<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Tenure of Office Act was a United States federal law (in force from 1867 to 1887) that was intended to restrict the power of the President of the United States to remove certain office - holders without the approval of the Senate . The law was enacted on March 3, 1867, over the veto of President Andrew Johnson . It purported to deny the president the power to remove any executive officer who had been appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless the Senate approved the removal during the next full session of Congress . The act was significantly amended on April 5, 1869 . Congress repealed the act in its entirety in 1887 . </P> <P> In the post-Civil War political environment, President Andrew Johnson endorsed the quick re-admission of the Southern secessionist states . The two - thirds Republican majorities of both houses of Congress, however, passed laws over Johnson's vetoes, establishing a series of five military districts overseeing newly created state governments . This "Congressional Reconstruction" was designed to create local civil rights laws to protect newly freed slaves; to protect and patrol the area; to ensure the secessionist states would show some good faith before being readmitted; to ensure Republican control of the states; and, arguably, to inflict some punishment on the secessionists . States would be readmitted gradually . </P>

When was the tenure of office act passed