On July 31, 1875 (149 years ago today) Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, died at his home in Elizabethton, Tennessee at the age of 66. He died as the result of a stroke.


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Andrew Johnson left office as President despised by many. His successor Ulysses Grant refused to ride in the same carriage as Johnson on the way to the inauguration, and although Johnson had survived an impeachment attempt, he was leaving office as a lame duck President. It didn't make him any more popular with the majority Republicans in Congress ( Read more... )

In November of 2019 the theme of this community was impeachment and as we concluded at the end of that series, the constitutional process of impeachment has become as much of a political process as it has a legal one. History has shown that during times of intense political polarization, impeachment can be used by one side in an attempt to ( Read more... )

Does a President's personal failings in adhering to his marriage vows affect his fitness to lead? And if he lies to his nation about a personal collateral matter, such as whether or not he was sexually intimate with a White House intern, is that grounds for his impeachment? These and other questions were on the minds of the public and in Congress ( Read more... )

Bill Clinton was elected as President in 1992, defeating George W. Bush, a man who had once enjoyed a 90% approval rating. Clinton meanwhile was being accused of sexual impropriety by several women, but none of that mattered. The economy had suddenly gone south, and Clinton's campaign team spun the slogan "it's the economy stupid," a dig at Bush ( Read more... )

Books about Andrew Johnson usually focus on two aspects of his story: his role in reconstruction of the nation following the end of the Civil War, and his impeachment, the first of any US President. Johnson rose from humble beginnings and his path to the Presidency was an unexpected one. He was a rare bird, someone loyal to the Union even after his ( Read more... )

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 ( Read more... )

As the 2020 election approached, President Donald Trump began to sow doubts about the upcoming election, doing so as early as March of 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning. He told audiences that that the upcoming election would be rigged and that the expected widespread use of mail balloting would produce massive election fraud. In ( Read more... )

The constitutional process of impeachment has become as much of a political process as it is a legal one. History has shown that during times of intense political polarization, impeachment can be used by one side in an attempt to circumvent the electoral process as a means of trying to remove a political opponent. Lacking a precise definition of ( Read more... )

President Andrew Johnson's time in politics in the mid-1860s could not have been filled will happy memories. First he had to face the danger of being a Unionist in a Confederate state during the civil war, something that created both intense personal unpopularity and physical danger to him and his family. Then in 1864, when he was elected as Vice- ( Read more... )