The 17th President of the United States, Andrew Johnson. Source: www.periodicpresidents.com
Overview
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina. Born in a home near East Morgan and Fayetteville Streets, Johnson left his family in poverty after serving as a tailor’s apprentice before moving to Greenville, Tennessee, with his mother.
After serving as Mayor of Greenville for three years, Johnson was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, served as a Tennessee State Senator and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After serving as Tennessee’s Governor, Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate. Johnson served as Vice President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln before assuming the president after the former’s assassination.
Early Life
Johnson was born to Jacob, a constable, and Polly, a laundress in Raleigh, in December in 1808. Johnson had an older brother, William, and an older sister, Elizabeth. Elizabeth died during Johnson’s childhood. Johnson’s father also died when Johnson was a small child after suffering a heart attack after rescuing three drowning men.
Andrew Johnson’s early home in Raleigh, N.C. Photo Source: Wikipedia
Polly, who served as a washerwoman, supported the family, while Johnson served as a tailor’s apprentice. Johnson served as an apprentice for five years before running away from Raleigh with his brother. After stops in Carthage, N.C. and Laurens, S.C., Johnson returned to Raleigh but was unable to come to terms with the tailor to buy out his apprenticeship.
Johnson and his family moved west to Tennessee so Johnson would not run the risk of being arrested for failing to fulfill his apprenticeship duties. During this time, Johnson had little formal education, learning some basic learning skills from the tailor shop’s employees and patrons. Johnson was later educated by his wife, Eliza, whom he married in 1827.
Early Political Career
After his marriage, Johnson held many political positions, serving as an alderman, a mayor, a state representative, a state senator, a U.S. Representative, governor of Tennessee and a U.S. Senator. After being elected mayor of Greenville, Tenn., Johnson spent most of the 1830-40s in the state legislature.
Statue of former President Andrew Jackson in Greenville, Tenn. Source: www.WataugaLakeMagazine.com
Johnson helped to introduce the Homestead Acts during his tenure in the state legislature. In 1853, he left his position in Congress to become the governor of Tennessee. Four years later, he joined the U.S. Senate. Despite his southern ties, Johnson believed that as tensions arose with the North shortly before the Civil War began, the South should not succeed from the Union, but called for preservation.
Johnson was the lone Senator from the South to remain loyal to the Union after Tennessee seceded in 1861.
Vice Presidency
Johnson’s tenure as Vice President lasted just over a month after Lincoln and Johnson were elected to office for Lincoln’s second term as President of the United States. Despite being a Southerner, Johnson was seen as a good fit for Lincoln’s ticket because of his loyalty to the Union during the Civil War.
A campaign poster from 1864 featuring President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson. Source: Library of Congress
Johnson was sworn in on March 4, 1865, but John Wilkes Booth shot LIncoln on April 14 in Ford’s Theater.
Lincoln died the next day and Johnson was sworn in later that afternoon as the 17th President of the United States. Booth’s original plot called for Lincoln, Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward to be assassinated all on the same night, but Johnson’s assassin did not fulfill his duty and Seward survived his assassination attempt.
Presidency
Johnson took his oath of office at the Kirkwood Hotel in Washington, D.C. just two blocks from Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated, in the presence of cabinet members and several Senate and House members. He asked all cabinet members to remain in their positions.
Earlier in the day of he shooting, Booth had left a note for Johnson at his hotel prompting many to believe that Johnson himself was a conspirator in the assassination. The conspiracy has never been verified.
Johnson’s presidency, which began dramatically, was a tumultuous one. Although he was a Democrat, Johnson remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, but as president and facing the task of reconstruction, he favored a conservative approach. Against the ideas of Lincoln’s previous stances and the Republicans, Johnson felt the states should decide what was best for them, and that the fate of the former slaves should be left to the states.
He prosecuted very few former confederates and by the end of his presidency would even provide amnesty for former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis. In addition, Davis did not oppose Black Codes in southern states, which create a continuation of conditions similar to slavery for African-Americans.
His stances often put him at odds with Congress, which overruled his vetoes many times. This included notable acts and bills, such as:
· Freedman’s Bureau Bill
· Civil Rights Act of 1866
· The 14th Amendment
· Nebraska Statehood Bill
· Arkansas Statehood Bill
· Tenure of Office Act
His veto of the Civil Rights Act is seen as the largest mistake of his presidency. And it was the Tenure of Office Act that led to his impeachment trials.
Impeachment
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who had continued to serve for Johnson after Lincoln, was vehemently opposed to Johnson’s leniency towards the southern states, and he sought to create disaccord from within the administration.
After suspending Stanton in 1867, Johnson fired him the next year, but Stanton refused to leave office citing the Tenure of Office Act. Congress agreed with Stanton. In 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson with a vote of 128-47 for violating the Tenure of Office Act.
An illustration of Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial was published in Harper's Weekly in April 1968. Source: Wikipedia
In the Senate trial that followed, Johnson missed impeachment by a single vote as the Senate failed to get the two-thirds votes necessary. Allegations of bribery began nearly immediately.
The House vote made Johnson the first president to be impeached in U.S. History. Although he tried to win the Democratic nomination for the following presidential election, he received only four votes, all from Tennessee, his home state. Johnson refused to attend the inauguration of the 18th President, Ulysses Grant, who had filled in for Stanton following his eventual resignation.
Senate Campaign and Death
Johnson returned to Tennessee following his presidency, but soon sought the nomination for Senator. After an unsuccessful attempt, he eventually was elected as Senator in January 1875, in what was seen as a major political comeback following his failed presidency. His victory was short lived; Johnson died of a stroke just five months later in July 1875.
President Andrew Johnson's portrait at the end of his term. Source: Library of Congress
