Skip to main content

Primary sourceBook1868

The Great Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson

1868

A detailed 1868 account of Johnson's impeachment trial, including the articles of impeachment and the full proceedings.

This contemporary account documents the impeachment trial in which Johnson was the defendant.

Ask Andrew Johnson about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Full text (Internet Archive)

About this source

What it is

This 1868 book records the impeachment and trial of President Andrew Johnson, with the preliminary proceedings in the House of Representatives and the full trial in the Senate. It includes the eleven articles of impeachment, witness testimony, speeches by the managers and counsel, and the decisions of Chief Justice Chase, who presided.

Why it matters

Johnson was the first U.S. president to be impeached. This book shows how closely Americans followed the clash between Johnson and Congress, and preserves the arguments made on both sides. It reveals the deep political conflict over Reconstruction policy after the Civil War.

Look closer

  • Why might a publisher rush to print a detailed account of the trial so soon after it happened?
  • What does the inclusion of portraits of so many figures suggest about public interest in the trial?
  • What parts of the proceedings does this book choose to record in full, and what might that tell us about what readers wanted to know?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Johnson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Andrew Johnson sources

Meet the AI Andrew Johnson →
Handwritten page 13 of the Articles of Impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, in cursive ink on lined paper. The text describes Johnson's speeches in Washington, D.C., in August 1866, including speeches made to crowds and his statements about Congress and the Union.Document

Primary source

Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

United States House of Representatives · March 1868

Handwritten manuscript page of the Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution, with the heading 'Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States' and the text of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, including 'Article XIV.' Ruled border lines frame the text.Document

Primary source

14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights

United States Congress · 1868

Photo of a pink printed admission ticket from the U.S. Senate. Text reads 'Impeachment of the President, Admit the Bearer, Gallery, April 6th 1868, Geo. A. Brown, Sergeant at Arms.' A stub on the left reads 'To be taken up at Main Entrance, U.S. Senate, No. 176.'Document

Primary source

Admission Ticket to the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson

United States Senate · 6 April 1868

Black and white head and shoulders studio portrait of a man with receding gray hair, dark suit jacket, white shirt, and bow tie, looking toward the viewer with a stern expression.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of President Andrew Johnson

Mathew Benjamin Brady · c. 1870-1880

Engraving from Harper's Weekly titled Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum, Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans. Left: a crowd of men in a gallery, with Andrew Johnson in a toga-like robe leaning near a pedestal marked REGO. Center: a bearded man leans on a ledge above a plumed helmeted figure. Right: an amphitheater filled with spectators watches a violent melee of soldiers and civilians below.Painting

Primary source

Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum – Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans

Thomas Nast · 30 March 1867

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Andrew Johnson now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions