Johnson was Impeached he was one vote from being convicted.Andrew Johnson was one vote away from being impeached. What would have happened if the one deciding vote went towards impeaching Johnson?
Never knew that about impeachment.
For some reason when I type in "Ben Wade" I get a baseball player.
The Radical Republicans install one of their own (Ben Wade) as President, which probably leads to a nastier Reconstruction for white former slaveholders, but a much better one for poor whites and Freedmen.
At the same time, though, impeachment becomes a powerful political weapon against the Presidency. That office will undoubtedly become far more timid and subservient to the Legislative branch, upsetting Checks and Balances.
On the other hand, it could get Checks and Balances closer to it's original conception by preventing the President interfering in Congress.
Yes, but Johnson's impeachment was purely political. The Legislative Branch wanted him out of power so they could more fully rule, and with the threat of impeachment at the slightest opposition to the legislature's agenda, any subsequent President would probably back down and do so quickly, ceding the office's legitimacy to the Congress. Congress was never meant to be more powerful than the President, and vice versa.