asserted that he had violated the Tenure
of Office Act in trying to remove Stanton. The other articles were
merely expansions of the first or were based upon Johnson's opposition
to reconstruction or upon his speeches in criticism of Congress. Nothing
could be said about his control of the patronage, though this was one of
the unwritten charges. J. W. Schuckers, in his life of Chase, says
that the radical leaders "felt the vast importance of the presidential
patronage; many of them felt, too, that, according to the maxim that
to the victors belong the spoils, the Republican party was rightfully
entitled to the Federal patronage, and they determined to get possession
of it. There was but one method and that was by impeachment and removal
of the President."

The leading House managers were Stevens, Butler, Bingham, and Boutwell,
all better known as politicians than as lawyers. The President was
represented by an abler legal array: Curtis, Evarts, Stanbery, Nelson,
and Groesbeck. Jeremiah Black was at first one of the counsel for the
President but withdrew under conditions not entirely creditable to
himself.

The trial was a one-sided affair. The President's counsel were refused
more than six days for the preparation of the case. Chief Justice Chase,
who presided over the trial, insisted upon regarding the Senate as a
judicial and not a political body, and he accordingly ruled that only
legal evidence should be admitted; but the Senate majority preferred
to assume that they were settling a political question. Much evidence
favorable to the President was excluded, but everything else was
admitted. As the trial went on, the country began to understand that the
impeachment was a mistake. Few people wanted to see Senator Wade made
President. The partisan attitude of the Senate majority and the weakness
of the case against Johnson had much to do in moderating public opinion,
and the timely nomination of General Schofield as Secretary of War after
Stanton's resignation reassured those who feared that the army might be
placed under some extreme Democrat.

As the time drew near for the decision, every possible pressure was
brought by the radicals to induce senators to vote for conviction. To
convict the President, thirty-six votes were necessary. There were only
twelve Democrats in the Senate, but all were known to be in favor of
acquittal. When the test came on the 16th of May, seven Republicans
voted with the Democrats for ac