Action in the Disorganized States

An act was now passed for the purpose of limiting the authority of the President in making official appointments and removals from office. Among other provisions of the act was one that took from him the power to remove a member of his cabinet without permission of the Senate; declaring that they should hold office "for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the consent of the Senate." This law, known as the "Tenure of Office Act," was vetoed by the President, when it was passed over his negative by a large majority. Another bill was passed and vetoed and was made a law notwithstanding, repealing so much of an act passed in July, 1862, as gave the President power to grant amnesty and pardon to those who had been engaged in rebellion. A bill was also passed, with the same opposition of the President, for the military government of the disorganized States, which were divided into five military districts, Virginia comprising the first; North and South Carolina, the second; Georgia, Florida and Alabama, the third; Mississippi and Arkansas, the fourth; and Louisiana and Texas, the fifth.

The Thirty-ninth Congress closed its sessions at mid-day, on the 4th of March, 1867, and twelve hours afterward the first session of the Fortieth Congress was begun. The country was greatly disquieted by the factious conduct of the President, which created painful forebodings of evil should that obstinate and angry man be left without restraint from March until December. The majority in Congress shared in this feeling, believing that the President was ready, if he should deem it expedient, to plunge the country into a revolution, and attempt, by a reactionary movement, to undo all that the war for the Union had done for the preservation of the Republic. For that reason, provision had been made by the Thirty-ninth Congress for the immediate assembling of the Fortieth on the expiration of its predecessor. That first session continued until the 30th of March, when, with the same lack of confidence in the patriotism of Johnson, both Houses adjourned to meet on the 3d of July following.

Among the acts of the expiring Congress was one for the establishment of a National Bureau of Education, which has become a most valuable auxiliary in the work of popular instruction. Also an act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States; and another for the abolition of peonage--a system of slavery--in the Territory of New Mexico and other parts of the United States wherever it might exist.

Congress reassembled on the 3d of July, and adjourned on the 20th to the 21st of November. The principal business of this short session was to remove impediments which President Johnson had cast in the way of the reorganization of the Union. A bill supplementary to the act of March, for the military government of the disorganized States, became a law, notwithstanding it was vetoed by the President; and it was hoped and believed that Johnson would refrain from further acts that were calculated to disturb the public peace and impede the prosperity of the country. This expectation was not realized. When the members of Congress had returned to their homes, the President proceeded, in defiance of the acts of that body, and in positive violation of the Tenure of Office Act, to remove the Secretary of War (Mr. Stanton), and put General Grant in his place. On the 5th of August (1867) the President sent a note to Mr. Stanton, in which he said: "Grave public considerations constrain me to request your resignation as Secretary of War." Mr. Stanton, sharing in the general suspicion that the President contemplated reactionary measures in the absence of Congress in favor of the defeated enemies of the Republic, and was seeking a means for using the army for that purpose, immediately replied: "Grave public considerations constrain me to remain in the office of Secretary of War until the next meeting of Congress."