Back to top

Senator Lazarus Powell survives a U.S. Senate vote to expel him for "seducing citizens into rebellion and treason"

Lazarus Whitehead Powell, Brady image, detail
Senator Lazarus Powell of Kentucky had remained in the U.S. Senate at the outbreak of war, despite calls from his home state and elsewhere for him to resign.  He remained a critic of the administration throughout the war.  An attempt to remove him from office failed when a resolution stating that he had "assisted in seducing citizens into rebellion and treason" was defeated on a vote of 11 to 28.  His fellow senator from Kentucky, Garret Davis, was the only Democrat to vote for the resolution.  (By John Osborne) 
Source Citation: 
Senate Vote #215 (Mar. 14, 1862),