when he was succeeded by Vice-President
Chester A. Arthur. Vice-President Roosevelt was the successor
of President McKinley, who died by the hand of an assassin in
September, 1901.

Two attempts have been made to secure the impeachment of Presidents,
the incumbent in each instance having been elected Vice-President and
succeeded to the higher office upon the death of the President.
A resolution looking to the impeachment of President Tyler was
introduced into the House of Representatives in January, 1843, but
was defeated, and no further steps were taken. Articles of
impeachment, for "high crimes and misdemeanors," were presented by
the House of Representatives against President Johnson in 1868.
By constitutional provision the trial was by the Senate, the Chief
Justice of the United States presiding. Less than two-thirds of
the Senators voting for conviction, he was acquitted.

Until the adoption of the twelfth amendment, no Constitutional
provision existed for separate votes in the electoral colleges for
President and Vice-President; the candidate receiving the highest number
of votes (if a majority of all) became President, and the one
receiving the second highest, Vice-President. In 1801, Jefferson and
Burr each received seventy-three electoral votes, and by
constitutional requirement the election at once devolved upon
the House of Representatives, voting by States. On the thirty-sixth
ballot a majority of the States voting for Jefferson, he became
President, and Burr, Vice-President. The Constitutional amendment
above indicated, by which separate ballots were required in the
electoral colleges for each office, was the result of the
intense excitement throughout the country engendered by this contest.
The earnest opposition of Alexander Hamilton to Aaron Burr in
the above-mentioned contest, was the prime cause of the duel by
which Hamilton lost his life at the hands of Burr in 1804.

George Clinton, the fourth Vice-President, had as a member of
the Continental Congress voted for the Declaration of Independence,
and held the rank of Brigadier-General during the War of the
Revolution. The fifth Vice-President, Elbridge Gerry, had been
a prominent member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
William R. King, elected in 1852, by reason of ill health never
entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office. By special
act of Congress, the oath of office was administered to him in Cuba
and his death o