The first Tenure of Office Act, passed May 15, 1820 in the United States, purported to be "An Act to limit the term of office of certain officers therein named, and for other purposes"
Overview
The act imposed tenure limits on officeholders, and insured their removal under certain conditions. Authored by William H. Crawford (Secretary of the Treasury) and introduced into the Senate by Mahlon Dickerson of New Jersey, this law is also known as the “Four Years' Law.” Congress asserted a right to remove officers, ostensibly to create a blank slate for incoming presidents as well as to weed out poor performers. The law intervened into executive authority by replacing the previous powers granted to it; previously the president determined tenures for public officers like district attorneys, naval officers, and tax collectors .
President James Madison argued that the Four Years' Law of 1820 was unconstitutional because the four-year limit was arbitrary and thus a precedent was set in which Congress could limit office tenure to as short as a day. Though a loss of executive power was feared, these limited terms frequently served to benefit the presidency. President Andrew Jackson enforced this law believing a system of rotation in office was a democratic reform and would make civil service responsible to the popular will. Efforts to challenge this law took place during Jackson's presidency starting in 1830. When the Senate considered a bill to repeal the Four Years' Law on February 13, 1835, Senator Samuel Southard argued that by allowing the president to renominate officers for another term once their current one ended, the act encouraged corruption. He stated:
Due to Congress' lack of public comment regarding the matter, the eventual results of these debates were never disclosed. The law was eventually superseded by the 1867 act of the same name.