used to interfere with the executive. A similar suit was then brought
against Secretary Stanton by Georgia with a like result. But in 1868,
in the case of ex parte McCardle, it appeared that the question of
the constitutionality of the reconstruction acts would be passed upon.
McCardle, a Mississippi editor arrested for opposition to reconstruction
and convicted by military commission, appealed to the Supreme Court,
which asserted its jurisdiction. But the radicals in alarm rushed
through Congress an act (March 27, 1868) which took away from the Court
its jurisdiction in cases arising under the reconstruction acts. The
highest court was thus silenced.

The attempt to remove the President from office was the only part of
the radical program that failed, and this by the narrowest of margins.
During the spring and summer of 1866, there was some talk among
politicians of impeaching President Johnson, and in December a
resolution was introduced by Representative Ashley of Ohio looking
toward impeachment. Though the committee charged with the investigation
of "the official conduct of Andrew Johnson" reported that enough
testimony had been taken to justify further inquiry, the House took no
action. There were no less than five attempts at impeachment during the
next year. Stevens, Butler, and others were anxious to get the President
out of the way, but the majority were as yet unwilling to impeach for
merely political reasons. There were some who thought that the radicals
had sufficient majorities to ensure all needed legislation and did not
relish the thought of Ben Wade in the presidency.* Others considered
that no just grounds for action had been found in the several
investigations of Johnson's record. Besides, the President's authority
and influence had been much curtailed by the legislation relating to the
Freedmen's Bureau, tenure of office, reconstruction, and command of
the army, and Congress had also refused to recognize his amnesty and
pardoning powers.

* Senator Wade of Ohio was President pro tempore of the
Senate and by the act of 1791 would succeed President
Johnson if he were removed from office.

But the desire to impeach the President was increasing in power, and
very little was needed to provoke a trial of strength between the
radicals and the President. The drift toward impeachment was due in
part to the legislative reaction against the executive, and in part
to Johnson's own opposition to