e United States? I have
heard him say that several times."

That answer was followed by this question:

"When you say the North, you mean the Democratic Party of the North,
or, in other words, the party advocating his policy?"

General Grant replied:

"I meant if the North carried enough members in favor of the admission
of the South. I did not hear him say that he would recognize them as
the Congress, I merely heard him ask the question, 'Why would they not
be the Congress?'"

At this point, and without further discussion of the purpose of Mr.
Johnson in regard to the reorganization of the Government, I think it
may be stated without injustice to him, that while he was opposed to
secession at the time the Confederate Government was organized, and
thenceforward and always without change of opinion, yet he was also
of opinion that the act of secession by the several States had not
disturbed their legal relations to the National Government. Acting
upon that opinion, he proceeded to reorganize the State governments,
and with the purpose of securing the admission of their Senators and
Representatives without seeking or accepting the judgment of Congress
upon the questions involved in the proceeding. On one vital point he
erred seriously and fundamentally as to the authority of the President
in the matter. From the nature of our Government there could be no
escape in a legal point of view from the conclusion that, whatever the
relations were of the seceding States to the General Government, the
method of restoration was to be ascertained and determined by Congress,
and not by the President acting as the chief executive authority of the
nation. In a legal and constitutional view, that act on his part,
although resting upon opinions which he had long entertained, and which
were entertained by many others, must be treated as an act of usurpation.

The facts embodied in the charges on which Mr. Johnson was impeached
by the House and arraigned before the Senate were not open to doubt,
but legal proof was wanting in regard to the exact language of his
speeches. The charges were in substance these: That he had attacked
the integrity and the lawful authority of the Congress of the United
States in public speeches made in the presence of the country. The
second charge was that he had attempted the removal of Mr. Stanton
from the office of Secretary of War, and that, without the concurrence
of the Senate, he had so rem