A President in the Dock

摘要

At 1 P.M.on march 5,1868, the capitol doors were opened as Chief Justice Salmon Chase, solemn in his black robe, took his seat on the Senate rostrum. Just days earlier Andrew Johnson had become the first president to be impeached by the House, and now the Senate was holding a trial to possibly remove him from office. The chamber and galleries were packed. Before and to the right of the rostrum sat the president's able counsel, including William Maxwell Evarts, leader of the American bar, and Benjamin R. Curtis, formerly a Supreme Court justice. To the left were the seven House managers acting as prosecutors. The 54 senators claimed the first two rows of seats; behind them were the members of the House. With somber formality the chief justice swore in the senators, and the trial began. It would last for three long months.