Tenure of Office Act
TENURE OF OFFICE ACT
TENURE OF OFFICE ACT, passed by Congress in 1867 over President Andrew Johnson's veto, was designed to restrict greatly Johnson's appointing and removing power. When Johnson attempted to remove Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the Radical Republican Congress proceeded with its long-laid plans for the impeachment and trial of the president. As Stanton was not a Johnson appointee, the act could not be applied to him. Passed during, and as part of, the struggle between Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction, sections of the act were repealed early in Ulysses S. Grant's first administration; the rest of the act was repealed 5 March 1887.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Benedict, Michael Les. A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863–1869. New York: Norton, 1974.
Kutler, Stanley I. Judicial Power and Reconstruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
McKittrick, Eric L. Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Thomas, Benjamin P., and Harold M. Hyman. Stanton: The Life and Times of Lincoln's Secretary of War. New York: Knopf, 1962.
Willard H.Smith/a. g.
See alsoImpeachment Trial of Samuel Chase ; Liberal Republican Party ; Stalwarts ; Wade-Davis Bill .