Johnson was of the opinion that the question of
suffrage for the negroes should be left to the several states; a
majority of Congress were determined to exact this for their own
protection. This was embodied in the so-called Civil Rights Bill,
conferring citizenship upon colored men. It was promptly vetoed by the
President, and was passed over his veto; soon afterwards the fourteenth
amendment was passed, conferring the suffrage upon all citizens of the
United States without regard to color or previous condition of
servitude. It also was vetoed, and passed over the veto. Johnson was
hailed as a traitor by Republicans, and the campaign against him
culminated in his impeachment by Congress early in 1868. The trial
which followed was the most bitter in the history of the Senate, but
Andrew Johnson was acquitted by the failure of the prosecution to secure
the two-thirds vote necessary for conviction by a single vote,
thirty-five senators voting for conviction and nineteen for acquittal.
Johnson's friends were jubilant, but his power had vanished. The seceded
states one by one came back into the Union in accordance with the
Reconstruction act which Johnson had vetoed. He failed of the nomination
on the Democratic ticket, and after the inauguration of his successor,
at once returned to his old home in Tennessee.
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