"The Impeachment Investigation," March 21, 1867

"The Impeachment Investigation," March 21, 1867

At this point ,March 21, 1867, word that the President of the United States was facing impeachment had spread to the southern States. However, Congress was faced with a dilemma of sorts as congressmen had not yet performed a full investigation into the situation at hand. So, to give any formal conclusion is heresy. The main claim comes from the president's vocal dislike for the Reconstruction acts that the radical Republicans developed. While Congress and various committees were trying to build a strong evidence and witness base, the actual information was too broad for Congress to make an actual verdict of the situation. For Congress, the move for impeachment had not changed even with the initial lack of significant evidence to hold down the claim. Below is an excerpt from the March 21, 1867, issue of The Old North State. For the full article and issue, reference the PDF file that is attached.

"The Impeachment Investigation," The Old North State, March 21, 1867, p. 2, c. 2, North Carolina Digital Collection, accessed October 22, 2014, http://cdm16062.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15016coll1/id/5503/rec/18.

1867-03-21

Brian Smith

Document

Salisbury, North Carolina

Newspaper Article

In less than a year it has passed from the simple requirements of the Constitutional amendment to negro suffrage, obliteration of State governments and supremacy of martial law. The Same rate of progress would bring it to the confiscation point within another year, and hence the ultraists are anxious to prevent the completion of reconstruction until their final object shall be obtained. – The consummation of a scheme to take away the property of ex-rebels naturally seems like a step beyond even the reach of Radicalism, but it is no more improbable now than was the present policy of radicals one year ago.