358 



IMPEACHMENT. 



Benjamin R. Curtis, of Massachusetts; and 

 Hon. Thomas A. R. Nelson, of Tennessee; 

 who were conducted to the seats assigned the 

 counsel of the President. 



Mr. Conkling: "To correct a clerical error 

 in the rules or a mistake of the types which 

 has introduced a repugnance into the rules, I 

 offer the following resolution by direction of 

 the committee which reported the rules : 



Ordered,, That the twenty-third rule respecting 

 proceedings on trial of impeachments be amended, 

 by inserting after the word "debate" the words 

 " subject, however, to the operation of rule seven." 



" If thus amended the rule will read : 



All orders and decisions shall be made and had by 

 yeas and nays, which shall be entered on the record 

 and without debate, subject, however, to the opera- 

 tion of rule seven, except when the doors shall be 

 closed, etc. 



" The whole object is to commit to the pre- 

 siding officer the option to submit a question 

 without the call of the yeas and nays, unless 

 they be demanded. That was the intention 

 originally, but the qualifying words were 

 dropped out in the print." 



The Chief Justice: "The question is on 

 amending the rules in the manner proposed by 

 the Senator from New York." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the mem- 

 bers of the House of Representatives, who en- 

 tered the Senate Chamber preceded by the 

 chairman of the Committee of the Whole 

 House, into which that body had resolved itself 

 to witness the trial, the chairman being accom- 

 panied by the Speaker and Clerk. 



The Chief Justice (to the counsel for the 

 President): "Gentlemen, the Senate is now 

 sitting for the trial of the President of the 

 United States upon articles of impeachment 

 exhibited by the House of Representatives. 

 The court will now hear you." 



Mr. Stanbery: "Mr. Chief Justice, my 

 brothers Curtis and Nelson and myself are 

 here this morning as counsel for the President. 

 I have his authority to enter his appearance, 

 which, with your leave, I will proceed to 

 read: 



In the matter of the impeachment of ANDREW JOHNSON, 

 President of the United States. 



MR. CHIEF JUSTICE : I, Andrew Johnson, President 

 of the United States, having been served with a sum- 

 mons to appear before this honorable court, sitting as 

 a court of impeachment, to answer certain articles of 

 impeachment found and presented against me by the 

 honorable the House of Representatives of the United 

 States, do hereby enter mv appearance by my coun- 

 sel, Henry Stanbery, Benjamin R. Curtis, Jeremiah 

 S. Black, William M. Evarts, and Thomas A. K. 

 Nelson, who have my warrant and authority therefor, 

 and who are instructed by me to ask of this honorable 

 court a reasonable time for the preparation of my 

 answer to said articles. 



After a careful examination of the articles of im- 

 peachment and consultation with my counsel, I am 

 satisfied that at least forty days will be necessary for 

 the preparation of my answer, and I respectfully ask 

 that it be allowed. ANDREW JOHNSON. 



The Chief Justice : " The paper will be 

 filed." 



After argument, and the Senate had re- 

 tired for consultation, it was ordered that the 

 respondent file answer to the articles of im- 

 peachment, on or before Monday, the 23d day 

 of March, and further, that, unless otherwise 

 ordered by the Senate for cause shown, the 

 trial of the pending impeachment shall pro- 

 ceed immediately after replication shall be filed. 



March 23d, the court convened, when the 

 answer of the Presklent was read by his coun- 

 sel as follows : 



Senate of the United, States, sitting as a Court of Im- 

 peachment for the trial of ANDEEW JOHNSON, Presi- 

 dent of the United States. 



The answer of the said Andrew Johnson, Presi- 

 dent of the United States, to the articles of impeach- 

 ment exhibited against him by the House of Repre- 

 sentatives of the United States. 



ANSWER TO ARTICLE I. 



For answer to the first article he says : that Edwin 

 M. Stanton was appointed Secretary for the Depart- 

 ment of War on the 15th day of January, A. D. 1862, 

 by Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United 

 States, during the first term of his Presidency, and 

 was commissioned, according to the Constitution and 

 laws of the United States, to hold the said office dur- 

 ing the pleasure of the President ; that the office of 

 Secretary for the Department of War was. created by 

 an act of the First Congress, in its first session, passed 

 on the 7th day of August, A. D. 1789, and in and by 

 that act it was provided and enacted that the said 

 Secretary for the Department of War shall perform 

 and execute such duties as shall from time to time be 

 enjoined on and intrusted to him by the President of 

 the United States, agreeably to the Constitution, rela- 

 tive to the subjects within ttje scope of the said De- 

 partment ; and furthermore, that the said Secretary 

 shall conduct -the business of the said Department 

 in such a manner as the President of the United 

 States shall, from time to time, order and instruct. 



And this respondent, further answering, says that 

 by force of the act aforesaid and by reason of his ap- 

 pointment aforesaid, the said Stanton became the 

 principal officer in one of the Executive Departments 

 of the Government within the true intent and mean- 

 ing of the second section of the second article of the 

 Constitution of the United States, and according to 

 the true intent and meaning^ of that provision of the 

 Constitution of the United States ; and in accordance 

 with the settled and uniform practice of each and 

 every President of the United States, the said Stan- 

 ton then became, and so long as he should continue 

 to hold the said office of Secretary for the Depart- 

 ment of War 'must continue to be, one of the advisers 

 of the President of the United States, as well as the 

 person intrusted to act for and represent the Presi- 

 dent in matters enjoined upon him or intrusted to 

 him by the President touching the Department afore- 

 said, and for whose conduct in such capacity, sub- 

 ordinate to the President, the President is, by the 

 Constitution and laws of the United States, made 

 responsible. And this respondent, further answer- 

 ing, says he succeeded to the office of President of 

 the United States upon, and by reason-of, the death 

 of Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United 

 States, on the 15th day of April, 185, and the said 

 Stanton was then hoi dins: the said office of Secretary 

 for the Department of War under and by reason of 

 the appointment and commission aforesaid ; and, not 

 having been removed from the said office by this re- 

 spondent, the said Stanton continued toehold the 

 same under the appointment and commission afore- 

 said, at the pleasure of the President, until the time 

 hereinafter particularly mentioned ; and at no time 



