On May 26, 1868, members of the U.S. Senate cast their final votes on Articles II and III of impeachment, resulting in the acquittal of President Andrew Johnson. The entire trial came down to a single, dramatic vote cast by Radical Republican Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas. Ross defied his own political party to vote not guilty because he felt the evidence was insufficient, knowingly destroying his political career and receiving death threats in order to preserve the constitutional separation of powers.
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