Page "Andrew Johnson" Paragraph 70

Through his allies, Johnson maneuvered among the senators in an attempt to secure a favorable vote ; for example, a pledge was made to Sen. James W. Grimes to install a more highly respected War Secretary and to cease interference with Congress ' Reconstruction efforts.

Also, Sen. Edmund G. Ross received assurances that the radical constitutions ratified in South Carolina and Arkansas would be transmitted to the Congress.

The Senate took three votes: on May 16, it voted on the 11th article of impeachment, which included many of the charges contained in the other articles, and on May 26 voted on the second and third articles, after which the trial adjourned.

On all three occasions, 35 senators voted " guilty " and 19 " not guilty ", thus falling short by a single vote of the two-thirds majority required for conviction in impeachment trials.

Seven Republican senators – William Pitt Fessenden, Joseph S. Fowler, John B. Henderson, Lyman Trumbull, Peter G. Van Winkle and notably Senators Grimes and Ross played a decisive role ; purportedly disturbed by how the proceedings had been manipulated to give a one-sided presentation of the evidence, they voted against conviction, in defiance of their party and public opinion.