In 1867 Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act which required the president to seek the consent of the Senate prior to dismissing any government official whose appointment had required the Senate’s consent. The bill was passed largely to protect Lincoln’s Sec. of War Edwin Stanton from being removed by Pres. Andrew Johnson. In 1867, Johnson suspended Stanton but could not remove him and Stanton refused to resign. The president named Ulysses S. Grant as acting Secretary.
On January 10, 1868 the Senate Military Affairs Committee passed a resolution of non-concurrence with the removal of Stanton. In response, the next day Grant notified Johnson that he intended to step down as acting Secretary of War if the Senate passed the resolution refusing to consent to Stanton’s removal.
Grant was under a lot of pressure to leave his position if the Senate refused its consent. Under the Tenure of Office Act he faced a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison if he stayed on. Grant was also exploring a run for president and he understood that being seen as an ally of Johnson would lead to a loss of support from the Radical Republicans.
On January 11 and 13 the full Senate considered the resolution from the Military Affairs Committee on refusing consent to the removal of Stanton. By a strong majority, the Senate refused consent. Grant notified Johnson that he was resigning as acting Secretary of War and he turned the keys to his office over to Stanton.
Grant retained his position commanding the United States Army. Johnson explored creating a new Army Department of the Atlantic covering Washington DC. He believed that if a Constitutional crisis developed, that Grant would participate in Johnson’s removal, so he hoped to put a conservative like Sherman in command of the capital to defend him.
On Feb. 6, Johnson ordered Grant to create the new Department of the Atlantic. On February 13 he nominated Sherman to the rank of General of the Army, the rank at that time only held by Grant.
Sherman was not happy with being used as a pawn against Grant. According to The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson By Michael Les Benedict p. 100:
In Charles W. Calhoun’s new book on Grant’s presidency, the author describes the events of January 1868:
On Saturday, January 11, the Senate began debating the committee’s resolution, and Grant hastened to the White House to explain his position. He told Johnson that he now realized that the law left him no choice—that upon the Senate’s vote of nonconcurrence, his duties as interim secretary of war must cease. But Johnson too had revised his position, abandoning the idea of allowing Stanton back into office to get rid of Grant and then immediately firing Stanton. The president’s backers both in and out of the Senate were strongly defending his removal of Stanton, and it was politically untenable for him now to sanction the secretary’s return even to face peremptory dismissal. Johnson now insisted to Grant that he had removed Stanton (and appointed Grant) under his constitutional powers as president and not under the terms of any particular law. Hence, the general need not worry about punishment under the Tenure of Office Act. But Grant contended that the law, whether constitutional or not, would be binding on him until overturned by a court. After an hour of repeating their views with no apparent resolution, Johnson said they could talk further later. The president subsequently claimed that the two had agreed to meet on Monday the thirteenth. Johnson also claimed that Grant had promised on Saturday either to relinquish the office so that Johnson could appoint a successor before the Senate vote or to remain in office until the case could be resolved judicially. Grant categorically denied making such a promise on the eleventh and insisted that he had made no specific promise to meet again either on Monday or at “any other definite time.” In Grant’s mind, he had kept his pledge of the previous fall to inform the president if he came to a new understanding of the situation. [Calhoun, Charles W.. The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant (American Presidency Series) (p. 34). University Press of Kansas. Kindle Edition.]
The January 13, 1868 vote was 35 against consenting to the dismissal of Stanton and six in favor. This was an ominous sign of Johnson’s nearly complete lack of support among Congressional Republicans.
Here is Johnson’s order to Grant to create the Department of the Atlantic:
Washington, D. C., February, 12, 1868.
General U. S. GRANT.
Commanding Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C.
GENERAL: You will please issue an order creating a military division, to be called the Military Division of the Atlantic, to be composed of the Department of the Lakes, the Department of the East. and the Department of Washington, and to be commanded by Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, with his headquarters at Washington.
Until further orders from the President, you will assign no officer to the permanent command of the Military Division of the Missouri.
Respectfully, yours,
ANDREW JOHNSON.
Sherman wrote his brother about the bad situation he was put in by the conflict between Grant and Johnson:
Source:
The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson By Michael Les Benedict pp. 99-100
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