Littman 1
Joe Littman
History 112
Professor Jackson
10 December 2010
History Final Question 5
In the history of this great nation there have only been two Presidents who have
been impeached, Democrats Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. The two impeachments
occurred 130 years apart and contain both similarities and differences. Clinton was
impeached for perjury, when he lied to a federal grand jury about romantic relations with
Monica Lewinski. Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act, which
prohibited the President from firing any cabinet official without the approval of the
Senate. Johnson violated this act when he dismissed War Secretary Edwin Stanton.
The process of impeachment is loosely defined in the Constitution and has been
studied by scholars since its first use. Joseph Isenbergh, a law professor at the University
of Chicago, studied impeachment and concluded, “On impeachment, the academic
consensus…was that impeachable offenses are defined in the Constitution as treason,
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, the latter terms describing an
imprecisely bounded category of serious offenses.” This is relevant in comparing the two
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- Fall '08
- Fischer
- President of the United States, President Johnson, Impeachment of Bill Clinton
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