Impeachment
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Impeachment. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the act of accusing, or charging with a crime or misdemeanor; the arraignment of a minister of state for maladministration or trea- In England impeachments son. are made in the House of Commons, and tried by the House of Lords. The Constitution of the United States provides that the House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment; and that the Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. Section 4 of Article II. provides that the President and Vice-President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors. The Blount case was the first. William Blount, United States Senator from Tennessee, was charged in 1797 with conspiring with British officers to steal part of Louisiana from Spain for England's benefit. The House prepared articles of impeachment. The Senate expelled him, after putting him under bonds for trial. Judge John Pickering, of the Federal District Court for New Hampshire, was impeached in 1803 for drunkenness and profanity on the bench. The defense was insanity. On trial before the Senate, Pickering was convicted by a party vote, and and removed from his office. In 1804, Samuel Chase of Maryland, a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was charged with improper conduct on the bench. The impeachment proceedings, instigated and managed by John Randolph of Virginia, were political in their origin and animus. Judge Chase was acquitted through the failure of the prosecution to obtain two-thirds vote a against him in the Senate, on any one of the eight articles of impeachment.. He resumed his seat on the beach, and held it as long as he lived. About a quarter of a century later, James H. Peck, a Federal district judge in Missouri, was impeached for oppressive treatment of an attorney. The case was of no importance; the judge was acquitted. Thirty years afterward, at the beginning of the Civil War, Judge West H. Humphreys of the Federal District Court of Tennessee, joined the Confederacy and accepted judicial office under it, without taking the trouble to send his resignation to Washington. He was impeached, mainly in order to vacate the office, and convicted on June 26, 1862. Andrew Johnson was impeached on March 4, 1868, the 11 articles charging the President in various forms with violation of the Tenure of Office act, with violation of the Constitution, with conspiracy to prevent the execution of of act, etc. No vote was taken except on the three strongest articles and impeachment failed by a single vote. The seventh Federal impeachment was that of William W. Belknap, Grant's Secretary of War. He was justly charged in 1876 with corruption in office, and the House voted unanimously to impeach him. He resigned hastily a few hours before the passage of the impeachment resolution. The eighth impeachment was that of Charles Swayne, Judge of the U. S. District Court in Florida. He was impeached for misconduct in office and was tried from Feb. 6 to Feb. 27, 1905. Both impeachment proceedings failed by the lack of a twothirds majority in the Senate for conviction. In 1913 William Sulzer, Governor of New York, was impeached for filing a false statement of receipts and expenditures during his campaign. He was found guilty of filing a false statement but exonerated from the charge of perjury, and removed from office. Political animosity brought about the trial. In the same year Robert W. Archbald, United States Circuit Judge of Pennsylvania, was impeached and found guilty of using his office for his personal profit.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the accusation and prosecution for removal from office of a judge or administrative officer whose position places him above the ordinary courts. In Great Britain the House of Commons impeaches; the House of Lords hears the case. The practice arose in the Middle Ages as a means of getting rid of undesirable royal favorites, and has been greatly extended in more modern times. Warren Hastings, it may be remembered, was impeached by the House of Commons in 1787. A committee headed by Edmund Burke presented the case to the Lords. The trial lasted eight years. In the United States the impeachment is presented, that is to say, the charges are drawn up, by the House. A committee of representatives is appointed to conduct the prosecution. The case is heard by the Senate with the chief justice presiding. A two-thirds vote is necessary to convict. There have been eight cases of impeachment in the history of the United States: 1. William Blount, United States senator from Tennessee, was impeached in 1797 for entering into a conspiracy with British officers to divert part of Louisiana from Spain to England. He was acquitted on a technicality, but was expelled from the Senate. 2. In 1803 John Pickering, a judge of the Federal Court for New Hampshire , was impeached, convicted, and removed from office, on account of drunkenness and profanity on the bench. 3. In 1804 Samuel Chase, a justice of the Supreme Court, was impeached. The proceedings were instituted by John Randolph of Virginia, on the ground of partisanship on the bench. The necessary two-thirds vote was not obtained. 4. In 1830 Judge Peck, of the Federal Court of Missouri, was impeached for arbitrary conduct in punishing an attorney for contempt of court. He was acquitted by a vote of 21 to 24. 5. In 1862 Judge Humphreys, of the Federal Court of Tennessee, joined the Confederacy without sending in his resignation. In order to clear the way for the appointment of a successor, he was impeached and removed from office. 6. The most stirring impeachment in the history of the United States was that of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. He was charged with violating the constitution, and with making statements tending "to bring the high office of president into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace." The trial afforded one of the worst exhibits of partisanship ever witnessed in this country. Today no one believes that the facts justified impeachment. At the time, however, the Republican party almost unanimously demanded the president's removal. To their credit be it said, four Republican senators voted for acquittal and barely prevented a national disgrace. When their terms expired, not one of them was permitted to return to the senate. 7. In 1876 Secretary of War Belknap was impeached. He resigned; the senate failed to convict. 8. In 1905 Judge Charles Swayne of the northern district of Florida, was impeached for favoritism and excessive charges. The constitutions of the various states make similar provisions for the impeachment of local judges and state officers. In the case of minor officers the president or governor has authority to remove from office for cause. Impeachment is the heaviest piece of artillery in the congressional arsenal. but because it is so heavy it is unfit for ordinary use. It is like a hundred-ton gun which needs complex machinery to bring it into position, an enormous charge of powder to fire it and a large mark to aim at. It is an extreme remedy, proper to be applied against an official guilty of political crimes, but ill-adapted for the punishment of small transgressions.--Bryce.