The Tenture of Office Act said that a president had to get permission to remove anyone appointed by a past president.
The Tenure of Office Act was a United States federal law which entered into force in 1867 until 1887 that was introduced in order to restrict the power of the President of the United States to remove certain office-holders without the approval of the Senate.
It was intended to deny the president the power to remove any executive officer who had been appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate, unless the Senate approved the removal during the next full session of Congres.