Happy Birthday Andrew Johnson
On December 29, 1808 (214 years ago today) Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He's one of the most controversial presidents for a number of reasons, including his personal problems (i.e. his drinking), his stance on reconstruction in which he undid much of the good planned by Abraham Lincoln, and his impeachment. But the story of Johnson isn't all bad. He showed great courage during the civil war, being a southerner committed to keeping the Union together.
Andrew Johnson (his full name) was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was born into relative poverty. His father Jacob was the town constable of Raleigh, but died of an apparent heart attack when Andrew was three, while ringing the town bell, shortly after rescuing three drowning men. His mother Polly Johnson had worked as a washerwoman. She continued in that occupation in order to support her three children, of which Andrew was the youngest.
Johnson became a tailor and moved to Tennessee to embark on a political career. He was a self-educated man and reputed to be a good speaker. He married Eliza McCardle when both were teenagers. They had five children together. Johnson served as an alderman and as Mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee and then sat in both houses of the Tennessee legislature. He went on to spend five consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms as Governor of Tennessee, all as a Democrat.
When Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Johnson was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee. He was a staunch unionist who had campaigned against secession and was the only Southern senator not to resign his seat during the Civil War. Despite his strong union sentiments, he supported the institution of slavery. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of occupied Tennessee, where he was effective in fighting the rebellion and aiding the Union cause.
Johnson was nominated as the vice presidential candidate with Lincoln in 1864 on the National Union Party ticket. He and Lincoln were elected in 1864, and inaugurated in early 1865. According to many reports, Johnson was quite drunk when he was sworn in as Vice-President. A month later, Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson assumed the presidency. A co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth had chickened out of his part in the plan, which was to kill Johnson.
As president, Johnson abandoned most of Lincoln's vision in favor of his own form of reconstruction, which was basically a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to re-form their civil governments. These proclamations demonstrated Johnson's conciliatory policies towards the South, as well as his rush to reincorporate the former Confederate states into the union without any regard for the rights of freed slaves. His vetoes of civil rights bills embroiled him in a bitter dispute with Radical Republicans. The Radicals in the House of Representatives impeached him in 1868 (a first for a U.S. president), charging him with violating the Tenure of Office Act, when he sought to remove his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate approval. These were flimsy grounds for impeachment, but nevertheless, he was tried in the Senate, and ultimately the trial ended in an acquittal by a single vote.
Although he survived impeachment, Johnson quietly rode out the rest of his term as a lame duck president. He would later serve briefly as a Democratic Senator from Tennessee in 1875 until his death that year. He died from a stoke, during a Congressional recess, near Elizabethton, Tennessee, on July 31, 1875. According to his last wishes, Johnson was buried with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution placed under his head.
Andrew Johnson (his full name) was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was born into relative poverty. His father Jacob was the town constable of Raleigh, but died of an apparent heart attack when Andrew was three, while ringing the town bell, shortly after rescuing three drowning men. His mother Polly Johnson had worked as a washerwoman. She continued in that occupation in order to support her three children, of which Andrew was the youngest.
Johnson became a tailor and moved to Tennessee to embark on a political career. He was a self-educated man and reputed to be a good speaker. He married Eliza McCardle when both were teenagers. They had five children together. Johnson served as an alderman and as Mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee and then sat in both houses of the Tennessee legislature. He went on to spend five consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms as Governor of Tennessee, all as a Democrat.
When Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Johnson was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee. He was a staunch unionist who had campaigned against secession and was the only Southern senator not to resign his seat during the Civil War. Despite his strong union sentiments, he supported the institution of slavery. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of occupied Tennessee, where he was effective in fighting the rebellion and aiding the Union cause.
Johnson was nominated as the vice presidential candidate with Lincoln in 1864 on the National Union Party ticket. He and Lincoln were elected in 1864, and inaugurated in early 1865. According to many reports, Johnson was quite drunk when he was sworn in as Vice-President. A month later, Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson assumed the presidency. A co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth had chickened out of his part in the plan, which was to kill Johnson.
As president, Johnson abandoned most of Lincoln's vision in favor of his own form of reconstruction, which was basically a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to re-form their civil governments. These proclamations demonstrated Johnson's conciliatory policies towards the South, as well as his rush to reincorporate the former Confederate states into the union without any regard for the rights of freed slaves. His vetoes of civil rights bills embroiled him in a bitter dispute with Radical Republicans. The Radicals in the House of Representatives impeached him in 1868 (a first for a U.S. president), charging him with violating the Tenure of Office Act, when he sought to remove his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate approval. These were flimsy grounds for impeachment, but nevertheless, he was tried in the Senate, and ultimately the trial ended in an acquittal by a single vote.
Although he survived impeachment, Johnson quietly rode out the rest of his term as a lame duck president. He would later serve briefly as a Democratic Senator from Tennessee in 1875 until his death that year. He died from a stoke, during a Congressional recess, near Elizabethton, Tennessee, on July 31, 1875. According to his last wishes, Johnson was buried with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution placed under his head.