Taking a vote on the impeachment of President Johnson, Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C., May 16th 1868. This illustration of Senator Ross, of Kansas, voting "not guilty," was made from a sketch by James E. Taylor and published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (1855-1922), one of the first successful American papers to combine news and pictures. The impeachment came about because President Johnson's Reconstruction policy, which favored severe restrictions on black rights, was strongly opposed by Congress. Johnson vetoed bills that attempted to enfranchise newly-freed slaves and eventually fired, without Senate approval, Edwin Stanton, who was his Secretary of War and who opposed his policies. The trial began on March 20th, 1868, and failed by a single vote to convict him.