constructed according to his ideas were not admitted. He had used
language toward his opponents that was fairly described as indecent and
unbecoming the chief officer of a great nation. Especially he had
refused to be bound by the Tenure of Office Act. Ever since the
formation of the government the Presidents had removed officers when
they saw fit. The Tenure of Office Act required the consent of the
Senate to removals as well as to appointments. Among the members of
Lincoln's cabinet who were still in office was Edwin M. Stanton. Johnson
removed him, and this brought on the crisis. The House impeached the
President. The Senate, presided over by Chief Justice Chase, heard the
impeachment. The Constitution requires the votes of two-thirds of the
Senators to convict. Seven Republicans voted with the Democrats against
conviction, and the President was acquitted by one vote.

[Sidenote: Napoleon's plans.]

[Sidenote: Action of the United States.]

[Sidenote: Withdrawal of the French, 1868.]

444. The French in Mexico.--Napoleon III, Emperor of the French,
seized the occasion of the Civil War to set the Monroe Doctrine at
defiance and to refound a French colonial empire in America. At one
time, indeed, he seemed to be on the point of interfering, to compel the
Union government to withdraw its armies from the Confederate states.
Then Napoleon had an idea that perhaps Texas might secede from the
Confederacy and set up for itself under French protection. This failing,
he began the establishment of an empire in Mexico with the Austrian
prince, Maximilian, as Emperor. The ending of the Civil War made it
possible for the United States to interfere. Grant and Sheridan would
gladly have marched troops into Mexico and turned out the French, but
Seward said that the French would have to leave before long anyway. He
hastened their going by telling the French government that the sooner
they left the better. They were withdrawn in 1868. Maximilian insisted
on staying. He was captured by the Mexicans and shot. The Mexican
Republic was reestablished.

[Sidenote: Purchase of Alaska, 1867.]

[Sidenote: The fur seals.]

[Sidenote: Boundary controversy.]

445. The Purchase of Alaska, 1867.--In 1867 President Johnson sent
to the Senate, for ratification, a treaty with Russia for the purchase
of Russia's American possessions. These were called Alaska, and
included an immense tract of land in the extreme Northwest. The price to
be paid