This Day in Republican History 03/30/05

March 30, 1868 Republicans begin impeachment trial of Democrat President Andrew Johnson, who declared: “This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government of white men.” It would seem that Democrats have always regarded Republicans who value all human life equally as "Radicals." With the assassination of Lincoln, the Presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views. Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate of Presidents. Arrayed against him were the "Radical" Republicans in Congress. Johnson was no match for them. During the secession crisis, Johnson remained in the Senate even when Tennessee seceded, which made him a hero in the North and a traitor in the eyes of most Southerners. Actually, he was just a guy who didn't want to give up a paycheck. In 1862, President Lincoln appointed him Military Governor of Tennessee, and Johnson used the state as a laboratory for reconstruction. In 1864 the Republicans, contending that their National Union Party was for all loyal men (how naive), nominated Johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat, for Vice President. After Lincoln's death, President Johnson proceeded to reconstruct the former Confederate States while Congress was not in session in 1865. He pardoned all who would take an oath of allegiance, but required leaders and men of wealth to obtain special Presidential pardons. By the time Congress met in December 1865, most southern states were reconstructed, slavery was being abolished, but "black codes" to regulate the freedmen were beginning to appear. Radical Republicans in Congress moved vigorously to change Johnson's program. They gained the support of northerners who were dismayed to see Southerners keeping many prewar leaders and imposing many prewar restrictions upon Negroes. The Radicals' first step was to refuse to seat any Senator or Representative from the old Confederacy. Next, they passed measures dealing with the former slaves. Johnson vetoed the legislation. The Radicals mustered enough votes in Congress to pass legislation over his veto--the first time that Congress had overridden a President on an important bill. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which established Negroes as American citizens and forbade discrimination against them. This established a precedent. To this day, no civil rights act would have survived without the support of Republicans over the objection of Democrats. A few months later, Congress submitted to the states the Fourteenth Amendment, which specified that no state should "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." All the former Confederate States except Tennessee refused to ratify the amendment; further, there were two bloody race riots in the South. Speaking in the Middle West, Johnson faced hostile audiences. The Radical Republicans won an overwhelming victory in Congressional elections that fall. In March 1867, the Radicals effected their own plan of Reconstruction, again placing southern states under military rule. They passed laws placing restrictions upon the President. When Johnson violated one of these,-- the Tenure of Office Act -- by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the House voted eleven articles of impeachment against him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by one vote. In 1875, Tennessee returned Johnson to the Senate. He died a few months later. That was then, this is now. The two forces are still on opposite sides of the fence. Those wascally wadical wepublicans, having deprived Democrats of their slaves, are now trying to protect the lives of innocent, unborn babies, just as they protected the rights of African-Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the battle lines over abortion are now drawn from house to house rather than state to state, we can't very well have another Civil War. But the fight of good against evil will always rage in this country, with the Democrats always coming down on the wrong side. It's the nature of the Beast. But it isn't all bad for the Democrats. For some reason I cannot fathom, about 90% of blacks vote Democrat. Apparently the Dems have reclaimed the descendants of their former slaves. But they are now bound by chains of empty promises and ideology rather than chains of iron.