With the release of a public letter explaining their reasons for supporting the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, more than 750 American historians are sounding the alarm about the duty and necessity for lawmakers to vote in favor of impeaching the president.<\/p>\n

Co-authored by Sean Wilenta, professor of American history at Princeton University, and Brenda Wineapple, author of a book about Andrew Johnson \u2013 the first of only three U.S. presidents to be impeached thus far –\u00a0 the letter sites the uncannily prescient words penned in 1792 by the venerable Alexander Hamilton:<\/p>\n

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We are American historians devoted to studying our nation\u2019s past who have concluded that Donald J. Trump has violated his oath to \u201cfaithfully execute the Office of President of the United States\u201d and to \u201cpreserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.\u201d His \u201cattempts to subvert the Constitution,\u201d as George Mason described impeachable offenses at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, urgently and justly require his impeachment.<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president. Among those most hurtful to the Constitution have been his attempts to coerce the country of Ukraine, under attack from Russia, an adversary power to the United States, by withholding essential military assistance in exchange for the fabrication and legitimization of false information in order to advance his own re-election.<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s lawless obstruction of the House of Representatives, which is rightly seeking documents and witness testimony in pursuit of its constitutionally-mandated oversight role, has demonstrated brazen contempt for representative government. So have his attempts to justify that obstruction on the grounds that the executive enjoys absolute immunity, a fictitious doctrine that, if tolerated, would turn the president into an elected monarch above the law.<\/p>\n

As Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist, impeachment was designed to deal with \u201cthe misconduct of public men\u201d which involves \u201cthe abuse or violation of some public trust.\u201d Collectively, the President\u2019s offenses, including his dereliction in protecting the integrity of the 2020 election from Russian disinformation and renewed interference, arouse once again the Framers\u2019 most profound fears that powerful members of government would become, in Hamilton\u2019s words, \u201cthe mercenary instruments of foreign corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n