In February, Congress made the historic decision to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
With immigration being one of the hottest political issues of the day, Republicans impeached the secretary on charges of being “engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties…[and] has failed to faithfully uphold his oath and has instead presided over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement.” The charges also include that he, “willfully violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by releasing illegal aliens into the interior of the United States despite the plain language of the Act.”
Personally, I am surprised that this is the first impeachment under the Republican House of Representatives. I was expecting it to happen much sooner and to a person much bigger – namely Joe Biden. Republicans have shown restraint after having their own president impeached twice and instead went after a Biden lieutenant.
Historically speaking, what is more interesting is that while we have now had four presidential impeachments, Mayorkas is only the second cabinet member to be impeached, and the first in 148 years. The first was Secretary of War William Belknap during the Grant administration and involves southwest Oklahoma. It is worth noting that neither Belknap nor any of the presidents were removed from office. Impeachment is done by the House of Representatives and simple determines if there is enough evidence to have a trial. If an official is impeached by the House then the Senate conducts a trial to determine guilt.
While recent scholarly works about President Grant, especially Ron Chernow’s 2017 New York Times bestselling book “Grant,” has helped rehabilitate his reputation, the fact remains that his tenure had its share of corruption. Grant’s presidency was in the beginning stages of what is known as the Gilded Age, a time period known for greed and corruption at every level and Belknap got caught in the fray.
Born in New York and attending college at what is now Princeton, Belknap made a name for himself as a lawyer in Iowa and entered politics as a Democrat. When the Civil War broke out, he joined the Union Army as a major. He fought in several engagements including Shilo and rose through the ranks until he reached major general. After the war he was brought into the Grant administration as Secretary of War.
During the war, soldiers bought most of their supplies from people known as sutlers. After the war these same men set up shops in Western forts and made good profits as they monopolized sales. At first, sutlers were chosen by the forts’ commanding officers. Belknap changed that practice when he took over and his department could solely license sutlers in all forts.
One of his personal hardships was satisfying his wife’s financial needs on his meager $8,000 salary. Carita Belknap had grown up in a wealthy Kentucky family and wanted to impress her follow Washingtonians. She pushed for a family friend, Caleb P. Marsh, to receive the license for the store at Fort Sill in the southwest corner of Indian Territory. The problem was the current sutler, John S. Evans, did not want to give up his lucrative position and made a bargain with Marsh and Carita that he would split the payments if allowed to retain his post.
The deal was accepted, and Carita began receiving $600 a year. While no evidence exists, there were later rumors that Belknap had similar deals with other sutlers around the west. Carita only received one payment for her part of the deal as she died of tuberculosis, but her widowed sister Amanda, who was living with the Belknaps, not only replaced Carita in the scheme but also took in her place as Belknap’s new wife.
Amanda would prove even more lavish than Carita as belle of the ball amongst the Washington D.C socialites. So much so that some began questioning how she could afford so much on her husband’s government salary. At the same time, some in the Army – most notably George Custer – began questioning the prices from sutler stores and where all the money was going. As rumors started to swirl about possible kickbacks, Democratic Congressman Hiester Clymer launched a congressional investigation. It did not take long for the investigation to lead to Marsh, who, under oath, spilled everything to Congress. Belknap tried to pin the blame on his wives and say he was unaware of their wrongdoings. But Marsh’s testimony made that impossible.
The House acted quickly in bringing articles of impeachment against Belknap, but before they could finish he turned in his resignation to President Grant, who accepted it.
In a similar light with the 2016 Congress, the 1876 Congress had to decide if they had the power to impeach an ex-official now private citizen. In both cases the answer was “yes.” The 1876 House issued five articles of impeachment including “criminally disregarding his duty as Secretary of War and basely prostituting his high office to his lust for private gain.” The belief was Belknap should not be able to escape justice simply by resigning.
The Senate held a lengthy trial, considered all the evidence and acquitted Belknap of all charges by around 40 votes. Those who voted no tended to feel that Congress had overstepped its bounds in impeaching a private citizen. An actual investigation was also conducted by the Justice Department, but not much really happened after the Senate’s acquittal.
Though disgraced, Belknap retained his law practice after the trial and practiced in Philadelphia and Washington. He remained popular among the soldiers and active in their interests. Belknap died of a heart attack in 1890 in Washington D.C.
In some ways Belknap’s trial has more similarities to President Trump’s second impeachment hearing than Mayorkas. Mayorkas is still actively serving as Homeland Security Secretary so his hearing will have a greater effect if convicted. However, with the makeup of the Senate, there is little doubt that Mayorkas will be acquitted.
James Finck, Ph.D. is a professor of history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeaking1776@gmail.com.
