“Why is the provision restrained to Treason and bribery only?”
They were getting closer to finding the right words, but this criteria still seemed lacking. Mason argued on September 8, 1787, now nearly four months since the convention began and as patience wore thin throughout, that while their language on impeachment had once been too vague, now it seemed to his ears too limited. “Why is the provision restrained to Treason and bribery only?” he wondered. There were many “great and dangerous” offenses that might not reach the level of treason, and in Britain a celebrated case was even then ongoing whereby a chief royal administrator in India was currently on trial after impeachment for poor administration. “Attempts to subvert the constitution may not be Treason” if narrowly defined, Mason added, but they may be reason enough to fear a president’s continued tenure. He therefore moved to reinsert the once-banished word “maladministration” to the list of potential impeachable offenses.55
Footnote
55. Madison’s Notes, September 8.
