, 1875-08-01
ANDREW JOHNSON DEAD.

ANDREW JOHNSON DEAD.
E1-President ANDREW JOHNSON died yester-
day in Tennessee, from the effect of q paraly-
sis with which be had been stricken on Fri
day. He was born Dec. 90, 1908, and was IN
the GSth year of his age. His public record
is a remarkable one. At 10 years Of age he
was apprenticed to tailor, and worked at
that business in Raleigh, N. c., until be was
18,-teaching himself to read- With his
widowed mother, he moved to Greenville, in
East Tennessee, where he worked at his trade
and married. At 20 years he was elected an
Alderman Of the town was Mayor from %
to o6; member Of the Legislature from 27
to 81 oanvassed the State as Presidential
E1ector at So elected to State Senate at 33 !;
to Congress at s. and, during ten years
continuous service, took an important and
conspicuous part in legislation served four
yea1s (nntil 1850 rs Governor Of Tennessee !;
WIS then elected United States Senator for SIX
years; arrayed himself on the side of the
Union and against Rebellion; was appointed
Military Governor Of Tennessee from 1869 to
1865; Was elected Vice-President November,
1864; inaugurated March /, 1865 succeeded
as President Of the United States April Is in
the same year; retired March 4. 1863; and IN
February, 1875, was elected United States
Senator, taking his seat on the 18th of March
From his election as Village Aldermen IN
1920 to the time Of his death he was con-
tinuously in elective Office, except during the
time he served as Military Governor, and the
sir years following the expiration Of his
term rs President.
ANDREW Jo1fsoN was no ordinary man.
Indeed, he was an extraordinary character.
His SUCCESS was due to no advantages OF
wealth, family, or education. He was
poor at the outset, and remained COM
paratively poor to the end. He was thrifty
and sparing in his expenditures. He was
O man Of great natural abilities, which made
themselves conspicuous despite his illiteracy
and want Of education; they enabled him to
surmount obstacles that were fatal to others
He enjoyed the personal confidence Of his
immediate neighbors, and Of the people Of
his State, and that confidence had even q
wider constituency among the American peo-
pie.
There was one particular in his character
TINT should never be forgotten, and which
should serve as IN incentive to all classes,
and especially to men holding public station,
and that was his in1euble personal honesty.
No suspicion Of any official turpitude ever
existed of ANDREW JoHssoN and it Was to
the public faith in his integrity that he owed
the victories which he gained in his contests
in his own State.
ANDREW JoH1soS's public career, of course,
reached its zenith in the Presidency. The
extraordinary events Of his Presidency are
fresh in the memory Of the public. He sue
ceeded Mr.. LINCOLN under the awful and un-
precedented circumstances of assassination
He succeeded at the close Of a long bloody
civil war, when the Government had to deal
with even the more difficult question Of the
reconstruction of twelve millions Of people,
four millions Of whom had been elevated
from the personal condition of slavery to that
of freedom and political citizenship. Be-
tween the two races, the line which separated
the superior from the inferior had been
broad and impossible for century; it
had been intensified by the comparative igno-
rance of the one race and the cultivation Of
the other !; and the problem which met the
Administration Of JOHNSON was how to create,
upon an enduring basis, Governments for
these people in which there should be no dis
tinctions of race or color, and where the
master and slave were to be on a common
level of right, of freedom, and political
equality.
One Of the peculiar traits OF ANDREW
JoHNsoNs character was inordinate egotism,-
his complete confidence in himself and in
the unbending pertinacity or obstinacy with
which he adhered to his own ignorant con-
victionA Before the meeting Of Congreas he
had marked out his "polcy Of negro serf-
dom, and sought to 30 commit the Govern
ment thereto that Congress would have to
acquiesce. But Congress refused, and
for three years there was constant
and bitter struggle between the Executive
and Legislative Departments The President
vetoed all the measures of Reconstruction,
and, SO far as he was able, used his authority
to nullify aud defeat them Congress, On the
other hand, resorted to legislation having for
its practical effect to deprive the President Of
the power to remove and appoint the civil
officers of the Government, including even
the members Of his OVID Cabinet The Pres
ident Was not amiable under the controversy.
He was deiant and aggressive, and was es-
pecially abusive in his speech The Con-
gress, fortified BY an overwhelming verdict
Of the people, at last resorted to the ex-
treme measure Of impeachment, and
formal conviction and deposition
fai1ed only By a. single cote in the Senate.
We do not think it extravagant to say that
the general action Of Congress in the matter
of Reconstruction, as opposed to that Of An
DREW JOHNSON, was sustained by fve-sixths
Of the American people; and the actual re-
construction Of the ex-Rebel States was only
accomplished in spite Of and against the un-
relenting opposition Of the President. This
is hardly the occasion to discuss the opposing
policies Of the President and Of Congress in
the matter of Reconstruction Reconstruction
is now completed, and the e1citements and
passions and yindictive feelings that prevailed