There is no question now in any calm and impartial mind that the Senate acted most inconsiderately, not to say wrongfully, in passing that
Criticism of the
Senate resolution.
It is also a question whether General Grant did not act hastily, and inconsiderately, not to say wrongfully, in yielding the post without
Criticism
of General
Grant's act.
There is little doubt that General Grant thought the Senate would acquiesce in Stanton's suspension, and was taken by surprise when it did not do so, and that until the action of the Senate on the 13th, he had never seriously considered that any opportunity or necessity for a judicial proceeding would arise. When, then, the alternative was suddenly presented to him of obeying the Tenure-of-Office Act, or disputing its constitutionality by forcibly holding possession of the War Office, he decided that it would be wrong for the General of the army to assume the attitude of defiance to Congress, whatever a civilian might consider his duty to be. He thought that such an act on his part would look like a contest between the civil and military powers of the Government, and he was unwilling to provoke it.
The President blundered very seriously when he did not accept the explanation from General Grant and drop the matter. The General was
The President's
blunder in his
attitude toward
Grant.
The outcome of this whole course of crimination and recrimination was that the country came to the belief that the President first tried to
The result of the
controversy between
the President and
General Grant.