DREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT.
The answer of the respondent to the articles of impeachment was
submitted by his counsel, as follows:
Senate of the United States, sitting as a court of impeachment for the
trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States.
THE ANSWER OF THE SAID ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
TO THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT EXHIBITED AGAINST HIM BY THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES.
_Answer to Article I_.--For answer to the first article he says that
Edwin M. Stanton was appointed Secretary for the Department of War on
the 15th day of January, A.D. 1862, by Abraham Lincoln, then President
of the United States, during the first term of his Presidency, and was
commissioned, according to the Constitution and laws of the United
States, to hold the said office during the pleasure of the President;
that the office of Secretary for the Department of War was created by an
act of the First Congress in its first session, passed on the 7th day of
August, A.D. 1789, and in and by that act it was provided and enacted
that the said Secretary for the Department of War shall perform and
execute such duties as shall from time to time be enjoined on and
intrusted to him by the President of the United States, agreeably to the
Constitution, relative to the subjects within the scope of the said
Department; and, furthermore, that the said Secretary shall conduct the
business of the said Department in such a manner as the President of the
United States shall from time to time order and instruct.
And this respondent, further answering, says that by force of the act
aforesaid and by reason of his appointment aforesaid the said Stanton
became the principal officer in one of the Executive Departments of the
Government within the true intent and meaning of the second section
of the second article of the Constitution of the United States and
according to the true intent and meaning of that provision of the
Constitution of the United States; and, in accordance with the settled
and uniform practice of each and every President of the United States,
the said Stanton then became, and so long as he should continue to hold
the said office of Secretary for the Department of War must continue to
be, one of the advisers of the President of the United States, as well
as the person intrusted to act for and represent the President in
matters enjoined upon him or intrusted to him by the President touching
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