Tenure of Office Act (1867).This statute resulted from a fear on the part of congressional Republicans that President Andrew Johnson, in the course of a bitter dispute over Reconstruction policy, would make sweeping removals of federal officeholders and replace them with Democrats. The law sought to protect officials appointed with Senate consent “until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified.” Cabinet officers were to remain in place “for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter.”
The latter provision appeared to protect Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who had allied himself with the congressional position on Reconstruction. Since the U.S. Army was the chief enforcement agency for federal policy in the South, control of the army, through the War Department, was vital to both Johnson and Congress. Johnson vetoed the measure as unconstitutional; Congress overrode the veto on 2 March 1867.
In February 1868, Johnson appeared to violate the act by removing Stanton. The House of Representatives impeached Johnson, citing his violation of the Tenure of Office Act as one reason. At the trial, the president's defense team raised serious questions about the statute's constitutionality. They also raised doubts that it even applied to Stanton, who had been appointed not by Johnson but by Abraham Lincoln. These doubts, together with other considerations, caused enough senators to vote not guilty that Johnson escaped conviction by a single vote. Efforts to repeal the law began in 1869 and succeeded in 1887. In 1926, the Supreme Court, reviewing the presidential removal power in Myers v. United States, held unconstitutional the Tenure of Office Act and an 1876 successor.
[See also Commander in Chief, President as.] Bibliography James E. Sefton , The United States Army and Reconstruction, 1865–1877 , 1967.
Hans L. Trefousse , Andrew Johnson: A Biography , 1989.
James E. Sefton
John Whiteclay Chambers II "Tenure of Office Act ." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. . Encyclopedia.com. 11 Sep. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .
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John Whiteclay Chambers II "Tenure of Office Act ." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. . Retrieved September 11, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/tenure-office-act
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