In 1868, Local Man Elected to Senate in Time for First Impeachment
Kevin Hemstock • February 16, 2021
(The First of Two Parts)
The impeachment of Donald Trump isn’t that much different than the nation’s first impeachment, that of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. Johnson was acquitted by the U.S. Senate, in part thanks to George Vickers, a senator from Kent County.
Vickers was not elected to the U.S. Senate by the people of Maryland. That’s because prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures.
So, Kent’s consummate lawyer was elected to the U.S. Senate by the Maryland legislature, by a vote of 59 to the nearest candidate’s 41, on March 4, 1868.
That nearest candidate was another lawyer, Philip F. Thomas, who, in theory, had already been elected to the post.
Hailing from Easton, Thomas, 57, was eminently qualified. A lifelong Talbot County resident, he started in politics in 1838. He served as the state’s governor from 1848 to 1851. He also served in the state legislature off and on, and for a while was in the administration of President James Buchanan.
But the Civil War changed the political landscape of the state and the nation.
Thomas was elected by the legislature in March 1867 as U.S. senator. But when Congress met in session in January 1868, the Republican majority refused to seat him and the following month, he was rejected. They claimed he wasn’t a viable candidate for the job because his son, John, had joined the Confederacy and fought in the war against Union forces. Worse, Thomas had sent his son money and aided him by other means during the war.
The Baltimore Sun opined in its Feb. 21, 1868, edition that aid to Vickers's son really had nothing to do with the Confederacy, but that his son’s participation in the losing side of the War Between the States was an excuse for the Republican majority to eliminate a Democrat with such a lofty political pedigree.
“Never were a series of objections shown to be more completely frivolous and groundless than those assigned against Mr. Thomas. The act of the majority leaves nothing in doubt as to its motive.”
Vickers — well qualified for the job — didn’t really want it. In fact, he had for much of his life avoided the limelight, but was cast in it whether he liked it or not. But to the “Radical Republicans,” a more extreme faction of the Republican party, he was lesser known and perhaps seemed less a threat to the legislative status quo, even though he, too, had a son who had fought for the Confederacy.
Born in Kent County in 1801, the son of Capt. James and Lydia Towers Vickers, George Vickers graduated from Washington College in 1817 and began his own law practice in Chestertown in 1827, operating initially out of an office on Cross Street. Later he moved to Lawyer’s Row. His cases were numerous and consequential, and he soon made a name for himself in the county and the state as a thoughtful and articulate community leader. He bought a newspaper in 1838 — the Kent Bugle, which later became the Kent News — a vehicle for editorials supporting the Whig Party.
He was involved in real estate, and established his home with his wife, the former Mary Mansfield, in a substantial three-story manse on Mill Street. He was director of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank.
As a Whig, he became actively involved in politics. His local Whig leadership gave him some gravitas and in 1840, he was chosen an elector for William Henry Harrison. Harrison was elected president, but died a month after his inauguration. Locally, Vickers served on the county commission, the Chestertown town commission, and for a brief spell was a judge of the circuit court.
As the Civil War neared, he made it clear he supported preservation of the Union, and as a member of the Friends of the Constitution, opposed secession. After Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter at Charleston, S.C., in April 1861, igniting the war, Vickers was somber in a letter to the Kent News, April 27, 1861:
“The condition of public affairs and the impenetrable cloud that skirts the future, hang as a pall upon the spirits of the people, and should admonish us all of the necessity of unity of feeling and effort in these times of ominous peril, and lead us to look to a source higher than all earthly power for relief, in this the darkest hour of our country’s history.”
A slaveowner, he continued to support the dubious institution.
Soon after hostilities began, Gov. Thomas Holliday Hicks appointed Vickers as Major General of the Second Maryland Militia, a largely nominal political office, but with military trappings. As local men in Kent began preparing for war in the months following its onset, “Camp Vickers” was established north of Chestertown.
Like most Kent countians, he opposed Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln’s Republican Party in the 1860 election. In 1864, he supported Democrat Gen. George B. McClellan’s candidacy for the presidency. In accepting the appointment as an elector, he noted his reluctance in getting involved in politics following the demise of the Whig Party in the late 1850s, and his surprise at being chosen to participate.
It also disenfranchised supporters of the Confederacy, another bone of contention, since many locals had fought or continued to fight for the Confederacy at the time of the vote.
The new constitution was approved by a scant margin statewide, but in Kent, 1,196 of the 1,434 votes cast on Oct. 13, 1864 opposed it. Nonetheless, freedom for Maryland slaves became the law of the state on Nov. 1, 1864, more than a year after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been issued.
Perhaps that’s what drove him to run for the state senate in November 1865 against another Kent stalwart, Col. Edward Wilkins, who was associated with the “Radical Republicans.” Vickers won, with 562 votes against Wilkins’ 454.
In his second year as a state senator, 1867, he opposed the repeal of a law that required one of the U.S. senators elected by the state senate to be from the Eastern Shore.
The debate was part of the effort to reduce the power of the minority Democrats. The Republicans won, and the law was set aside. A vote afterward, to elect a U.S. senator, favored Gov. Thomas Swann, a Republican-turned-Democrat, but one who had opposed slavery and supported the 1864 constitution. At the time, Vickers was also in the running, but Swann’s own party convinced the governor to remain in that post, and Philip F. Thomas was chosen as the senator.
As noted, Thomas’ failure to be seated resulted in that singular March 4, 1868, election in the legislative session. Vickers was elevated to the federal post. It was a propitious election, and his role in taking on the weighty political office would have national consequences that echo most loudly in today’s divisive political environment.
Kevin Hemstock writes from Millington. The former editor of the Kent County News, his book, Injustice on the Eastern Shore, was published in 2015. He has also self-published a number of books on the topic of local history.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
