What Happened in History: Browse Historical Facts on Kudos 365

The U.S. House of Representatives notifies the Senate of the Impeachment of North Carolina's Senator William Blount for high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate trial which did not begin until December,1798 ended on January 14, 1799, as the Senate dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, leaving many issues unsettled, most importantly the question, "was a senator a civil officer of the United States and therefore liable to impeachment?" Although the Senate failed to voice its opinion on that matter, its dismissal of the Blount case set a precedent that still holds today—a U.S. senator cannot be impeached. More