one of them, joseph holt, judge advocate general who had been responsible for the trial, but the other was his superior edwin stanton. so perhaps i will leave it this way. the next day after i saw those documents from the war department, i sent a short note to secretary stanton which read, dear sir. public consideration of high character constrain me to inform you that your resignation as secretary of war will be accepted. may i tell you what he said in response? dear sir, public considerations of a high character constrain me to inform you that i will not resign the office until congress comes back into session. knowing at the time he believed that he was already protected by the tenure of office law. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. you're welcome. >> thank you. >> indeed. >> all right. >> for more information about the andrew johnson national historic site, visit their website at nps.gov/anjo, and to learn more about tours with historian and author richard norton smith, go to president's&patriots.com. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >>> a

to be guided by the cabinet and the other officers who had been present, and when judge advocate joseph holt brought me the papers, including the death warrants, i signed them. some two years later, 1867, now, it is interesting, this is when the secession of the -- i'm sorry, the impeachment crisis was emerging. the newspapers began printing the awareness that a recommendation of clemency had been made, and that i had ignored it, and i sent to the war department requesting to see those documents, and when i did see them, it appeared to me that the clemency recommendation, which was right there, had been torn out and reattached, and i thought only two men could have done such a thing. one of them, joseph holt, judge advocate general who had been responsible for the trial, but the other was his superior edwin stanton. so perhaps i will leave it this way. the next day after i saw those documents from the war department, i sent a short note to secretary stanton which read, dear sir. public considerations of high character constrain me to inform you that your resignation as secretary of war will

to be guided by the cabinet and the other officers who had been present, and when judge advocate joseph holt brought me the papers, including the death warrants, i signed them. some two years later, 1867, now, it is interesting, this is when the secession of the -- i'm sorry, the impeachment crisis was emerging. the newspapers began printing the awareness that a recommendation of clemency had been made, and that i had ignored it, and i sent to the war department requesting to see those documents, and when i did see them, it appeared to me that the clemency recommendation, which was right there, had been torn out and