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If you think the political climate is vituperative these days, it was actually more contentious during the impeachment process of Andrew Johnson (the first in American history) in March 1868.
Johnson became president when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, just a week after Lee surrendered to Grant. Johnson, a war Democrat and senator from Tennessee, had been tapped by the Republican Party to serve as Lincoln's vice-presidential candidate in the 1864 election, when the GOP called itself the "Union" party.
The "radical" Republicans assumed that the new president would defer to Congress, but soon found out differently. A petulant Johnson vetoed several acts passed by Congress, which retaliated by passing the infamous Tenure of Office Act which prevented the president from removing a Cabinet officer without congressional approval. Johnson abruptly sacked his secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, in direct violation of the act, and appointed General Grant to the post.
The House of Representatives promulgated 11 Articles of Impeachment (later whittled down to three) by a vote of 126-47 on March 3, and the trial in the Senate began the next day. The trial lasted 11 acrimonious weeks until Johnson was finally acquitted by a vote of 35-19, missing the necessary two-third majority by one vote.
None of the Republican senators who voted for acquittal were ever reelected and several, especially Edmund G. Ross of Kansas, had their lives threatened.
Johnson served out the remainder of his term, and later moved to New Mexico for health reasons, served as territorial governor, and died there in 1909.
John M. Glen
Kihei