Details
JOHNSON, Andrew. Letter signed ("Andrew Johnson") as President, TO LT. GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT, Washington, D.C., 12 February 1868. 1¼ pages, 4to (approximately 9¾ x 8 in.), Executive Mansion stationery, repair to horizontal fold, in a giltwood frame, unexamined out of frame.
AN EMBATTLED PRESIDENT ENDEAVORS TO EXERT HIS POWERS AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
A letter written to Grant only twelve days before Johnson was impeached, which graphically portrays the restrictions that the Radical Republicans had placed upon the President when adopting Congressional Reconstruction. Johnson had continued Lincoln's policy for reconstructing the South, considered by many Republicans to be too lenient. When Johnson pardoned ex-Confederate officials and generals liberally and allowed southern states to apply for reentrance into the Union with no guarantees for the rights of African-Americans, Congress assumed authority over Reconstruction by limiting the President's powers. On March 2, 1867, in addition to other restrictions, Congress prohibited the President from issuing military orders unless they were passed through the Commander of the Army.
Congress passed a series of Reconstruction Acts in 1867 which divided the South into five military districts under the authority of army commanders. Here, Johnson attempts to exert some control over army organization: "You will please issue an order creating a Military Division to be called the Military Division of the Atlantic, to be composed of the Department of the Lakes, the Department of the East, and the Department of Washington, and to be commanded by Lieutenant General William T. Sherman with his headquarters at Washington. Until further orders from the President, you will assign no officers to the permanent command of the Military Division of the Missouri."
The hostile congress also passed the Tenure of Office Act which prohibited the President from removing officials who had been appointed with the consent of the Senate without first obtaining Senate approval. Radical Republicans hoped to prevent Johnson from removing any of their allies from office, including cabinet members. Johnson had long been at odds with the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, and when he removed him from his post, in the same month as this letter was written, the House voted, on February 24, to impeach the President for violation of the Act. On May 16, the Senate failed to convict Johnson by only a single vote.
AN EMBATTLED PRESIDENT ENDEAVORS TO EXERT HIS POWERS AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
A letter written to Grant only twelve days before Johnson was impeached, which graphically portrays the restrictions that the Radical Republicans had placed upon the President when adopting Congressional Reconstruction. Johnson had continued Lincoln's policy for reconstructing the South, considered by many Republicans to be too lenient. When Johnson pardoned ex-Confederate officials and generals liberally and allowed southern states to apply for reentrance into the Union with no guarantees for the rights of African-Americans, Congress assumed authority over Reconstruction by limiting the President's powers. On March 2, 1867, in addition to other restrictions, Congress prohibited the President from issuing military orders unless they were passed through the Commander of the Army.
Congress passed a series of Reconstruction Acts in 1867 which divided the South into five military districts under the authority of army commanders. Here, Johnson attempts to exert some control over army organization: "You will please issue an order creating a Military Division to be called the Military Division of the Atlantic, to be composed of the Department of the Lakes, the Department of the East, and the Department of Washington, and to be commanded by Lieutenant General William T. Sherman with his headquarters at Washington. Until further orders from the President, you will assign no officers to the permanent command of the Military Division of the Missouri."
The hostile congress also passed the Tenure of Office Act which prohibited the President from removing officials who had been appointed with the consent of the Senate without first obtaining Senate approval. Radical Republicans hoped to prevent Johnson from removing any of their allies from office, including cabinet members. Johnson had long been at odds with the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, and when he removed him from his post, in the same month as this letter was written, the House voted, on February 24, to impeach the President for violation of the Act. On May 16, the Senate failed to convict Johnson by only a single vote.