Calls for the immediate expulsion of the two Missouri senators had been made in December 1861 but the Senate insisted on proper procedure. The Judiciary Committee took up the case and found that both had crossed into Confederate territory, had sworn oaths of allegiance there, and were therefore guilty of treason. The Committee recommended expulsion and the full Senate ended the tenure of Waldo Johnson and Trusten Polk the next day. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Robert C. Byrd, Mary S. Hall, The Senate, 1789-1989: Addresses on the History of the United States Senate (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988), 236.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating
