Who Was The First President To Be Impeached

The first president to ever be impeached was none other than President Andrew Johnson of the United States. Johnson, who was the 17th president of the United States, had a contentious relationship with Congress during his time in office. He was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 24th 1868 and only narrowly avoided removal from office by the Senate on the 24th May 1868.

The grounds for impeachment that the House leveled against Johnson was that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act, a law passed by Congress to protect appointed officials from being dismissed without the president’s consent. Johnson had tried to remove his Secretary of War and was sometimes considered to be acting as if he was above the law.

The trial was conducted by the Senate and was presided over by Chief Justice Salmon Chase. Johnson was ultimately acquitted with 35 senators voting for conviction, 19 for acquittal, whilst one senator abstained from voting. Johnson’s successful acquittal marked an important victory for the separation of powers in the United States, successfully defending the executive branch from congressional intervention.

Almost halve a centuries later, no other president has faced impeachment. However, two further presidents – Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton – have faced investigations and in Clinton’s case, had both articles of impeachment passed by the House before being acquitted by the Senate.

This impeachment of Johnson would go down in history as being the first of its kind and established a precedent for future impeachments. Moreover, it provided a framework for future presidential impeachments.