Blount, William
The Impeachment of Senator William Blount was the first impeachment in the history of the United States. On July 5, 1797 a motion in the House called by Samuel Sitgreaves of Massachusetts called for the impeachment of William Blount, Senator of Tennessee, for high crimes and misdemeanors. His impeachment had begun due to a conspiriacy with the British to wrest Florida and Louisiana away from the Spanish. The impeachment would remove him from office and rid him of his power to complete his plan, which could have put America at war with Spain. Blount had sent a letter, describing the method that was going to be used to rid Florida and Louisiana of Spain, to James Carey, a U.S. interpreter to the Cherokee nation. The letter instructed James Carey to read it three times and burn it. However, Before the letter was burned, President Adams got a copy of it. It explained the use of the Indians and the frontiersman to attack the Spanish armada.
The impeachment of Senator Blount ended up being a big mess. At the time of the impeachment, Congress was only ten years old and had never impeached an offical before. Therefore they were inexperienced and unable to figure out which part or step comes first. So while the House voted on the articles of impeachment to be used against Blount on July 5th, the Senate was already prepared to remove Blount of office for high crimes and misdemeanors, three days later. By removing Blount from office the entire impeachment trial was skiped. Once the House came up with the five articles of impeachment that were going to be used against Blount, it was too late to impeach him since he was no longer in office, they had to drop the charges.