BP 2- Andrew Johnson the First of a Few

In the wake of the civil war Johnson attempted to introduce a reconstruction policy for the south.This policy would essentially forgive the south for it's crimes and allow them to continue slavery in the form of black codes. Seeing how Johnson's policy would benefit the south congress opposed it and passed the Tenure of Office Act. This act prevented the president from removing certain officials that were appointed by the senate. After attempting to replace secretary of war Edwin Stanton with Ulysses Grant and officially with Lorenzo Thomas Johnson was impeached on February 24, 1868 because Stanton was an official appointed by the senate.

Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States of America has the distinction of being the first president to be impeached in american history. It was in 1868 that he was officially impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act. There have only been two other impeachments since the Johnson's and they were for Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in 2019. Impeaching a president is not something that happens just because, it requires the president to have done  something very serious. Each of these men have done something the government at the time felt warranted them being impeached.

Compared to Johnson Bill Clinton's reason for being impeached was much less severe, but still necessary. Clinton was impeached for lying under oath and obstructing justice. Clinton was in a sexual relationship with a white house intern and lied about it to congress. The third impeachment of Donald Trump is the most recent one in history. Trump was impeached on the grounds of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. A whistle blower came forward stating that Trump had withheld Ukrainian aid funds until the Ukrainian president investigated democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son. This was a very clear abuse of power that warranted an impeachment and after weeks of testimony Trump became the third president in history to be impeached.