hold on until the matter might be brought into the courts. The President
by this accusation angered Grant and threw him with his great influence
into the arms of the radicals. Against the advice of his leading
counselors, Johnson persisted in his intention to keep Stanton out of
the Cabinet. Accordingly on the 21st of February he dismissed Stanton
from office and appointed Lorenzo Thomas, the Adjutant General, as
acting Secretary of War. Stanton, advised by the radicals in Congress to
"stick," refused to yield possession to Thomas and had him arrested for
violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The matter now was in the courts
where Johnson wanted it, but the radical leaders, fearing that the
courts would decide against Stanton and the reconstruction acts, had the
charges against Thomas withdrawn. Thus failed the last attempt to get
the reconstruction laws before the courts. On the 22nd of February, the
President sent to the Senate the name of Thomas Ewing, General Sherman's
father-in-law, as Secretary of War, but no attention was paid to the
nomination.

On February 24, 1868, the House voted, 128 to 47, to impeach the
President "of high crimes and misdemeanors in office." The Senate
was formally notified the next day, and on the 4th of March the seven
managers selected by the House appeared before the Senate with the
eleven articles of impeachment. At first it seemed to the public that
the impeachment proceedings were merely the culmination of a struggle
for the control of the army. There were rumors that Johnson had plans to
use the army against Congress and against reconstruction. General
Grant, directed by Johnson to accept orders from Stanton only if he were
satisfied that they came from the President, refused to follow these
instructions. Stanton, professing to fear violence, barricaded himself
in the War Department and was furnished with a guard of soldiers
by General Grant, who from this time used his influence in favor of
impeachment. Excited by the most sensational rumors, some people even
believed a new rebellion to be imminent.

The impeachment was rushed to trial by the House managers and was not
ended until the decision was taken by the votes of the 16th and 26th of
May. The eleven articles of impeachment consisted of summaries of all
that had been charged against Johnson, except the charge that he had
been an accomplice in the murder of Lincoln. The only one which had any
real basis was the first, which