1868 Andrew Johnson - Tenure of Office Act

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed' -- Not in 1867

After the death of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, a southern Democrat becomes the first president to be impeached. Congress passes several bills to enforce reconstruction and civil rights in the South, but Andrew Johnson did not see it that way. He saw it as a direct infringement on his constitutional duty as commander in chief, and the second amendment. The final blow was when congress enacted the 'Tenure of Office Act', which restricted the president from removing certain officers without the approval of congress.

In his fourth and final address to congress, Andrew Johnson explained ...

"The act of March 2, 1867, making appropriations for the support of the Army for the year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes, contains provisions which interfere with the President's constitutional functions as Commander in Chief of the Army and deny to States of the Union the right to protect themselves by means of their own militia. These provisions should be at once annulled; for while the first might, in times of great emergency, seriously embarrass the Executive in efforts to employ and direct the common strength of the nation for its protection and preservation, the other is contrary to the express declaration of the Constitution that 'a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'"

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29509
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/andrew-johnson/veto-for-the-first-reconstruction-act-march-2-1867.php

note: Here is a facebook post from Tara Ross that covers the impeachment trial and actions leading up to the Tenure of Office Act.

https://www.facebook.com/TaraRoss.1787/posts/2570870746347849?__tn__=K-R

Was Andrew Johnson a racist?

Was Andrew Johnson still harboring malice towards the Union? Was Andrew Johnson a racist? Southern states like Mississippi were quickly passing 'Black Code' laws that in essence put blacks back into slavery. Organizations like the KKK were arming themselves and forming militias to enforce the 'Black Code' laws. This is how the congress saw it.

Andrew Johnson described it differently: "It is plain that the authority here given to the military officer amounts to absolute despotism...The bill places all the people of the ten States therein named under the absolute domination of military rulers."

This was in direct contradiction to what the government promised at the onset of the civil war. Andrew Johnson continued: "It is a part of our public history which can never be forgotten that both Houses of Congress, in July, 1861, declared in the form of a solemn resolution that the war was and should be carried on for no purpose of subjugation, but solely to enforce the Constitution and laws, and that when this was yielded by the parties in rebellion the contest should cease, with the constitutional rights of the States and of individuals unimpaired."

Nevertheless on February 24, 1868, the US House of Representatives voted on the articles of impeachment, and convicted Andrew Johnson of 'high crimes and misdemeanors'. He escaped being removed from office by one vote in the senate.