isdemeanors by a vote of 126 yeas to 47 nays.”
The real source of contention between Johnson and those out to impeach him was reconstruction and the handling of the Southern states that had rebelled in terms of political power and the treatment of blacks. Republicans wanted to force Southern states to give blacks the vote, ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, and impose martial law on them among other things. Johnson opposed this harsh treatment of the South, wherein Republicans had insured all blacks would vote while excluding many whites from doing so. Congress led by Republicans also tried to diminish the power of the executive branch of government and the legislative branch by passing laws that forbade the executive branch to summon Congress, to fi
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