansas.</ref>

President Johnson vetoed Republican civil rights legislation and even called their leaders "traitors". Flush from winning the war, Republican Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (PA) and Sen. Charles Sumner (MA) were not about to back down on the agenda of delivering equality for former black slaves and punishing Democrats who ripped society apart and tried to destroy the Union. In 1856, shortly before the outbreak of war, that Sumner had delivered an unconscionably disrespectful speech against elderly South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, author of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] which legalized [[slavery]] in Western territories north of the [[Mason-Dixon Line]]. It was symptomatic of what was brewing in the United States among the people and elected leaders. Rational debate over slavery ended, and Butler's outraged nephew Preston Brooks beat Sumner senseless with a cane on the floor of the U.S Senate.<ref>Sumner's Senate floor speech accused proponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of the "rape of virgin territory" by bringing slavery into Kansas. Sumner said of Butler, "The senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight with sentiments of honor and courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight — I mean the harlot, slavery."</ref>

When the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson by an overwhelming vote of 126 to 47, his ouster appeared to be a ''fait accompli''. President Johnson had violated the Tenure in Office Act by dismissing the Secretary of War. The key issue was if a President had the power to fire a cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate without the Senate's consent. Johnson was also intemperate in his name-calling of key senators. In addressing the jury of 54 senators, the prosecutor referred to President Johnson as an "accidental Chief" and "the elect of an assassin." Witnesses testified for both the prosecution and the defense.

When the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson by an overwhelming vote of 126 to 47, his ouster appeared to be a ''fait accompli''. President Johnson had violated the Tenure in Office Act by dismissing the Secretary of War. The key issue was if a President had the power to fire a cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate without the Senate's consent. Johnson was also intemperate in his name-calling of key senators. In addressing the jury of 54 senators, the prosecutor referred to President Johnson as an "accidental Chief" and "the elect of an assassin." Witnesses testified for both the prosecution and the defense.