On March 13, 1868, for the first time in U.S. history, the impeachment trial of an American president began in the U.S. Senate. President Andrew Johnson, reviled by the Republican-dominated Congress for his views on Reconstruction, became the first president to be impeached by the House of Representatives when, in February 1868, the Republican-controlled House charged the Democrat Johnson with 11 articles of impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including violating the controversial Tenure of Office Act, passed by Congress over his veto in 1867.
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