Flash back 130 years. A troubled Democratic President is on the defensive against a mostly Republican Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives is holding heated impeachment hearings.
Sounds familiar, right? The first impeachment was in 1868, against President Andrew Johnson.
Johnson became President when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. He faced the nearly impossible task of reuniting the country after the Civil War. Congress members disagreed with Johnson's plan to bring the Southern states back into the Union. They passed a special law to limit Johnson's power. Johnson thought the law was unconstitutional and purposely broke it. Although the House voted to impeach him, he was not convicted by the Senate.
Johnson remained in office, but "the judgment of history has been very harsh on him," says historian Paul Bergeron. Only time will tell how history will judge Bill Clinton.