Tenure Of Office Act Pros And Cons

XI. Johnson’s defense
A. Benjamin R. Curtis, put a large emphasis on how the Tenure of Office Act states that members of the cabinet “shall hold their offices respectively for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed.”
1. Curtis then argued that Johnson did not violate the act because Lincoln never reappointed Stanton as Secretary of War during his second term.
B. Johnson was on trial for high crimes and misdemeanours.
1. Curtis wanted to argue that Johnson did not commit a crime.
a. In his speech, Curtis claimed that “’High crimes and misdemeanors’ against what law? There can be no crime, there can be no misdemeanor without a law, written or unwritten express or implied. There must be some law; otherwise

Closing arguments began on April 22.
1. William M. Evarts delivered a closing argument that continued to claim that the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional.
a. In his speech, Evarts said that “Congress passed a law, for the first time in the history of the Government, undertaking to control by law this matter of removal from office; and they provided that if the President should violate it, it should be a misdemeanor.”
2. He strongly believed that Johnson did not commit a crime.
a. Evarts went on to say “He undertook to make an ad interim Secretary of War, and you are to have made for you an ad interim President in consequence!”
3. Evarts goal was to get Republicans to question if impeachment was the right course of action.
a. He went on to point out that “President Lincoln suspended the habeas corpus, violating the law, violating the Constitution. Should he have been impeached?”
b. His speech was moving and even played a role in swaying the minds of Republicans.
XV. The fears of moderate Republicans
A. Several moderate Republicans feared what destruction impeachment could do to the political system.
1. Moderates in the Senate began to worry that, if removed from office, Johnson’s successor, Benjamin Wade, would be worse than

Harper’s Weekly wrote, “If, as General Butler says, the Tenure bill was leveled at Andrew Johnson alone, and was passed upon no general considerations whatever, then it ought to be repealed.”
2. The act that led to Johnson’s trial would be repealed in 1887 when President Grover Cleveland—during his first term in office—challenged the constitutionality of the act.
a. Eventually, in 1926, an act similar to the Tenure of Office Act was passed, but the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional.
C. Should Johnson be impeached?
1. Even if Johnson were to be impeached, then “conviction would have upset completely the balance of our tripartite Government, making the Executive subservient to the Legislative Body.”
a. If such an act was passed today by Congress, then it would ultimately disrupt the notion of the separation of powers between the three branches, which would make such a law unconstitutional.
XIX. Conclusion
A. The justification of his impeachment trial will be continuously debated by historians and political theorist as time moves on.
1. Johnson will always live in the shadows of Abraham Lincoln and will forever be remembered as the president who was impeached and “no impeached president can escape criticism, regardless of the validity of the underlying