Nearly a decade ago, Bill Clinton's history in the White House was practically set in stone. Whatever accomplishments the administration accomplished in its time, Clinton's extramarital affair and his resulting impeachment will permeate, if not dominate, the president's legacy. The major facts remain mostly undisputed: The president engaged in sexual activity with Monica Lewinsky and maneuvered to keep the affair secret, culminating in explicit lies before a grand jury. The president's Republican opponents had unqualified political motivations for removing the president from office. Returning to this scandal with these facts would be both tiring and evasive as to the underlying issues. To truly assess the fairness of Clinton's impeachment, one must examine the original intent of the impeachment as well as its history relative to other presidents. Additionally, analyzing the investigation itself requires understanding the specific motivations and laws that Democrats and Republicans took advantage of. Here we examine the ethics of former President Bill Clinton's impeachment in light of the original constitutional intent, historical precedent, and political climate of his administration. To begin to assess Clinton's indiscretion as an impeachable offense, one must understand the original purpose of impeachment when American state government was first defined and justified in 1787. The Philadelphia Convention, charged to lay the groundwork for a new government, was the result of failing self-governing states and a weak central government established by the Articles of Confederation. James Madison, the “father of the Constitution,” recognized that such interstate futility led to “mischief of faction” (Madison, 1787). Middle of the article......Organizational leadership: towards a federalist ethic for the organization. Ethics, at the heart of leadership (pp. 111-140). Westport, Conn.: Praeger Paperback. Linder, D.O. (n.d.). A primer on the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. UMKC School of Law. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/impeach/imp_account2.htmlMadison, J. (1787, November 27). Federalist, no. 10, 56-65. Electronic Resources from the University of Chicago Press Book Division. Retrieved May 22, 2010 from http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch4s19.htmlMcGann, E. and Morris, D. (2004). Because he could. New York: HarperCollins. Quotes from Otto von Bismarck. (nd). Find the famous quotes you need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Retrieved June 5, 2010, from http://thinkexist.com/quotation/politics_is_the_art_of_the_possible-the/170888.html