Impeachment and the history of political combat

Impeachment proceedings are obviously fertile ground for partisan discord. You don’t need more explanation of that. Our writers focus on what’s new – and not new – about the divide.

For years, the president’s political opponents in the House of Representatives had investigated impeachment as a means of removing him from office. It was clear their ideas about the distribution of power in the American system of government, and how it should be used, were fundamentally different from each other on crucial points.

Finally, members of Congress boiled over when...