Tenure of Office Act
Tenure of Office Act (1867).This statute resulted from a fear on the part of congressional Republicans that President Andrew Johnson, in the course of a bitter dispute over Reconstruction policy, would make sweeping removals of federal officeholders and replace them with Democrats. The law sought to protect officials appointed with Senate consent “until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified.” Cabinet officers were to remain in place “for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter.”
The latter provision appeared to protect Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who had allied himself with the congressional position on Reconstruction. Since the U.S. Army was the chief enforcement agency for federal policy in the South, control of the army, through the...
[The entire page is 348 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
