He insisted that the leaders of the Republican party in Congress did not represent the true sentiment of the country, so he boldly determined to antagonize the leaders in Congress, and to present their differences to the court of public opinion at the approaching Congressional elections.

The issue was thus joined and the people were called upon to render judgment in the election of members of Congress in the fall of 1866.

The President, with the solid support of the Democrats and a small minority of the Republicans, made a brave and gallant fight.

The result, however, was a crushing defeat for him and a national repudiation of his plan of reconstruction.
Notwithstanding this defeat the President refused to yield, continuing the fight with Congress which finally resulted in his impeachment by the House of Representatives for high Crimes and Misdemeanors in office and in his trial by the Senate sitting as a High Court for that purpose.
When the vote of the court was taken the President was saved from conviction and from removal from office by the narrow margin of one vote,--a sufficient number of Republican Senators having voted with the Democrats to prevent conviction.

It was believed by many at the time that some of the Republican Senators that voted for acquittal did so chiefly on account of their antipathy to the man who would succeed to the Presidency in the event of the conviction of the President.