"1ST REGIMENT U.S. COLORED HEAVY ARTILLERY"

BLACK UNION SOLDIERS HONORED IN JUNETEENTH PARADE

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) The First Regiment of the United States Colored Heavy Artillery* will be honored at this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade/March and Juneteenth Celebration.

Hayden Dunbar Evans reports that the Knoxville unit, a part of U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War, was organized in mid-1863 when Andrew Johnson** freed his slaves in Greenville, Tennessee.

JFK+50 NOTE

June 19, 1865 was the day African-American slaves in Galveston, Texas were informed of their freedom.  This was more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  Juneteenth celebrates black culture and community while recognizing the legacy of slavery.

*First Regiment of U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, made up of 1700 Black Union soldiers, served from 1864 to 1866.  They fought in Alabama, North Carolina & Virginia.

**Andrew Johnson bought his 1st slave in 1842 & freed all his slaves on August 8, 1863.  All stayed on, however, as paid servants.  As Military Governor of Tennessee, AJ freed all slaves in the state on October 24, 1864.

SOURCES

"Juneteenth parade will honor Black Union soldiers who fought for liberation," by Hayden Dunbar Evans, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 19, 2026, www.knoxnews.com/

"Slaves of Andrew Johnson," National Park Service, www.nps.gov/

 

 

Juneteenth Flag

Office holidays

www.flickr.com/

HIGH CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS

ANDREW JOHNSON'S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OPENS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week that a prospective impeachment of President Donald J. Trump "wasn't worth it" unless major transgressions were to be uncovered.  

Impeachment is certainly a last resort and the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure it was not undertaken lightly.  That is why they required a two-thirds guilty vote in a Senate trial for conviction.

Accordingly, only two POTUS have been impeached or "charged with high crimes or misdemeanors."  The first was Andrew Johnson* who went on trial March 13, 1868 although the Chief Justice agreed to give the defense ten days to prepare its case. 

In the end, President Johnson was acquitted and finished out the term to which he and Abraham Lincoln had been elected in 1864.  The second POTUS to be impeached was William Jefferson Clinton (1999) who also was acquitted but by a much wider margin.  Because of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency (1974) and in doing so avoided certain impeachment and possible conviction.

*Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was born in Raleigh, NC & became a tailor in Greenville, TN.  AJ was elected to the TN House of Representatives (1835) & served in the US House of Representatives (1843-1853).

Johnson was Governor of TN (1853-1857) & US Senator (1857-1862 & 1875).  He served as Military Governor of TN & VPOTUS.  AJ assumed the presidency upon the death of Lincoln in 1865.

Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson

United States Senate Chamber

Illustration by T. R. Davis

Harper's Weekly

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2230

PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON FACES ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 149 years ago today, February 24, 1868, the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of eleven articles of impeachment* against President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.

Representative John Covode** of Pennsylvania presented the resolution for impeachment which passed, strictly along party lines, by a vote of 126 to 47.
According to Time-Life, however, the resolution called for appointment of a committee to 'report articles of impeachment,' which..."ignored the constitutional impeachment procedure..." that requires a preliminary investigation to be followed by, "the drawing up of formal charges (if warranted)."

Nine of the eleven charges related to the President's violation of the Tenure of Office Act by the removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton who, like many Republican members of Congress, opposed Andrew Johnson's reconstruction policies which they considered to be too lenient.

Andrew Johnson, the first President of the United States to be impeached, had first suspended the War Secretary in August 1867 at a time when the Congress was recessed.    General Ulysses S. Grant was the temporary replacement.

The Senate restored Stanton after the Christmas break but the President then removed Stanton "outright," replacing him with General Lorenzo Thomas.
The Senate impeachment trial, held from March 13 to March 26, 1868, ended with Johnson's acquittal.  He completed his term which began on the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

*Impeachment is the process by which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which may include the removal of that official from office. 

Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states "The President, Vice-President & all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." 

**John Covode (1808-1871) was born in West Fairfield, PA.  He was the first president of Westmoreland Coal Company and served in the US Congress from 1855 to 1863 and 1867 to 1869.  He strongly supported the Freedman's Bureau, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Congressional Reconstruction.

SOURCE

"The Nation Reunited:  War's Aftermath," The Civil War Series, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987. 

Honorable John Covode

Member of Congress (R-PA)

Photo by Matthew Brady &

Levin Corbin Handy

Library of Congress Image

MARBURY V MADISON RULING 211 YEARS AGO 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Two centuries and eleven years ago today, February 24, 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall announced the Supreme Court's decision in the landmark case Marbury v. Madison.

The majority ruled that President Thomas Jefferson was wrong when he permitted his Secretary of State, James Madison, to prevent William Marbury from receiving his commission as Justice of the Peace here in the Nation's Capital.

The court also ruled that it had no jurisdiction in the case and that the Judiciary Act of 1789 which allowed it jurisdiction was unconstitutional.

This marked the first time the high court had ruled when a federal law does not meet the test of the United States Constitution, it is invalid.  

The decision in Marbury v. Madison firmly established the principle of judicial review.

William Marbury

SIEGE OF THE ALAMO BEGINS IN TEXAS

San Antonio, Texas (JFK+50) General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, whose forces numbered several thousand surrounded less than 200 Texan rebels within the compound of an old abandoned Spanish mission called the Alamo at San Antonio de Bexar 178 years ago today, February 24, 1836.

Santa Anna demanded its' commander, Colonel William B. Travis, to surrender.

Travis, assisted by Jim Bowie, commander of volunteers, answered the demand with a cannon shot.

Congressman David Crockett, accompanied by some of his "Tennessee volunteers", was also at the Alamo.

This began a 13 day siege culminating in a final assault on March 6, 1836.  All Texans inside the walls of the Alamo were either killed in the battle or put to the sword thereafter.

William B. Travis

ANDREW JOHNSON IMPEACHED

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The House of Representatives voted 11 articles of impeachment 146 years ago today against President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee here in Washington.

9 of the 11 articles related to Johnson's violation of the Tenure of Office Act by the removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a radical, who like many members of Congress opposed Johnson's reconstruction policies which they considered to be too lenient.

Andrew Johnson became the first President of the United States in history to be impeached or charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors."

The Senate impeachment trial, lasting from March 13 to March 26, 1868, ended with Johnson's acquittal.  He would complete his term which began with the death of President Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865.

Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson

United States Senate