This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Tenure of Office Act" 1867 – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) | Tenure of Office Act (1867) Long title| An act regulating the tenure of certain civil offices Enacted by| the 39th United States Congress Legislative history * Introduced in the Senate by George Henry Williams (R-OR) on December 3, 1866 * Committee consideration by Committee on Retrenchment * Passed the Senate on January 10, 1867 (22–11) * Passed the House on February 18, 1867 (112–41) * Vetoed by President Andrew Johnson on March 2, 1867 * Overridden by the House of Representatives on March 2, 1867 (138–40) * Overridden by the Senate and became law on March 2, 1867 (35–11) Major amendments Repealed on March 3, 1887[1] | | This article is part of a series about Grover Cleveland | * Early life * Birthplace * Legacy * SS Cleveland 1920 * SS Cleveland 1947 * * * 28th Governor of New York * Governorship * * * 22nd & 24th President of the United States * Presidencies * Executive actions * Foreign policy * * * First term * First inauguration * Tenure of Office Act * Wedding * Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 * Interstate Commerce Commission * Dawes Act * Enabling Act of 1889 * Judicial appointments * Cabinet * * * Second term * Second inauguration * Panic of 1893 * Blount Report * Morgan Report * Coxey's Army * Pullman Strike * Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act * Venezuelan crisis * Judicial appointments * Cabinet * * * Presidential campaigns * 1884 * convention * election * 1888 * convention * election * 1892 * convention * election * * * Post-presidency * Retirement * Death * * * * v * t * e The Tenure of Office Act was a United States federal law, in force from 1867 to 1887, that was intended to restrict the power of the president to remove certain office-holders without the approval of the U.S. Senate. The law was enacted March 2, 1867, over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. It purported to deny the president the power to remove any executive officer who had been appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless the Senate approved the removal during the next full session of Congress.[2] Johnson's attempt to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office without the Senate's approval led to the impeachment of Johnson in early 1868 for violating the act. The act was significantly amended by Congress on April 5, 1869, under President Ulysses S. Grant. Congress repealed the act in its entirety in 1887, exactly 20 years after the law was enacted. While evaluating the constitutionality of a similar law in Myers v. United States (1926), the Supreme Court stated that the Tenure of Office Act was likely invalid.[3] ## Background[edit] The notion of the United States Senate advising and consenting the removal of Cabinet members to the same of the appointments were considered during the 1st United States Congress. The vote was tied with 9 in favor and 9 against on July 18, 1789. Vice President John Adams, with his first tie-breaking vote, voted against the bill, defeating it. The Constitution adopted by the Confederate States of America was more explicit on the point, providing in Article II, Section 2, Clause 3 thereof, that "The principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, and all persons connected with the diplomatic service, may be removed from office at the pleasure of the President. All other civil officers of the Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President, or other appointing power, when their services are unnecessary, or for dishonesty, incapacity. inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty; and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate, together with the reasons therefor." In the post-Civil War political environment, President Johnson, a Democrat who had served as Abraham Lincoln's second vice president, endorsed the quick re-admission of the Southern secessionist states. The two-thirds Republican majorities of both houses of Congress, however, passed laws over Johnson's vetoes, establishing a series of five military districts overseeing newly created state governments. This "Congressional Reconstruction" was designed to create local civil rights laws to protect newly freed slaves; to protect and patrol the area; to ensure the secessionist states would show some good faith before being readmitted; to ensure Republican control of the states; and, arguably, to inflict some punishment on the secessionists. States would be readmitted gradually. Overpowered politically, Johnson could apply the sole check to the Congressional Reconstruction plan of his control (as commander-in-chief) of the military, which would be the primary institution enforcing the plan's provisions. Even Johnson's control of the military was, however, inhibited by the fact that his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, was a staunch Radical Republican who supported Congressional Reconstruction in full. This further set Johnson against the Republican-controlled Congress, with Johnson wanting to remove Stanton from office and Congress wanting to keep him in place. ## Stanton and impeachment of Johnson[edit] The Tenure of Office Act restricted the power of the president to suspend an officer while the Senate was not in session. At that time, Congress sat during a relatively small portion of the year. If, when the Senate reconvened, it declined to ratify the removal, the president would be required to reinstate the official.[4] In August 1867, with the Senate out of session, Johnson made his move against Stanton, suspending him pending the next session of the Senate. When the Senate convened on January 13, 1868, it refused, however, to ratify the removal by a vote of 35–6.[5] Notwithstanding the vote, on February 22, 1868, President Johnson attempted to replace Stanton with Lorenzo Thomas because he wanted, by such action, to create a case through which to challenge the legitimacy of the Act before the Supreme Court.[6][7] Proceedings began within days to move toward the impeachment of Johnson, the first impeachment of a United States President. After a three-month trial, Johnson narrowly avoided removal from office by the Senate by a single vote. Stanton resigned in May 1868. It was very unclear whether Johnson had violated the Tenure of Office Act which led up to the impeachment. The act's phrasing was murky, and it was not clear whether his removal of Stanton (a holdover from the Lincoln administration whom Johnson had not appointed) violated the Act. While the Act, by its terms, applied to current office holders, it also limited the protection offered to Cabinet members to one month after a new president took office. Given the disagreement over whether the Tenure of Office Act violated the United States Constitution, the proper course of action would have been not to impeach the President, but for Stanton to sue for wrongful termination and back pay, as happened in the subsequent case of Myers v. United States.[8] ## Later use[edit] The act was amended on April 5, 1869, one month and one day after Republican president Ulysses S. Grant assumed the presidency. The revisions grew out of an attempt to completely repeal the 1867 Act. The measure to repeal passed the House of Representatives with only 16 negative votes but failed in the Senate. The new provisions were significantly less onerous, allowing the president to suspend office holders "in his discretion" and designate replacements while the Senate was in recess, subject only to confirmation of the replacements at the next session. The president no longer had to report his reasons for suspension to the Senate, and the Senate could no longer force reinstatement of suspended office holders.[9] Although Grant, in his first message to Congress, in December 1869, urged the repeal of even the revised act, it did not cause further problems until the election of Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1884. Under the spoils system it had long been accepted practice for the administration of a new party to replace current office holders with party faithful. Cleveland, a supporter of a civil service system, had promised, however, to avoid wholesale replacements, vowing to replace incumbents only for cause. When he suspended several hundred office holders for cause, Senate committees requested information from cabinet members regarding the reasons for the suspensions, which Cleveland refused to provide. If he had simply said that the incumbents were being replaced for political reasons, the Senate would have complied, but Cleveland would not do so. When, in early 1886, the Senate as a whole demanded information regarding the conduct of the suspended U.S. Attorney for southern Alabama, Cleveland sent a message to Congress explaining his position opposing impingement of independence of the executive. Cleveland's replacement nominee was eventually confirmed when it was discovered that the suspended incumbent's term had expired in the meantime anyway.[9] The Tenure of Office Act was formally repealed in 1887. ## Constitutionality[edit] In 1926, a similar law (though not dealing with Cabinet secretaries) was ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Myers v. United States, which affirmed the ability of the president to remove a Postmaster without Congressional approval. In reaching that decision, the Supreme Court stated in its majority opinion (though in dicta), "that the Tenure of Office Act of 1867, insofar as it attempted to prevent the president from removing executive officers who had been appointed by him by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, was invalid".[3] ## See also[edit] * United States portal * Politics portal * Law portal * Modern history portal * Tenure of Office Act (1820) * Decision of 1789, House of Representatives debate during the 1st Congress as to whether the president the power to remove officers of the United States at will. ## References[edit] 1. ^ "On This Day: April 3, 1886". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26. 2. ^ Tenure of Office Act, March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 430, ch. 154; https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112200623595;view=1up;seq=474 3. ^ a b "FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions". 4. ^ "The Tenure of Office Act of 1867". Archived from the original on 2006-04-27. Retrieved 2006-04-01. 5. ^ Wineapple, Brenda (2019). The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation. pp. 234–235. 6. ^ Trefousse, Hans L. (1989). Andrew Johnson: A Biography. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-393-31742-8. 7. ^ Smith, Gene (1977). High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. New York: William Morrow. p. 221. ISBN 0-688-03072-6. 8. ^ 271 U.S. 52 (1926). 9. ^ a b Grover Cleveland. "The Independence of the Executive", lecture delivered at Princeton University, April 1900. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1913), pp. 30 et seq. * v * t * e Impeachment and impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson * Efforts to impeach Andrew Johnson Timeline Inquiries| * First inquiry * Second inquiry Impeachment| * Articles of impeachment * Dismissal of Edwin Stanton * Tenure of Office Act * Lorenzo Thomas * Ulysses S. Grant * Command of Army Act * Swing Around the Circle * John Covode * Hamilton Ward Sr. Impeachment trial| Salmon P. Chase * House managers * John Bingham * George S. Boutwell * Benjamin Butler * John A. Logan * Thaddeus Stevens * Thomas Williams * James F. Wilson * President's counsel * William M. Evarts * Benjamin R. Curtis * William S. Groesbeck * Thomas A. R. Nelson * Henry Stanbery * Witnesses for the prosecution * Foster Blodgett * Walter A. Burleigh * William E. Chandler * James O. Clephane * William H. Emory * Thomas W. Ferry * Burt Van Horn * James K. Moorhead * Witnesses for the defense * William W. Armstrong * Walter Smith Cox * Richard T. Merrick * Alexander Randall * Frederick W. Seward * William Tecumseh Sherman * Lorenzo Thomas * Gideon Welles Other| * Impeachment managers investigation * Vinnie Ream * Profiles in Courage * Tennessee Johnson * v * t * e Andrew Johnson * 17th President of the United States (1865–1869) * 16th Vice President of the United States (1865) * Senator from Tennessee (1857–1862, 1875) * 15th Governor of Tennessee (1853–1857, 1862–1865) Life| * Homestead Acts * Southern Unionist * War Democrat * 1864 United States presidential election * 1864 National Union National Convention * Raleigh Hotel Presidency| * Inauguration of Andrew Johnson * 1865 State of the Union Address * 1866 State of the Union Address * Reconstruction era * Civil Rights Act of 1866 * National Union Party * 1866 National Union Convention * Swing Around the Circle * 1866 and 1867 United States House of Representatives elections * Colorado Territory * Reconstruction Acts * Tenure of Office Act (1867) * Impeachment of Andrew Johnson * Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson * First impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson * Second impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson * Efforts to impeach Andrew Johnson * 1868 impeachment managers investigation * Command of Army Act * Alaska Purchase * List of federal judges appointed by Andrew Johnson * Judicial Circuits Act * Southern Homestead Act of 1866 * 1868 Democratic National Convention Public image| * Andrew Johnson National Cemetery * Andrew Johnson National Historic Site * President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library * Tennessee Johnson Family| * Eliza McCardle Johnson (wife) * Martha Johnson Patterson (daughter) * Jacob Johnson (father) * ← Abraham Lincoln * Ulysses S. Grant → * ← Hannibal Hamlin * Schuyler Colfax → * Category * v * t * e Reconstruction era Participants| Federal government * Presidents * Abraham Lincoln * Andrew Johnson * Ulysses S. Grant * Rutherford B. Hayes * Congress * 38 * 39 * 40 * 41 * 42 * 43 * 44 * 45 * Radical Republicans * Moderate Republicans * Conservative Republicans * African-American senators * African-American representatives * Reconstruction Amendments * United States Congress Joint Committee on Reconstruction * United States House Select Committee on Reconstruction * Federal judiciary * Taney Court * Chase Court * Waite Court * Federal bureaucracy * Edwin Stanton * Freedmen's Bureau * Justice Department | State governments * Southern United States * Confederate States of America Others| * African Americans * Free people of color * Freedman * Politicians * Carpetbaggers * Ku Klux Klan * Scalawag * Redeemers * White League * Red Shirts * Democratic Party * Bourbon Democrat * Horatio Seymour * Samuel J. Tilden * Republican Party * Stalwart * Charles Sumner * Thaddeus Stevens * Lyman Trumbull * Benjamin Wade * John Bingham * James Mitchell Ashley * Freedman's Savings Bank Elections| Presidential * 1864 * DNC * National Union Convention * Radical Democracy Party * 1868 * DNC * RNC * 1872 * DNC * RNC * Liberal Republican Party * Straight-Out Democratic Party * Victoria Woodhull * 1876 * DNC * RNC * Greenback Convention * Prohibition Convention * Electoral Commission * Compromise of 1877 | U.S. Senate| * 1864–65 * 1866–67 * 1868–69 * 1870–71 * 1872–73 * 1874–75 * 1876–77 U.S. House| * 1864–65 * 1866–67 * 1868–69 * 1870–71 * 1872–73 * 1874–75 * 1876–77 Gubernatorial| * 1863 * CA * CT * MA * MN * NH * OH * PA * VA * VT * WI * WV * 1864 * CT * IL * IN * LA * MD * MA * MI * MO * NH * VT * WV * 1865 * CT * FL * LA * MA * MN * NJ * OH * SC * VT * WI * 1866 * CT * DE * MA * ME * MI * NC * OR * PA * TX * VT * WV * 1867 * CA * CT * MA * MD * ME * MN * OH * VT * WI * 1868 * AL * CT * FL * IL * IN * LA * MA * ME * MI * MO * NC * NJ * SC * VT * WV * 1869 * CT * IA * MA * ME * MN * MS * OH * PA * VA * VT * WI * 1870 * AL * CT * DE * MA * ME * MI * MO * OR * SC * VT * WV * 1871 * CA * CT * IA * KY * MA * MD * ME * MN * NJ * OH * WI * 1872 * AL * CT * FL * IL * IN * LA * MA * ME * MI * MO * NC * PA * SC * VT * WV * 1873 * CT * IA * MA * ME * MN * MS * OH * VA * WI * 1874 * AL * CT * DE * KS * MA * ME * MI * MO * DE * OR * SC * VT * 1875 * CA * CT * IA * KY * MA * MD * ME * MN * OH * OH * WI * 1876 * AL * CO * CT Apr. * CT Nov. * FL * IL * IN * KS * LA * MA * ME * MI * MO * NC * RI * SC * VT * WV * 1864 elections * 1866 elections * 1868 elections * 1870 elections * 1872 elections * 1874 elections * 1876 elections Key events| | Prelude| * American Indian Wars * Slavery in the United States * A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) * The Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women (1838) * Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1839) * Seneca Falls Convention (1848) * National Women's Rights Convention (1850) * American Civil War * Confiscation Act of 1861 * Confiscation Act of 1862 * District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act (1862) * Militia Act of 1862 | 1863| * Emancipation Proclamation * General Order No. 143 * Lincoln's presidential Reconstruction * Ten Percent Plan * National Bank Act * Women's Loyal National League * New York City draft riots * 1863 State of the Union Address 1864| * Wade–Davis Bill * 1864 elections * 1864 State of the Union Address 1865| * 13th Amendment * Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln * Address * Black Codes * Special Field Orders No. 15 * Freedmen's Bureau * Freedmen's Bureau bills * Confederates surrender at Appomattox * Assassination of Abraham Lincoln * Shaw University * New Departure * 1865 State of the Union Address * Founding of the Ku Klux Klan 1866| * Civil Rights Act of 1866 * Memphis riots of 1866 * New Orleans massacre of 1866 * Swing Around the Circle * Southern Homestead Act of 1866 * Fort Smith Conference and Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty of 1866 * Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty of Washington of 1866 * Tennessee readmitted to Union * Petition for Universal Freedom * National Labor Union * Ex parte Garland * Ex parte Milligan * Slave Kidnapping Act of 1866 * 1866 elections 1867| * Tenure of Office Act * Command of Army Act * Indian Peace Commission * Knights of the White Camelia * Pulaski riot * Reconstruction Acts * Constitutional conventions of 1867 * Habeas Corpus Act 1867 * Peonage Act of 1867 * First impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson * 1867 State of the Union Address 1868| * 14th Amendment * Second impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson * Impeachment of Andrew Johnson * Timeline * Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson * Impeachment managers investigation * Articles of impeachment * Arkansas readmitted to Union * Florida readmitted to Union * North Carolina readmitted to Union * South Carolina readmitted to Union * Louisiana readmitted to Union * Alabama readmitted to Union * Opelousas massacre * Fourth Reconstruction Act * Georgia v. Stanton * 1868 elections * 1868 State of the Union Address 1869| * National Woman Suffrage Association * American Woman Suffrage Association * Alabama Claims * Annexation of Santo Domingo * Board of Indian Commissioners * Public Credit Act of 1869 * Black Friday (1869) * Ex parte McCardle * First transcontinental railroad * 1869 State of the Union Address 1870| * 15th Amendment * Enforcement Act of 1870 * Justice Department * Naturalization Act of 1870 * Kirk-Holden War * Shoffner Act * 1870 elections * 1870 State of the Union Address 1871| * Ku Klux Klan hearings * First Enforcement Act of 1871 * Second Enforcement Act of 1871 * Alcorn State University * Meridian race riot of 1871 * Treaty of Washington * New York custom house ring * Civil service commission * United States expedition to Korea * 1871 State of the Union Address 1872| * General Mining Act of 1872 * Crédit Mobilier Scandal * Modoc War * Star route scandal * Salary Grab Act * Amnesty Act * 1872 elections * 1872 State of the Union Address 1873| * Panic of 1873 * Colfax Massacre * Timber Culture Act * Slaughter-House Cases * Virginius Affair * Coinage Act of 1873 * Long Depression * Comstock laws * 1873 State of the Union Address 1874| * Brooks–Baxter War * Battle of Liberty Place * Coushatta Massacre * Red River War * Timber Culture Act * White League * Election Massacre of 1874 * Vicksburg Riot of 1874 * Black Hills Gold Rush * Sanborn incident * Anti-Moiety Acts * 1874 elections * 1874 State of the Union Address 1875| * United States v. Cruikshank * Civil Rights Act of 1875 * Red Shirts * Mississippi Plan * Clifton Riot of 1875 * Yazoo City Riot of 1875 * Specie Payment Resumption Act * Whiskey Ring * Wheeler Compromise * Delano affair * Pratt & Boyd * 1875 State of the Union Address 1876| * Hamburg Massacre * South Carolina civil disturbances of 1876 * Ellenton massacre * Great Sioux War of 1876 * Battle of the Little Bighorn * United States v. Reese * Trader post scandal * Centennial Exposition * Cattellism * Safe burglary conspiracy * 1876 elections * 1876 State of the Union Address 1877| * Electoral Commission * Compromise of 1877 * Nez Perce War * Desert Land Act * Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Aftermath| * Posse Comitatus Act (1878) * Civil Rights Cases (1883) * United States v. Harris (1883) * Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) * Williams v. Mississippi (1898) * Wilmington insurrection of 1898 * Giles v. Harris (1903) * Disenfranchisement Aspects| | Historiography| * Bibliography of the Reconstruction Era * James Shepherd Pike * The Prostrate State (1874) * James Bryce * The American Commonwealth (1888) * Claude Bowers * The Tragic Era (1929) * Columbia University * John Burgess * Walter Lynwood Fleming * Dunning School * William Archibald Dunning * Charles A. Beard * Howard K. Beale * W. E. B. Du Bois * Black Reconstruction (1935) * C. Vann Woodward * Joel Williamson * William R. Brock * American Crisis (1963) * John Hope Franklin * From Slavery to Freedom (1947) * After Slavery (1965) * Leon Litwack * Been in the Storm So Long (1979) * Eric Foner * Reconstruction (1988) * Kenneth M. Stampp * Steven Hahn * A Nation Under Our Feet (2003) * The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution (2019) | Memory| * Winslow Homer * A Visit from the Old Mistress (1876) * Thomas Dixon, Jr. * The Leopard's Spots (1902) * The Clansman (1905) * D. W. Griffith * The Birth of a Nation (1915) * United Daughters of the Confederacy * Gone with the Wind (1939) * David W. Blight * Race and Reunion (2001) Legacy| * Women's suffrage in the United States * Labor history of the United States * Gilded Age * Jim Crow era * Civil rights movement * American frontier Other topics| * History of the United States (1865–1918) * African American founding fathers of the United States * Industrialization * Suffrage * Habeas corpus * Race (human categorization) * White supremacy * Paramilitary * Forty acres and a mule * Reconstruction Treaties * Whitecapping * Category * v * t * e Grover Cleveland * 22nd and 24th President of the United States (1885–1889, 1893–1897) * 28th Governor of New York (1883–1885) Life| * Grover Cleveland Birthplace * New York Institute for Special Education * 1881 Buffalo mayoral election * 1882 New York state election * Mugwumps * Westland Mansion Presidencies| * 1884 presidential election * Campaign * Democratic National Convention * First inauguration * Wedding to Frances Folsom * Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 * Interstate Commerce Commission * Tenure of Office Act * Dependent and Disability Pension Act * Texas Seed Bill * Berlin Conference * Scott Act * Dawes Act * Federal judges appointed * 1888 presidential election * Campaign * Democratic National Convention * Murchison letter * Gray Gables * 1892 presidential election * Campaign * Democratic National Convention * Second inauguration * Panic of 1893 * Sherman Silver Purchase Act * Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act * Coxey's Army * Pullman Strike * Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom * Venezuelan crisis of 1895 * Enabling Act of 1889 * National Democratic Party Public image| * Cleveland Park * Grover Cleveland High School * Buffalo, New York * Los Angeles * Queens * Cleveland, Mississippi * Mount Cleveland (Alaska) Family| * Frances Cleveland (wife) * Ruth Cleveland (daughter) * Esther Cleveland (daughter) * Richard F. Cleveland (son) * Francis Cleveland (son) * Philippa Foot (granddaughter) * Richard Falley Cleveland (father) * Rose Cleveland (sister) * Richard Falley Jr. (great-grandfather) * ← Chester A. Arthur * ←Benjamin Harrison→ * William McKinley → * Category *[v]: View this template *[t]: Discuss this template *[e]: Edit this template