• Reconstruction
•AIM:
• Why was
President
Johnson
Impeached?
Cabinet
Am I the only one
ever??
Not so fast Andrew!! They tried to get me for perjury!!
April 8, 1868
I. Johnson Vs. Congress
• President Johnson continues to
veto laws/acts/programs sent
from the Radical Republicans.
• Those programs/laws helped
freedmen and angered the South
• Many Republicans seek to Impeach
Johnson. Johnson is delaying
Republican Reconstruction with his
veto pen
• Johnson wishes to Fire
Secretary of War Edwin
Stanton.
• Stanton is a Radical
Republican and hates
Johnson.
Stanton
• Congress passes a law making it
illegal for a President to fire a
cabinet member without
Congressional approval.
• The Tenure of Office Act.
• Johnson fires Stanton
Tenure of Office Act - Tenure of Office Act, in U.S. history, measure
passed on Mar. 2, 1867, by Congress over the veto of President
Andrew Johnson; it forbade the President to remove any federal
officeholder appointed by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate without the further approval of the Senate. With this measure
the radical Republicans in Congress hoped to assure the continuance in
office of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and thus prevent any
interference with the military occupation of the South in their
Reconstruction plan. In order to bring about a court test of the
constitutionality of the act, Johnson dismissed Stanton, but the
Supreme Court, intimidated by the radicals, refused to pass on the
case. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, whom Johnson appointed Secretary ad
interim, turned the office back to Stanton when the Senate refused to
approve his dismissal. Johnson then appointed Gen. Lorenzo Thomas
Secretary of War, but Stanton, barricading himself in the department,
refused to yield. Johnson's alleged violation of the Tenure of Office
Act was the principal charge in the impeachment proceedings against
him. When this move failed (May, 1868), Stanton finally gave up. The
act, considerably modified in Grant's administration, was in large part
repealed in 1887, and in 1926 the Supreme Court declared its
principles unconstitutional.
II. Impeachment
• President Johnson is
charged with high crimes
and misdemeanors for his
firing of Stanton.
• His trial begins on April
6th 1868.
• Johnson wins by one vote!!
April 8, 1868
April 11, 1868
Nay!
John F. Kennedy, who wrote in Profiles in Courage
(1956) that Edmund Ross' "heroic" vote "may well have
preserved ... Constitutional government in the United
States."
Ross wasted no time exploiting Johnson's debt to him.
On June 6, he wrote to Johnson to have him install one of
his cronies as Southern superintendent of Indian affairs,
and Johnson agreed to oust his own friend in order to
comply. Sensing opportunity, Ross kept upping the ante,
like a Mafia henchman running a protection racket.
("Nice little presidency ya got here--hate to see anything
happen to it.") On June 23, he wrote to Johnson to secure
a position for Perry Fuller, his 1867 election sponsor. On
July 1, he asked Johnson to make his brother a federal
mail agent. On July 10, he pressed the president for jobs
for three more friends, invoking his impeachment vote,
just in case Johnson had forgotten.
SUMMARY
The dispute: Both Presidents Lincoln and Johnson
favored a lenient approach to reconstruction. It was their
belief that the nation could be best served by leaving the
brutality of the Civil War behind quickly. Radical
Republicans, led by Thadeaus Stevens, argued that the
South should be punished for starting the Civil War.
Eventually, the dispute would lead to an attempt to
impeach and remove President Johnson. Although the
official reason for the impeachment of Johnson was his
violation of the Tenure of Office Act, the underlying
reason was Congress' disagreement with Johnson over
Reconstruction. Although Johnson was impeached by the
House, the Senate fell just short of convicting and
removing him.
October 14, 1865
March 10,
1866
April 18,
1866
March 28, 1868
April 4, 1868
April 18, 1868