President Andrew Johnson was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial on May 26, 1868, narrowly escaping removal from office by one vote. Johnson’s presidency had been marked by contentious relations with Congress, particularly regarding policies of Reconstruction and the treatment of the defeated Southern states after the Civil War. His trial, the first impeachment of a U.S. president, highlighted the deep political divisions of the era and set a significant precedent in American political and legal history.
