Andrew Johnson (U.S. president)
Andrew Johnson (b. on December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina) was the 17th president of the United States. Six weeks after he became vice president under Abraham Lincoln and six days following the effective end of the Civil War, Johnson assumed the presidency upon Lincoln's assassination in April 1865 and served until 1869.
Johnson was a member of the Democratic Party. He did not have a vice president; at the time, there was no constitutional provision addressing who would fill the office in the event that it was vacated, as it was by Johnson himself.[1]
Johnson played a key role in the first years of Reconstruction, the post-war period during which new policies were established in formerly seceded southern states. He was also the first American president to undergo impeachment. His impeachment began in February 1868 following Johnson's removal of Lincoln-era Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton from office in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act, which was passed by Congress the year prior and required the president to get Senate approval before removing certain officials. The impeachment effort failed by one vote.[2]
Prior to serving as president and as Lincoln's vice president, Johnson owned a tailoring business and served as mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee; U.S. representative; governor of Tennessee; and U.S. senator. Johnson returned to the Senate in 1875 and died later that year.[3]
Biography
Timeline of life events
Below is an outline of Jonhson's professional and political career:[3][4]
- 1808: Born in Raleigh, North Carolina
- 1826: Opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee
- 1829: Elected alderman of Greeneville
- 1834: Elected mayor of Greeneville
- 1835: Elected to Tennessee state legislature
- 1843: Elected to U.S. House of Representatives
- 1853: Elected governor of Tennessee
- 1856: Elected to U.S. Senate
- 1862: Appointed as Tennessee's military governor by Pres. Abraham Lincoln
- 1864: Selected as vice presidential running mate by Lincoln
- March 4, 1865: Sworn in as vice president
- April 9, 1865: American Civil War effectively ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee
- April 15, 1865: Sworn in as president upon Lincoln's death
- March 1869: Left White House
- 1875: Served in the U.S. Senate again
- July 31, 1875: Died of stroke at age 66
Before the presidency
Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808 to inn porter Jacob Johnson, who died when Andrew was 3, and Mary “Polly” McDonough Johnson, a seamstress. Johnson grew up in poverty and received no formal education. As a teenager, he apprenticed for a local tailor. He started his own tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1826.[3]
Johnson's political career began with local office; he was elected alderman of Greeneville in 1829 then mayor of the city in 1834. He served in the Tennessee state legislature before a long stint in the U.S. House of Representatives. Johnson was elected as Tennessee's governor in 1853 and served two terms before returning to Congress—this time, to the Senate. He was against the secession of southern states (like his own) from the Union. Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1860 following Abraham Lincoln's (R) election as president, and Johnson was the sole southern senator to remain in the chamber.[4]
Lincoln appointed Johnson as military governor of Tennessee in 1862, tasking him with reestablishing federal authority in the seceded state. The president signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared some southern slaves free, in 1863; though Johnson initially opposed the abolition of slavery, he became supportive of the proclamation as a way to end the Civil War and after securing an exemption from its provisions for Tennessee. In his 1864 re-election bid, Lincoln, the northern Republican, chose Johnson, the southern Democrat, as his vice presidential running mate.[3] Lincoln defeated Democratic nominee George B. McClellan with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21.[5] Lincoln and Johnson were sworn in on March 4, 1865.
Presidency
Johnson assumed the presidency on April 15, 1865, the day Lincoln died from a gunshot wound incurred at Ford's Theater the night before. Six days earlier, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia, marking the effective end of the Civil War. With the presidency, Johnson inherited the responsibility to guide the rebuilding of the south during the post-war period known as Reconstruction.
Johnson believed that states should have primary control over their rebuilding. This clashed with the Republican-dominated Congress' efforts to exert more influence over post-war policies in the south. Johnson pardoned many ex-Confederates and allowed them to reclaim confiscated land that was set to be resettled by freed slaves as part of the Freedmen's Bureau Act passed by Congress in 1865.[6] Many southern states enacted laws that placed restrictions on black people's activities, including taxes imposed for performing work besides farm or servant labor and limitations on types of property that black people could own.[7] In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which declared all people born in the U.S. to be citizens equal before the law. Johnson vetoed the act, but Congress overrode the veto, making it the first major piece of legislation to be passed despite a presidential veto.[8]
After the 1866 midterm elections, the Republican-dominated Congress largely took control of Reconstruction policies. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in an effort to prevent Johnson from using his presidential powers to remove Lincoln-era appointed officials from office by requiring the president to obtain Senate approval before removing any official who had been confirmed by the Senate. Johnson challenged the new law by replacing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton without Senate input on February 21, 1868. Three days later, the House voted to impeach Johnson, beginning a process that ended on May 26 one vote short of removing him from office.[2]
In 1868, Democrats chose former New York governor Horatio Seymour as their nominee for the presidential election, making Johnson a one-term president who never ran in an election for the office. Ulysses S. Grant (R) won the election and succeeded Johnson as the 18th president of the United States.[4]
Post-presidency
After leaving the White House, Johnson ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1869 and U.S House in 1872. He won one more election in his lifetime, returning to the Senate in 1875 months before he died of a stroke on July 31.[3]
Personal
In 1827, Johnson married Eliza McCardle, who tutored her husband in reading, writing, and math. The couple had five children together.[4]
State of the Union addresses
Every year in office, the president of the United States addresses Congress on the present state of affairs as well as the administration's goals for the coming year.[9] Following are transcripts from Johnson's State of the Union addresses.
See also
External links
- President Andrew Johnson Museum website
- Official White House biography
- C-Span video on the Johnson presidency
Footnotes
- ↑ History.com, "10 Things You Should Know About Millard Fillmore," March 7, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 History.com, "February 24, 1868: President Andrew Johnson impeached," accessed May 27, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Biography.com, "Andrew Johnson Biography," accessed May 27, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 History.com, "Andrew Johnson," accessed May 27, 2018
- ↑ 270 to Win, "1864 Presidential Election," accessed May 27, 2018
- ↑ History.com, "Freedmen's Bureau," accessed May 28, 2018
- ↑ History.com, "Black Codes," accessed May 28. 2018
- ↑ History.com, "Reconstruction," accessed May 28, 2018
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications," January 24, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Abraham Lincoln (R) |
President of the United States 1865-1869 |
Succeeded by Ulysses S. Grant (R) |
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