Andrew Johnson - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Google Andrew Johnson’s Early Years Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, in a log cabin in Raleigh, North Carolina . His father, Jacob Johnson (1778-1812), was a porter at an inn, among other jobs, and died when Andrew was 3, while his mother, Mary “Polly” McDonough Johnson (1783-1856), was a laundress and seamstress. Did You Know? During Andrew Johnson’s presidency, his secretary of state, William Seward, negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. At the time of the 1867 deal, critics dubbed it “Seward’s Folly.” Alaska became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959. Johnson, who grew up poor and never attended school, was apprenticed to a tailor by his early teens. In 1826, he moved to Greeneville, Tennessee , and established himself as a tailor.

The following year, Johnson married Eliza McCardle (1810-1876), the daughter of a shoemaker. The couple had five children. Eliza Johnson helped her husband improve his rudimentary reading and writing skills, and tutored him in math. Over time, Andrew Johnson became prosperous enough to buy property and acquire several African-American slaves, who worked in his home. Johnson Enters Politics in Tennessee Johnson’s political career began in 1829, when he was elected alderman in Greeneville. That same year, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), a fellow Democrat and Tennessean, became the seventh U.S. president. Like Jackson, Johnson considered himself as a champion of the common man. He was resentful of rich planters and favored states’ rights and populist policies. A skilled orator, Johnson became mayor of Greeneville in 1834, and was elected the following year to the Tennessee state legislature, where he spent much of the 1830s and early 1840s. In 1843, he was voted into the U.S. House of Representatives.

While in Congress, Johnson introduced what would become the Homestead Act , which granted tracts of undeveloped public land to settlers (the act finally passed in 1862). Slavery became an increasingly important issue during Johnson’s time in Congress in the 1840s, and Americans were split over whether to extend the “peculiar institution” to the nation’s newly acquired western territories. Johnson, a strong supporter of the U.S. Constitution, believed it guaranteed individuals the right to own slaves. Johnson left Congress in 1853 to become governor of Tennessee. He vacated the governorship in 1857 to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. During the 1850s, as the struggle over states’ rights and slavery in the territories further intensified and divided the North and South, Johnson continued to believe in the right to slave ownership. However, as some Southern leaders began calling for secession, he advocated for the preservation of the Union. Andrew Johnson and the Civil War In November 1860, Abraham Lincoln , a former U.S. congressman from Illinois and member of the anti-slavery Republican Party, was elected America’s 16th president.

On December 20 of that same year, slaveholding South Carolina seceded from the Union. Six more Southern states soon followed, and in February 1861, they formed the Confederate States of America (which would eventually include a total of 11 Southern states). Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, and just over a month later, on April 12, the U.S. Civil War broke out when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. That June, Tennessee voters approved a referendum to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. Johnson, who had traveled across Tennessee speaking out against secession, was the only senator from the South to remain loyal to the Union after his state seceded. He resigned from the Senate in 1862 when Lincoln appointed him as Tennessee’s military governor. In this role, Johnson tried, with mixed success, to re-establish federal authority in Tennessee. Johnson’s Brief Tenure as Vice President When Lincoln sought re-election in 1864, he chose Johnson as his running mate over Vice President Hannibal Hamlin (1809-91), a former U.S. senator from Maine .

As a Southern Unionist and “War Democrat” (the name for those Democrats who stayed loyal to Lincoln), Johnson was deemed a good fit for the ticket. Lincoln defeated his opponent General George McClellan (1826-1885) by an electoral margin of 212-21, and garnered 55 percent of the popular vote. The president and new vice president were sworn into office on March 4, 1865. Johnson, who was recovering from typhoid fever, drank some whiskey before the ceremony, believing it would make him feel better. Instead, he gave a slurred, semi-incoherent inaugural address, leading to persistent rumors that he was an alcoholic, although he was not. On April 9, at Appomattox, Virginia , General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) surrendered his Confederate army to General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), effectively ending the Civil War.

Five days later, on April 14, while Lincoln was attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington , D.C., he was shot and fatally wounded by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865). By the next morning, Lincoln was dead at age 56. That same day, Johnson was sworn in as president at his Washington hotel by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Salmon Chase (1808-1873). As it happened, Johnson himself escaped death, because the assassin Booth’s original plot had also targeted the vice president and U.S. Secretary of State William Seward (1801-1872). Seward was attacked but survived, while Johnson’s assigned assailant, George Azterodt (1835-1865), lost his nerve at the last minute and did not go after Johnson. Andrew Johnson’s Challenging Presidency Once in office, Johnson focused on quickly restoring the Southern states to the Union. He granted amnesty to most former Confederates and allowed the rebel states to elect new governments.

These governments, which often included ex-Confederate officials, soon enacted black codes, measures designed to control and repress the recently freed slave population. When the U.S. Congress convened in December 1865, it refused to seat the newly elected Southern members, and Johnson found himself at odds with the legislature, particularly the Radical Republicans, who viewed the president’s approach to Reconstruction as too lenient. In 1866, Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill and the Civil Rights bill, legislation aimed at protecting blacks. That same year, when Congress passed the 14th Amendment granting citizenship to blacks, the president urged Southern states not to ratify it (the amendment nevertheless was ratified in July 1868). During the 1866 congressional elections, Johnson launched a multiple-city speaking campaign, dubbed “a swing around the circle,” in which he attempted to win support for his Reconstruction policies. The tour proved to be a failure, and the Republicans won majorities in both houses of Congress and set about enacting their own Reconstruction measures. Hostilities between the president and Congress continued to mount, and in February 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson.

Among the 11 charges, he was accused of violating the Tenure of Office Act by suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (1814-1869), who opposed Johnson’s Reconstruction policies. That May, the Senate acquitted Johnson of the charges by one vote. Johnson did not run for reelection in 1868. He had hoped the Democrats would choose him as their presidential nominee, but they opted instead for Horatio Seymour (1810-1886), a former governor of New York . Civil War hero Ulysses Grant, the Republican candidate, won the election and became the 18th U.S. president. Johnson’s Later Years Johnson’s interest in politics and public office did not end once he left the White House in March 1869 and returned home to Tennessee. That same year, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, and in 1872, lost his bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He persisted and won election to the Senate in 1875. Johnson was the only ex-president to accomplish this feat; however, his Senate tenure was brief.

He died at age 66 on July 31, 1875, after suffering a stroke while visiting family in Carter County, Tennessee. Johnson was buried in Greeneville with the American flag and a copy of the Constitution. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags Andrew Johnson (1808 - 1875) - Genealogy Andrew Johnson 17th President of the United States of America, Politician Managed by: About Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the USA 17th President of the United States of America After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Vice-President Andrew Johnson assumed the Presidency. Johnson was the first president to be impeached, but was acquitted of the charges. Andrew Johnson our 17th President of The United States of America With the Assassination of Lincoln, the Presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate of Presidents. Arrayed against him were the Radical Republicans in Congress, brilliantly led and ruthless in their tactics. Johnson was no match for them.

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808, Johnson grew up in poverty. He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran away. He opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle, and participated in debates at the local academy. Entering politics, he became an adept stump speaker, championing the common man and vilifying the plantation aristocracy. As a Member of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1840's and '50's, he advocated a homestead bill to provide a free farm for the poor man. American Civil War General Officers about Andrew Johnson Birth Place: Raleigh, North Carolina Army: Union Promotions: Promoted to Full Brig-Gen Biography: ANDREW JOHNSON Johnson, Andrew, brigadier-general, was born in Raleigh, N. C., Dec. 29, 1808. Moving to Tennessee when a young man, he became prominent in politics, was for several terms a member of the state legislature, and represented his district in Congress from 1843-1853.

He was then elected governor of Tennessee, was re-elected in 1855 and in 1857 was elected to the United States senate. In the senate he strongly opposed secession and said that he was in favor of having secessionists arrested and tried for treason. Johnson held his seat in the United States senate until 1862, when he was appointed by President Lincoln military governor of Tennessee, ranking as brigadier-general of volunteers. His service in the war was in this capacity and it was chiefly due to his courage that Nashville was held against a Confederate force. He urged the holding of Union meetings throughout the state, raised twenty-five regiments for service in the state, and levied a tax on the wealthy southern sympathizers to be used in behalf of the families of the poorer Confederate soldiers. He exercised during his term of office absolute and autocratic powers, but with moderation and discretion, and his course strengthened the Union cause in Tennessee. Upon the renomination of Mr. Lincoln for the presidency Mr. Johnson was nominated for vice-president, and when President Lincoln was assassinated Johnson was immediately sworn in as president, April 15, 1865. Johnson's course as president does not concern this volume.

After the expiration of his term of office he returned to Tennessee, and in 1875 was elected U. S. senator. He died at Carter's station, Carter county, Tenn., July 30, 1875. Source: The Union Army, vol. 8 American Civil War Soldiers Enlistment Date: 4 Mar 1862 Side Served: Union Birth Date: 29 Dec 1808 Death Date: 31 Jul 1875 Death Place: Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee Service Record: Enlisted as a Brigadier General on 4 March 1862 at the age of 53. Commission in General Staff Regiment U.S. Volunteers on 4 Mar 1862. Resigned General Staff Regiment U.S. Volunteers on 3 Mar 1865. Sources: 117,33,46 Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was the 17th President of the United States (1865–1869).

Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Johnson presided over the Reconstruction era of the United States in the four years after the American Civil War. His tenure was highly controversial as his positions favoring the white South came under heavy political attack from Republicans. At the time of the secession of the Southern states, Johnson was a U.S. Senator from Greeneville in East Tennessee. As a Unionist, he was the only Southern senator not to quit his post upon secession. He became the most prominent War Democrat from the South and supported Lincoln's military policies during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. In 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of occupied Tennessee, where he proved to be energetic and effective in fighting the rebellion and beginning transition to Reconstruction. Johnson was nominated for the Vice President position in 1864 on the National Union Party ticket. He and Lincoln were elected in November 1864 and inaugurated on March 4, 1865. Johnson succeeded to the presidency upon Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865.

As president, he took charge of Presidential Reconstruction — the first phase of Reconstruction — which lasted until the Radical Republicans gained control of Congress in the 1866 elections. His conciliatory policies towards the South, his hurry to reincorporate the former Confederate states back into the union, and his vetoes of civil rights bills embroiled him in a bitter dispute with Radical Republicans.[3] The Radicals in the House of Representatives impeached him in 1868, charging him with violating the Tenure of Office Act, but he was acquitted by a single vote in the Senate. Johnson's party status was ambiguous during his presidency. As president, he did not identify with the two main parties — though he did try for the Democratic nomination in 1868 — and so while President he attempted to build a party of loyalists under the National Union label. Asked in 1868 why he did not become a Democrat, he said, "It is true I am asked why don't I join the Democratic Party. Why don't they join me ...

if I have administered the office of president so well?" His failure to make the National Union brand an actual party made Johnson effectively an independent during his presidency, though he was supported by Democrats and later rejoined the party as a Democratic Senator from Tennessee from 1875 until his death of a stroke at 66.[4] For these reasons he is usually counted as a Democrat when identifying presidents by their political parties.[5] Johnson was the first U.S. President to be impeached. He is commonly ranked by historians as being among the worst U.S. presidents. Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Jacob Johnson (1778–1812) and Mary McDonough (1783–1856). Jacob died when Andrew was around three years old, leaving his family in poverty. Johnson's mother then took in work spinning and weaving to support her family, and she later remarried. She bound Andrew as an apprentice tailor when he was 10 or 14 years old.[6] In the 1820s, he worked as a tailor in Laurens, South Carolina.[7] Johnson had no formal education and taught himself how to read and write.

At age 16 or 17, Johnson left his apprenticeship and ran away with his brother to Greeneville, Tennessee, where he found work as a tailor.[8][9] At the age of 19, Johnson married 17 year-old Eliza McCardle in 1827. Between 1828 and 1852, the couple had five children: Martha (1828), Charles (1830), Mary (1832), Robert (1834), and Andrew Jr. (1852).[10] Eliza taught Johnson arithmetic up to basic algebra and tutored him to improve his literacy and writing skills.[8] Early political career Johnson participated in debates at the local academy at Greeneville, Tennessee[11] and later organized a worker's party that elected him as alderman in 1829. He served in this position until he was elected mayor in 1833.[8] In 1835, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives where, after serving a single term, he was defeated for re-election.[10] Johnson was attracted to the states rights Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson.

He became a spokesman for the more numerous yeomen farmers and mountaineers against the wealthier, but fewer, planter elite families that had held political control both in the state and nationally.[8][11] In 1839, Johnson was elected to a second, non-consecutive term in the Tennessee House, and was elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1841, where he served one two-year term.[10][12] In 1843, he became the first Democrat to win election as the U.S. representative from Tennessee's 1st congressional district. Among his activities for the common man's interests as a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, Johnson advocated "a free farm for the poor" bill, in which farms would be given to landless farmers.[11] Johnson was a U.S. representative for five terms until 1853, when he was elected Governor of Tennessee.[10] Political ascendancy Johnson was elected governor of Tennessee, serving from 1853 to 1857.

He was then elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, serving from October 8, 1857 – March 4, 1862. He was chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (Thirty-sixth Congress). As a U.S. senator, he continued to push for the Homestead Act. It finally passed in 1862, after the Civil War had begun and Southerners had resigned from Congress. As the slavery question became more critical, Johnson continued to take a middle course. He opposed the antislavery Republican Party because he believed the Constitution guaranteed the right to own slaves. He supported President Buchanan's administration. He also approved the Lecompton Constitution proposed by proslavery settlers in Kansas. At the same time, he made it clear that his devotion to the Union exceeded his devotion to right to own slaves. 1938 Issue Johnson's stand in favor of both the Union and the right to own slaves might have made him a logical compromise candidate for president. However, he was not nominated in 1856 because of a split within the Tennessee delegation.

In 1860, the Tennessee delegation nominated Johnson for president at the Democratic National Convention, but when the convention and the party broke up, he withdrew from the race. In the election, Johnson supported Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the candidate of most Southern Democrats.[13] Before Tennessee voted on secession, Johnson, who lived in Unionist East Tennessee, toured the state speaking in opposition to the act, which he said was unconstitutional. Johnson was an aggressive stump speaker and often responded to hecklers, even those in the Senate. At the time of the secession of Tennessee, Johnson was the only Senator from the seceded states to continue participation in Congress.

His explanation for this decision was "Damn the negroes, I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats, their masters."[8] Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of occupied Tennessee in March 1862 with the rank of brigadier general.[8] During his three years in this office, he "moved resolutely to eradicate all pro-Confederate influences in the state." This "unwavering commitment to the Union" was a significant factor in his choice as vice president by Lincoln.[14] Johnson vigorously suppressed the Confederates, telling his subordinates: "Whenever you hear a man prating about the Constitution, spot him as a traitor."[15] He later spoke out for black suffrage, arguing, "The better class of them will go to work and sustain themselves, and that class ought to be allowed to vote, on the ground that a loyal negro is more worthy than a disloyal white man."[16] According to tradition and local lore, on August 8, 1863, Johnson freed his personal slaves.[17] Vice presidency As a leading War Democrat and pro-Union southerner, Johnson was an ideal candidate for the Republicans in 1864 as they enlarged their base to include

 War Democrats.

They changed the party name to the National Union Party to reflect this expansion. During the election, Johnson replaced Hannibal Hamlin as Lincoln's running mate. He was elected vice president of the United States and was inaugurated March 4, 1865. At the ceremony, Johnson, who had been drinking to offset the pain of typhoid fever (as he explained later), gave a rambling speech and appeared intoxicated to many. According to Senator Zachariah Chandler, he "disgraced himself and the Senate by making a drunken foolish speech."[18] In early 1865, Johnson talked harshly of hanging traitors like Jefferson Davis, which endeared him to radicals.[19] On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, while the president was attending a play at Ford's Theater. Booth's plan was to destroy the administration by ordering conspirators to assassinate Johnson, lieutenant general of the Union army Ulysses S. Grant, and Secretary of State William H. Seward that night.

Grant survived when he failed to attend the theater with Lincoln as planned, Seward narrowly survived his wounds, while Johnson escaped attack as his would-be assassin, George Atzerodt, failed to go through with the plan. Presidency 1865–1869 On April 15, 1865, the morning after Lincoln's assassination, Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States by the newly appointed Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. Johnson was the first vice president to succeed to the presidency upon the assassination of a president and the third vice president to become a president upon the death of a sitting president.[11][20] Reconstruction Northern anger over the assassination of Lincoln and the immense human cost of the war led to demands for harsh policies. Vice President Andrew Johnson had taken a hard line and spoke of hanging rebel Confederates. In late April, 1865, he was noted telling an Indiana delegation that, "Treason must be made odious ... traitors must be punished and impoverished ... their social power must be destroyed." However, when he succeeded Lincoln as president, Johnson took a much softer line, commenting, "I say, as to the leaders, punishment.

I also say leniency, reconciliation and amnesty to the thousands whom they have misled and deceived,"[21] and ended up pardoning many Confederate leaders.[22] His class-based resentment of the rich appeared in a May 1865 statement to W.H. Holden, the man he appointed governor of North Carolina: "I intend to confiscate the lands of these rich men whom I have excluded from pardon by my proclamation, and divide the proceeds thereof among the families of the wool hat boys, the Confederate soldiers, whom these men forced into battle to protect their property in slaves."[23] In practice, Johnson was seemingly not harsh toward the Confederate leaders. He allowed the Southern states to hold elections in 1865. Subsequently, prominent former Confederate leaders were elected to the U.S. Congress, which however refused to seat them. Congress and Johnson argued in an increasingly public way about Reconstruction and the manner in which the Southern secessionist states would be readmitted to the Union. Johnson favored a very quick restoration, similar to the plan of leniency that Lincoln advocated before his death. Break with the Republicans: 1866 Johnson-appointed governments all passed Black Codes that gave the freedmen second class status.

In response to the Black Codes and worrisome signs of Southern recalcitrance, the Republicans blocked the readmission of the secessionist states to the Congress in fall 1865. Congress also renewed the Freedman's Bureau, but Johnson vetoed it. Senator Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, leader of the moderate Republicans, took affront at the Black Codes. Trumbull proposed the first Civil Rights bill. Although strongly urged by moderates in Congress to sign the Civil Rights bill, Johnson broke decisively with them by vetoing it on March 27. His veto message objected to the measure because it conferred citizenship on the freedmen at a time when eleven out of thirty-six states were unrepresented and attempted to fix, by federal law, "a perfect equality of the white and black races in every State of the Union." Johnson said it was an invasion by federal authority of the rights of the states; it had no warrant in the Constitution and was contrary to all precedents. It was a "stride toward centralization and the concentration of all legislative power in the national government."[24] Johnson, in a letter to Gov. Thomas C.

Fletcher of Missouri, wrote, "This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men."[25] The Democratic Party, proclaiming itself the party of white men, North and South, aligned with Johnson.[26] However, the Republicans in Congress overrode his veto (the Senate by the vote of 33:15, the House by 182:41) and the Civil Rights measure became law. The last moderate proposal was the Fourteenth Amendment, also written by Trumbull. It was designed to put the key provisions of the Civil Rights Act into the Constitution, but it went further. It extended citizenship to every person born in the United States (except Indians on reservations), penalized states that did not give the vote to freedmen, and most importantly, created new federal civil rights that could be protected by federal courts. It guaranteed the federal war debt and voided all Confederate war debts. Johnson unsuccessfully sought to block ratification of the amendment.

The moderates' effort to compromise with Johnson had failed and an all-out political war broke out between the Republicans (both radical and moderate) on one side, and on the other Johnson and his allies in the Democratic party in the North, and the conservative groupings in the South. The decisive battle was the election of 1866, in which the Southern states were not allowed to vote. Johnson campaigned vigorously, undertaking a public speaking tour of the north that was known as the "Swing Around the Circle"; the tour proved politically disastrous, with Johnson widely ridiculed and occasionally engaging in hostile arguments with his audiences.[27] The Republicans won by a landslide and took full control of Reconstruction. Historian James Ford Rhodes explained Johnson's inability to engage in serious negotiations: As Senator Charles Sumner shrewdly said, "the President himself is his own worst counselor, as he is his own worst defender." Johnson acted according to his nature. He had intellectual force, but it worked in a groove. Obstinate, rather than firm, it undoubtedly seemed to him that following counsel and making concessions were a display of weakness. At all events from his December message to the veto of the Civil Rights bill, he did not yield to Congress.

The moderate senators and representatives, who constituted a majority of the Union party, asked him for only a slight compromise. Their action was really an entreaty that he would unite with them to preserve Congress and the country from the policy of the radicals. The two projects which Johnson had most at heart were the speedy admission of the Southern senators and representatives to Congress and the relegation of the question of 'negro suffrage' to the States themselves. Johnson, shrinking from the imposition on these communities of the franchise for the colored people, took an unyielding position regarding matters involving no vital principle and did much to bring it about. His quarrel with Congress prevented the readmission into the Union on generous terms of the members of the late Confederacy. For the quarrel and its unhappy results, Johnson's lack of imagination and his inordinate sensitiveness to political gadflies were largely responsible. Johnson sacrificed two important objects to petty considerations. His pride of opinion and his desire to win, blinded him to the real welfare of the South and of the whole country.[28] Impeachment First attempt There were two attempts to remove President Andrew Johnson from office. The first occurred in the fall of 1867.

On November 21, 1867, the House Judiciary committee produced a bill of impeachment that consisted of a vast collection of complaints against him. After a furious debate, a formal vote was held in the House of Representatives on December 5, 1867, which failed 57–108.[29] Second attempt Johnson notified Congress that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War and was replacing him in the interim with Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas. Johnson had wanted to replace Stanton with former general Ulysses S. Grant, who refused to accept the position. This violated the Tenure of Office Act, a law enacted by Congress in March 1867 over Johnson's veto, specifically designed to protect Stanton.[30] Johnson had vetoed the act, claiming it was unconstitutional. The act said, "...every person holding any civil office, to which he has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate ... shall be entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified," thus removing the president's previous unlimited power to remove any of his cabinet members at will. Years later in the case Myers v.

United States in 1926, the Supreme Court ruled that such laws were indeed unconstitutional.[31] The Senate and House entered into debate over the act. Thomas attempted to move into the war office, for which Stanton had Thomas arrested. Three days after Stanton's removal, the House impeached Johnson for intentionally violating the Tenure of Office Act. On March 5, 1868, a court of impeachment was constituted in the Senate to hear charges against the president. William M. Evarts served as his counsel. Eleven articles were set out in the resolution, and the trial before the Senate lasted almost three months. Johnson's defense was based on a clause in the Tenure of Office Act stating that the then-current secretaries would hold their posts throughout the term of the president who appointed them. Since Lincoln had appointed Stanton, it was claimed, the applicability of the act had already run its course. The Situation A Harper's Weekly cartoon gives a humorous breakdown of "the situation". Secretary of War Edwin Stanton aims a cannon labeled "Congress" on the side at President Johnson and Lorenzo Thomas to show how Stanton was using congress to defeat the president and his unsuccessful replacement.

He also holds a rammer marked "Tenure of Office Bill" and cannon balls on the floor are marked "Justice". Ulysses S. Grant and an unidentified man stand to Stanton's left. There were three votes in the Senate. One came on May 16 for the 11th article of impeachment, which included many of the charges contained in the other articles, and two on May 26 for the second and third articles, after which the trial adjourned. On all three occasions, 35 senators voted "guilty" and 19 "not guilty", thus falling short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction in impeachment trials by a single vote. A decisive role was played by seven Republican senators - William Pitt Fessenden, Joseph S. Fowler, James W. Grimes, John B. Henderson, Lyman Trumbull, Peter G. Van Winkle and Edmund G. Ross of Kansas, who provided the decisive vote;[32] disturbed by how the proceedings had been manipulated to give a one-sided presentation of the evidence, they voted against conviction, in defiance of their party and public opinion.[33] President John F.

Kennedy discusses this in further detail in his book, Profiles In Courage. Christmas Day amnesty for Confederates One of Johnson's last significant acts was granting unconditional amnesty to all Confederates on Christmas Day, December 25, 1868, after the election of Ulysses S. Grant to succeed him, but before Grant took office in March 1869. Earlier amnesties, requiring signed oaths and excluding certain classes of people, had been issued by Lincoln and by Johnson. Administration and Cabinet President Andrew Johnson 1865–1869 Vice President None 1865–1869 Secretary of State William H. Seward 1865–1869 Secretary of Treasury Hugh McCulloch 1865–1869 Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton 1865–1868, replaced ad interim by Ulysses Grant before being reinstated by Congress in Jan 1868 John M. Schofield 1868–1869 Attorney General James Speed 1865–1866 Henry Stanberry 1866–1868 William M.

Evarts 1868–1869 Postmaster General William Dennison 1865–1866 Alexander W. Randall 1866–1869 Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles 1865–1869 Secretary of the Interior John P. Usher 1865 James Harlan 1865–1866 Orville H. Browning 1866–1869 Judicial appointments Johnson appointed only nine Article III federal judges during his presidency, all to United States district courts. Andrew Johnson is one of only four presidents[34] who did not appoint a judge to serve on the Supreme Court. In April, 1866 he nominated Henry Stanbery to fill the vacancy left with the death of John Catron, but the Republican Congress eliminated the seat. Johnson also appointed one judge to the United States Court of Claims, Samuel Milligan, who served from 1868 to 1874. States admitted to the Union Nebraska – March 1, 1867 Foreign policy Johnson forced the French out of Mexico by sending an army to the border and issuing an ultimatum.

The French withdrew in 1867, and the government they supported quickly collapsed. Secretary of State Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia on April 9, 1867 for $7.2 million. This is equivalent to $112 million in present day terms.[35] Critics sneered at "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox" and "Icebergia." Seward also negotiated to purchase the Danish West Indies, but the Senate refused to approve the purchase in 1867 (it eventually happened in 1917). The Senate likewise rejected Seward's arrangement with Britain to arbitrate the Alabama Claims. The U.S. experienced tense relations with Britain and its colonial government in Canada in the aftermath of the war. Lingering resentment over the perception of British sympathy toward the Confederacy resulted in Johnson initially turning a blind eye towards a series of armed incursions by Fenians (Irish-American civil war veterans) into Canada. These small-scale Fenian Raids were easily repulsed by the British.

Eventually, Johnson ordered the Fenians disarmed and barred from crossing the border, but the Canadians feared an American takeover and moved toward Canadian Confederation.[36] Johnson's purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 was his most important foreign policy action. The idea and implementation is credited to Seward as Secretary of State, but Johnson approved the plan.[37] Post-presidency Johnson was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate from Tennessee in 1868 and to the House of Representatives in 1872. However, in 1874 the Tennessee legislature did elect him to the U.S. Senate. Johnson served from March 4, 1875, until his death from a stroke near Elizabethton, Tennessee, on July 31 that year.

In his first speech since returning to the Senate, which was also his last, Johnson spoke about political turmoil in Louisiana.[38] His passion aroused a standing ovation from many of his fellow senators who had once voted to remove him from the presidency.[39] He is the only former president to serve in the Senate.[38] Johnson was buried in the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery, Greeneville, Tennessee, with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution placed under his head, according to his wishes. The cemetery is now part of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. Historians' changing views on Andrew Johnson Views on Johnson changed over time, depending on historians' perception of Reconstruction. The widespread denunciation of Reconstruction following the compromise of 1877 resulted in Johnson being portrayed in a favorable light. By the 1930s a series of favorable biographies enhanced his prestige.[40] Furthermore, a Beardian School (named after Charles Beard and typified by Howard K. Beale) argued that the Republican Party in the 1860s was a tool of corrupt business interests, and that Johnson stood for the people.

They rated Johnson "near great", but have since reevaluated and now consider Johnson "a flat failure". The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s brought a new perspective on Reconstruction, which was increasingly seen as a noble effort to build an interracial nation.[41][42] Beginning with W.E.B. Du Bois' Black Reconstruction, first published in 1935, historians noted African American efforts to establish public education and welfare institutions, gave muted praise for Republican efforts to extend suffrage and provide other social institutions, and excoriated Johnson for siding with the opposition to extending basic rights to former slaves.[41] In this vein, Eric Foner denounced Johnson as a "fervent white supremacist" who foiled Reconstruction,[41] whereas Sean Wilentz wrote that Johnson "actively sided with former Confederates" in his attempts to derail it.[43] Accordingly, Johnson is nowadays among those commonly mentioned among the worst presidents in U.S. history.[42] 17th President of the United States Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the USA's Timeline 1808 Andrew Johnson - U.S.

President - Biography.com Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson succeeded Abraham Lincoln as president, and was the first president of the United States to be impeached. IN THESE GROUPS “I feel incompetent to perform duties ... which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me.” “The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people.” “It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.” “There are no good laws but such as repeal other laws.” Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson - Purchase of Alaska (TV-14; 2:08) Andrew Johnson's deal for the purchase of Alaska changed the landscape of the United States and almost had repercussions on Canada. Synopsis Born on December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Andrew Johnson became the 17th president of the United States upon the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865. His lenient Reconstruction policies toward the South, and his vetoing of Reconstruction acts, embittered the Radical Republicans in Congress and led to his political downfall and impeachment, though he was acquitted. Johnson died in Tennessee on July 31, 1875.

Early Life Andrew Johnson was born in a log cabin in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808. His father, Jacob Johnson, died when Andrew was 3, leaving the family in poverty. His mother, Mary "Polly" McDonough Johnson, worked as a seamstress to make ends meet. She and her second husband apprenticed Andrew and his brother, William, to a local tailor. As a young boy, Andrew felt the sting of prejudice from the higher classes and developed a white-supremacist attitude to compensate, a perception he held all his life. Chafing under the constraints of apprenticeship, Johnson and his brother ran away from their obligation. The pair dodged authorities who sought to return them to their employer and worked as itinerate tailors. The boys later returned home, and the family moved to Greeneville, Tennessee. In a short time, Johnson established a very successful tailoring business and married Eliza McCardle in 1827. She encouraged him in his self-education and counseled him on business investments. Eliza suffered from tuberculosis, but remained a constant supporter of Johnson through their 50-year marriage.

Foray Into Politics Johnson took a strong interest in politics, and his tailor shop became a haven for political discussion. He gained the support of the local working class and became their strong advocate. He was elected alderman in 1829, and was elected mayor of Greeneville five years later. After the 1831 Nat Turner Rebellion, Tennessee adopted a new state constitution with a provision to disenfranchise free blacks. Johnson supported the provision and campaigned around the state for its ratification, giving him wide exposure. In 1835, Johnson won a seat in the Tennessee state legislature. He identified himself with the Democratic policies of Andrew Jackson, advocating for the poor and being opposed to non-essential government spending. He was also a strong anti-abolitionist and a promoter of states' rights, while still being an unqualified supporter of the Union. U.S. Congressman and Tennessee Governor In 1843, Johnson became the first Democrat from Tennessee to be elected to the United States Congress. He joined a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, declaring that slavery was essential to the preservation of the Union.

This was a slight departure from his fellow Southerners, who were beginning to speak of separation if slavery was abolished. During his fifth and final term in Congress, the Whig party was gaining ground in Tennessee, and Johnson saw that his chances for a sixth term were slim. In 1853, Johnson was elected governor of Tennessee. During his two terms, he tried to promote his fiscally conservative, populist views, but found the experience frustrating, as the governor's constitutional powers were limited to giving suggestions to the legislature, with no veto power. He made the most of his position by giving important appointments to political allies. As the 1856 election neared, Andrew Johnson briefly considered a run for the presidency, but felt he didn't have quite the national exposure he needed. He decided to instead run for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Even though his party controlled the legislature, the campaign was difficult. Many Democratic leaders disapproved of his populist views. However, the Tennessee legislature did elect him, and the reaction by the opposition press was immediate and scathing.

The Richmond Whig referred to Johnson as "the vilest radical and most unscrupulous demagogue in the Union." As senator, Johnson introduced the Homestead Act, a bill he had promoted while a congressman. The bill met with stiff opposition by many Southern Democrats, who feared the land would be settled by poor whites and immigrants who couldn't afford, or didn't want, slavery in the area. A heavily amended bill was passed, but was vetoed by President Buchanan. For the remainder of his Senate term, Johnson kept an independent course, opposing abolition while making clear his devotion to the Union. The Lincoln Administration After Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, Tennessee seceded from the Union. Andrew Johnson broke with his home state and became the only Southern senator to retain his seat in the U.S. Senate. He was vilified in the South. His property was confiscated, and his wife and two daughters were driven out of Tennessee. However, his pro-Union passion did not go unnoticed by the Lincoln Administration. Once Union troops occupied Tennessee in 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor.

He walked a difficult line, offering an olive branch to his fellow Tennesseans while exercising the full force of the federal government to rebels. He was never able to gain complete control of the state as insurgents, led by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, raided cities and towns at will. Johnson originally opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, but after gaining an exemption for Tennessee and realizing that it was an important tool for ending the war, he accepted it. Southern papers caught his flip-flopping and accused him of seeking a higher office. This notion played out when Lincoln, concerned about his chances for reelection, tapped Johnson as his vice president to help balance the ticket in 1864. After several high-profile Union victories in the summer and fall of 1864, Lincoln was re-elected in a sweeping victory. 17th President of the United States On the night of April 14, 1865, while spending an evening at Ford's Theater, in Washington, D.C., President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, and he died the next morning. Johnson was also a target on that fateful night, but his would-be assassin failed to show up.

Three hours after Lincoln died, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the 17th president of the United States. In a strange irony often found in American history, the racist Southerner Johnson was charged with the reconstruction of the South and the extension of civil rights and suffrage to former black slaves. It quickly became apparent that Johnson would not force Southern states to grant full equality to blacks, thus setting up a confrontation with congressional Republicans who sought black suffrage as essential to furthering their political influence in the South. Congress was in recess the first eight months of Andrew Johnson's term, and he took full advantage of the legislators' absence by pushing through his own Reconstruction policies. He quickly issued pardons and amnesty to any rebels who would take an oath of allegiance. This resulted in many former Confederates being elected to office in Southern states and instituting "black codes," which essentially maintained slavery. Later, he expanded his pardons to include Confederate officials of the highest rank, including Alexander Stephens, who had served as vice president under Jefferson Davis. When Congress reconvened, members expressed outrage at the president's clemency orders and his lack of protecting black civil rights.

In 1866, Congress passed the Freedmen's Bureau bill, providing essentials for former slaves and protection of their rights in court. They then passed the Civil Rights Act, defining "all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed," as citizens. Johnson vetoed these two measures because he felt that Southern states were not represented in Congress and believed that setting suffrage policy was the responsibility of the states, not the federal government. Both vetoes were overridden by Congress. That June, Congress approved the 14th Amendment and issued it to the states for ratification, and it was accepted less than one month later. In a novel interpretation of the "advise and consent" clause of the Constitution, Congress also passed the Tenure of Office Act, which denied the president the power to remove federal officials without the Senate's approval. In 1867, Congress established military Reconstruction in the former Confederate states to enforce political and social rights for Southern blacks. President Johnson retaliated by appealing directly to the people in a series of speeches during the 1866 congressional elections.

On more than one occasion, it appeared that Johnson had had too much to drink, and antagonized more than convinced his audiences. The campaign was a complete disaster, and Johnson faced a further loss of support from the public. The Radical Republicans won an overwhelming victory in the midterm elections. Johnson felt his position as president crumbling beneath him. He had lost the support of Congress and the public, and felt that his only alternative was to challenge the Tenure of Office Act as a direct violation of his constitutional authority. In August 1867, he fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, with whom he'd had several confrontations. In February 1868, the House voted to impeach President Johnson for violation of the Tenure of Office Act, and for bringing disgrace and ridicule on Congress. He was tried in the Senate and acquitted by one vote. He remained president, but both his credibility and effectiveness were destroyed. Later Years and Legacy Johnson finished his term maintaining his opposition to Reconstruction and continuing his self-imposed role as protector of the white race. After leaving the White House, he took advantage of his excellent oratory skills and went on the speaking circuit. In 1874, he won election to the U.S.

Senate for a second time. In his first speech after returning to the Senate, he spoke out in opposition to President Ulysses S. Grant's military intervention in Louisiana. During the Congressional recess the following summer, Johnson died from a stroke near Elizabethton, Tennessee, on July 31, 1875. According to his wishes, he was buried just outside Greeneville, his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the Constitution placed under his head. Some historians view Andrew Johnson as the worst person who could have been president at the end of the Civil War. His racist views prevented him from making a satisfying peace. His lack of political skills alienated him from Congress, and his arrogance lost him the public's support. As president, he probably contributed to the national strife that followed the Civil War, and lost the opportunity to champion the rights of the disadvantaged. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information

Question: Who succeeded Andrew Johnson as US President in 1869?
Answer: Ulysses S Grant