There was but one method and that was by impeachment and removal of the President." The leading House managers were Stevens, Butler, Bingham, and Boutwell, all better known as politicians than as lawyers.

The President was represented by an abler legal array: Curtis, Evarts, Stanbery, Nelson, and Groesbeck.

Jeremiah Black was at first one of the counsel for the President but withdrew under conditions not entirely creditable to himself.
The trial was a one-sided affair.

The President's counsel were refused more than six days for the preparation of the case.

Chief Justice Chase, who presided over the trial, insisted upon regarding the Senate as a judicial and not a political body, and he accordingly ruled that only legal evidence should be admitted; but the Senate majority preferred to assume that they were settling a political question.