On March 3, 1867 Congress enacted the Tenure of Office Act over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act restricted the president’s ability to remove certain Senate-confirmed officers of the Executive Department. An alleged violation of the act would lead to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. You can read the text of the Act here. Johnson’s wholesale firing of Republicans after the war had not only hurt Republican political fortunes, it had also endangered the plans of Congress for the Reconstruction of the South. Most of the articles of impeachment against Johnson would cite his violations of the Tenure of Office Act as the reason he should be removed from office.
A particular focus of both Johnson and Congress was Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. As head of the Army, he played a vital role in protecting the voting and civil rights of African Americans in the former Confederate states. He also supplied key support to the Freedmen’s Bureau. Stanton tried to keep agressive supporters of Reconstruction in command of the military districts of the South. Johnson saw this military intervention on behalf of African Americans as endangering white control of the governments of the South.
The Encyclopedia of Reconstruction (p. 641) has some details on the legislative history of the Tenure of Office Act:
In 1866, Johnson had removed hundreds of Republicans from appointed offices, to make room for his supporters—and curry their favor and votes. Republicans sought to do the same, of course. Congressional Republicans also intended for the measure to prevent the president from removing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the only cabinet member who supported the Republican Reconstruction program. ( Johnson had retained Lincoln’s entire cabinet intact.) Johnson kept hoping Stanton would resign, but the secretary of war knew his position was vital to protecting the Republican’s Reconstruction agenda. The bill had trouble passing because of the cabinet proposal, since many congressmen saw this as violating presidential prerogatives. Ultimately, John Sherman devised the compromise that secured passage, stating that the act covered cabinet members ‘‘for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter.’’ Still, since the entire cabinet had been appointed under Lincoln, ambiguity remained.
Here is the first section of the Tenure of Office Act, requiring the Senate’s consent when a cabinet secretary wasfired:
AN ACT REGULATING THE TENURE OF CERTAIN CIVIL OFFICES Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every person holding any civil office to which he has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and every person who shall hereafter be appointed to any such office, and shall become duly qualified to act therein, is, and shall be entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified, except as herein otherwise provided: Provided, That the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, of War, of the Navy, and of the Interior, Postmaster General, and the Attorney General, shall hold their offices respectively for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the advice and consent of the Senate…s
In his veto message rejecting the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson argued that the once the Senate had confirmed his nominees, it had completed its constitutional functions with regard to them. While many of his veto messages could be wildly racist, this one confined itself to constitutional arguments. Johnson’s veto was immediately overridden and the Tenure of Office Act was enacted into law.
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