JOHNSON AND CONGRESS.
577. Strained Relations of President and Congress.—While these conditions greatly agitated society throughout the South, the relations of the President and Congress were becoming more and more strained. Many acts were passed over the executive veto.[[265]] The President kept up the irritation by freely and offensively accusing the members of keeping Southern representatives out of Congress in order that they might pass measures over his veto. His arguments were often powerful, but his lack of tact prevented him from winning men to his views. Matters were brought to a crisis by the passage of the “Tenure of Office Act” in the early part of 1867.
Horatio Seymour.
578. The Tenure of Office Act.—Under the Constitution the President makes appointments with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Constitution is silent in regard to the power of removals; but in 1789 it was decided that removals did not require the approval of the Senate, but could be made solely at the discretion of the President. This was the rule until March, 1867, when Congress passed over the President’s veto the “Tenure of Office Act,” which provided in substance that no person whose appointment required the approval of the Senate could be dismissed without the same approval. In August, 1867, Johnson requested the resignation of the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, who was in sympathy with Congress rather than with the President. Stanton refused to resign and was suspended, General Grant taking his place. When Congress met the suspension was not ratified, and Grant resigned and Stanton resumed the duties of Secretary. Johnson, who regarded the Tenure of Office Act as unconstitutional, then removed him. Stanton, when the Senate had pronounced the removal illegal, refused to give up his office and appealed to the House of Representatives.
579. Impeachment of the President.—The House, in which a similar attempt had already failed, at once resolved to impeach the President, by accusing him of having violated the laws and of being unfit to hold his office. According to the Constitution, when such a vote takes place, a trial must be held before the Senate as judges. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is to preside, and, in order to remove the President, two-thirds of the Senators present must vote that he is guilty of the crimes or misdemeanors charged against him. Johnson’s trial, which began on March 5, 1868, was conducted with great ability on both sides, by several of the ablest lawyers in the country. In the test vote, taken on May 16, thirty-five senators pronounced him guilty, and nineteen not guilty, five Republicans not voting with their party. As the number thirty-five was less than the requisite two-thirds, the vote was legally an acquittal of the President, and Secretary Stanton resigned.[[266]] While the trial was in progress, Johnson made his famous “Swinging round the Circle” tour in the Northwest and delivered extreme speeches against Congress.
580. Election of General Grant.—The Presidential election of 1868 turned upon the policy of the government in regard to reconstruction. The Republican party, generally supporting the policy of Congress, nominated with enthusiasm and unanimity, General Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana. The Democrats, opposing that policy, put in the field Horatio Seymour[[267]] of New York and Frank P. Blair of Missouri. The election resulted in two hundred and fourteen electoral votes for the Republican candidates, and eighty for the Democratic. Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia, not having been readmitted, could not vote.
References.—Wilson, Division and Reunion, 254-300; Dunning, Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction; Johnson, American Politics, 207-279; Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress; Landon, Constitutional History; Gorham, Life of E. M. Stanton; Schouler, United States, Vol. VI.; McCall, Thaddeus Stevens; Storey, Charles Sumner; Hart, Salmon P. Chase (in “American Statesmen” series); J. W. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution (1902). See also a series of articles in the Atlantic Monthly for 1901, and W. P. Trent, “A New South View of Reconstruction,” in the Sewanee Review, January, 1901; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 25.
On the condition of affairs in the South, from the Northern point of view, see Tourgee’s Fool’s Errand, and also his Bricks without Straw. For a discriminating Southern view, see Thomas Nelson Page’s Red Rock.