# Edwin Stanton Edwin M. Stanton (1814–1869) was [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s Secretary of War through most of the Civil War and remained in the post under [[Andrew Johnson]], where he became the Radical Republicans' key ally inside the Cabinet. Johnson's attempt to fire him in defiance of the **Tenure of Office Act** — a law Congress passed specifically to protect him — triggered Johnson's 1868 impeachment. Stanton is the pivot of the impeachment crisis and the Reconstruction-era struggle over control of the executive branch. > Status: **stub** — expand Stanton's Civil War tenure, the Tenure of Office Act standoff, and his role in the Johnson impeachment. ## See Also - [[Andrew Johnson]] - [[Abraham Lincoln]] - [[Reconstruction and Its Overthrow]]