The Checks and Balances Question

Andrew Jackson flouted Congress and suffered the consequences.

Photo: Official portrait of Jackson’s impeachment

Imagine a President who is not listening to Congress. He is quite certain that he has an absolute right to do what he wants and does not need permission. A Republican-led House of Representatives feels different than he does. A showdown is set up and American history is about to be made.

No, this is not about Donald J. Trump. Rather the standard-bearer when it comes to impeachment, President Andrew Jackson. He was so convinced that he could hire and fire anyone in his cabinet that he flouted a law congress created to protect someone they put on the inside. And he won.

The Act That Started It All

After President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Jackson ascended to the Presidency. This excited the south, which had segregated during the Civil War. Since Jackson was one of their own, they figured he would give them more help when it came to reconstruction.

After hearing rumors that Jackson wanted to remove Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War, Congress passed a law known as the Tenure of Office Act in March of 1867. Jackson vetoed the law and Congress overrode the veto to make it official law.

The law made it illegal for the President to remove certain cabinet members, specifically this who had been confirmed by the Senate, from office without permission from Congress. Jackson felt this was unconstitutional and decided he was not going to follow the law.

With Congress on break in August of 1867, Jackson sacked his Secretary of War. He then appointed Ulysses S. Grant as the interim Secretary of War. Congressional leaders were outraged at the flagrant abuse of power. Something had to be done about this and they knew just what to do.

The Precedent President

When Congress reconvened, they were still stewing about Jackson’s failure to adhere to the law. On January 4, 1868, they failed to ratify the firing of Stanton. However, their own wording of the law may have empowered Jackson. Under that law, a holdover was only given one month under a new President. Since Stanton was appointed by Lincoln, Jackson believed he had every right to remove him.

What happened next was a fast-moving train that nearly brought down a Presidency and caused a constitutional crisis. Stanton barricaded himself within his office and refused to be removed. Congress issues Articles of Impeachment against Jackson, and Jackson challenged the law in the Supreme Court.

The official Impeachment happened on February 24. The trial to remove Jackson started on March 13, 1868. It was a partisan affair, with both sides shouting the other down.

The Supreme Court decided not to hear the case as the trial was happening. Many historians believe it was because Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase was presiding over the impeachment trial.

At the end of the three-month trial, Jackson was acquitted. The vote was along party lines, 35–19. Jackson was spared removal by one vote.

There was still the question of the legality of the law.

SCOTUS Answers

After 20 years and many contentious fights between Presidents and Congress. In 1887, the Supreme Court heard a case that was similar to Jackson’s.

With that case and another in 1926, the Supreme Court said a President has the authority to fire cabinet members at their will. In the Majority opinion for the 1927 case, the court said “…that The Tenure of Office of 1867 was unconstitutional.”

As of October 2019, only two Presidents have been impeached, Jackson and President Bill Clinton. Neither were removed from office.