had been sworn in as president after the assassination of
Lincoln in April 1865. He was in favor of a very lenient
reconstruction policy in South following the Civil War, which
won him many enemies in the Republican dominated Senate. stood
accused of violating the controversial Tenure of Office Act
which had been passed by the Senate to curb Jackson's powers to
remove cabinet members appointed the fall of 1867, Johnson
attempted to test the constitutionality of the act by replacing
Edwin M. Stanton with General Ulysses S. Grant as secretary of
war. The Supreme Court refused to rule on the case, however, and
Grant turned the office back to Stanton after the Senate passed
a measure in protest of his appointment. February 21, 1868,
Johnson decided to challenge the Senate: he appointed General
Lorenzo Thomas, an individual far less favorable to the Congress
than Grant, as secretary of war. Stanton refused to give up his
post, he barricaded himself into his office. The House of
Representatives, which had already d