Place yourself in the United States Senate in 1867. You must vote on t

Place yourself in the United States Senate in 1867. You must vote on the impeachment charges brought against President Johnson. How will you vote? Explain how you will justify your vote to your constituents.

What will be an ideal response?

ANSWER
One’s vote would depend on how one defined the constitutional standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” and one’s view of the president’s behavior. It was questionable as to whether Johnson did break a law, the Tenure of Office Act, and that law’s constitutionality was open to question. Johnson did harangue Congress and obstruct Congressional Reconstruction, but were these “high crimes and misdemeanors,” or mere political actions, and should a president be impeached for political opposition to the will of Congress?