At the end of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio had moved that the Judiciary Committee take up an investigation into the necessity of impeaching the president for "high crimes and misdemeanors," including the corruption of executive power in appointments, pardons, and the veto. The body had voted 107 to 39, with 45 abstentions to send the matter to the Judiciary Committee. When that Congress expired, Ashley again asked that the Committee continue in the Fortieth Congress. After eleven months over the two Congresses, the examination of eighty-nine witnesses, and the publication of twelve hundred pages of testimony, the Committee chair, George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts, reported for impeachment on a narrow five to four vote on this day. The Fortieth Congress, however, citing the lack of specific of "high" crimes outlined in the report as well as its slim margin, voted 57 to 108 after a three day debate to take no action at the moment. (By John Osborne)
Edmund Gibson Ross, History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: President of the United States by the House of Representatives and his Trial by the Senate ... (New York: Burt Franklin,1896), 52.
