On May 16, 1868, the Senate voted on whether to convict President Andrew Johnson on the 11th Article of Impeachment. All of the Democrats and six of the Republicans were ready to vote to acquit the president. This left one man, Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas as the deciding vote. Ross had earlier been expected to vote to convict, but intense pressure had been applied to him from both sides, and rumors swirled that he had been influenced by illegal means. Ross voted to acquit. The final vote was 19 to acquit and 35 to convict, one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority for removal from office of the the President of the United States.
I won’t reprint the entire long New York Times report on the vote. However, the opening paragraphs do a good job of setting the scene in the Senate that fateful day.
May 17, 1868 New York Times
Note: Feature illustration is of the front page of the Chicago Tribune May 17, 1868.
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