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Social Studies 5: Impeachment 1011 Views


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No, this isn't a terrible new mint-peach bubble gum flavor...though it does tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

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Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:14

Most people would agree that being the President of the United States is an exciting job.[President waving his hand]

00:18

You get to travel the world...

00:20

Meet foreign diplomats...

00:22

And most importantly, hang out with Beyoncé and Jay Z. [President with Beyonce on stage]

00:26

But there's one thing that every president would prefer be as boring as possible – and

00:31

that's the end of their presidency.

00:32

There are two exciting ways to end the Presidency and neither one is very fun. [Boy jumps off see-saw and girl falls to the floor]

00:37

The first is impeachment, which is when the House of Representatives votes to force the

00:43

President out of office.

00:44

And the second is by assassination, which, well, need we say more? [Gravestone of President of the USA]

00:48

Believe it or not, both of those things nearly happened back-to-back in the 1860s.

00:53

First came the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, but we're not talking about that

00:57

today.

00:58

Today’s focus is the attempted impeachment of President Andrew Johnson three years later,

01:04

in 1868. It all started with Thaddeus Stevens, the

01:07

leading Radical Republican in the House of Representatives that led the floor's fight [Thaddeus speaking in House of Representatives]

01:11

against the President.

01:12

So what'd Johnson do to make old Thaddeus so mad? Did he pick him last for his kickball

01:17

team, or something?

01:18

Well, not quite. The Republicans felt that Johnson had violated something called the

01:22

Tenure of Office Act when he fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. [Edward Stanton and Johnson approaches]

01:27

The Tenure of Office Act basically said that the President wasn't allowed to remove certain

01:31

people from office without approval from the Senate.

01:34

But here's the thing. They just said that was the reason they wanted to impeach him.

01:38

In reality, they really wanted to get rid of him because he kept getting in the way

01:42

of enforcing the Reconstruction Acts passed by Congress to help freed slaves. [Slave approaches door and door slams]

01:47

The Reconstruction Acts basically tried to divide and reshape the South in order to secure

01:52

equal rights for African Americans, and apparently Johnson wasn't too happy about this. But guess [Johnson and Congress in a boxing fight]

01:57

what? Congress wasn't too happy with him either. So they drafted up an impeachment document

02:01

which included the violation charge, along with a statement that Johnson had brought

02:05

“disgrace, hatred, ridicule, contempt, and reproach to the Congress of the United States.” [Congress man hands Johnson impeachment document]

02:11

Them's fightin’ words right there

02:13

Hearings went on for two weeks and then the trial in the Senate went on for eleven – during

02:18

which Johnson desperately tried to make peace with some of the more moderate Republicans.

02:22

Ultimately, the impeachment decision came up one vote short, allowing Johnson to remain [Man holding up guilty and note guilty vodes]

02:27

President.

02:27

How crazy is that?

02:29

Just goes to show that one person really can make a difference. [Judge bangs the gavel]

02:31

Especially if that one person is Beyoncé.

02:33

…Or, you know, a U.S. Congressman.

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