Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 - July 31, 1875) was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 until 1869. Johnson became president when he became vice president at the time of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. A Democrat who ran with Lincoln on National Union tickets, Johnson came into office as the Civil War ended. The new president prefers the speedy recovery of the colonized states to the Union. His plans did not provide protection to ex-slaves, and he was in conflict with a Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives. He was released in the Senate with one vote.
Johnson was born in poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina and never attended school. Apprentice as a tailor, he worked in several border towns before settling in Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as a member of the city council and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee Council of Representatives in 1835. After a brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the Federal House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five periods of two years. He became Governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the US Senate in 1857. In his congressional ministry, he searched for part of Bill Homestead, which came into effect immediately after he left the Senate seat in 1862. As the South slave states, Tennessee, broke away to form States Confederate States, Johnson remained firm with the Union. He was the only senator sitting from the Confederate country who did not resign from his seat after knowing the separation of his country. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him the Tennessee military governor after most of them had been recaptured. In 1864, Johnson, as a War Democrat and Southern Unionist, was a logical choice as a life partner for Lincoln, who wanted to send a message of national unity in his reelection campaign; their tickets are easily won. When Johnson was sworn in as vice president in March 1865, he gave a rambling speech, after which he alienated himself to avoid public ridicule. Six weeks later, Lincoln's assassination made him president.
Johnson implements his own Presidential Reconstruction form - a series of statements that direct states to convene and elections to reshape their civilian government. When the South states restored many of their old leaders, and passed the Black Codes to deprive the freedoms of freedom of civil liberties, members of the Republican Congress refused to place lawmakers from those states and advanced laws to rule out the actions of the South. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congressman Congress put him aside, setting a pattern for the rest of his presidency. Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants citizenship to former slaves. In 1866, Johnson went on an unprecedented national tour promoting his executive policy, trying to destroy his Republican opponents. As the conflict between the branches of government grew, Congress passed the Ratification of Office Law, limiting Johnson's ability to fire Cabinet officials. As he continued to try to fire Defense Minister Edwin Stanton, he was indicted by the House of Representatives, and narrowly avoided confidence in the Senate and dismissal from office. After failing to win the nomination of the Democratic presidential nominee in 1868, Johnson left office in 1869.
Returning to Tennessee after his presidency Johnson sought political justification, and got it in his eyes when he was re-elected to the Senate in 1875, making Johnson the only former president serving in the Senate. He died only a few months in his tenure. While some admire Johnson's rigorous constitutionalism, his strong opposition to the federal rights guaranteed to African Americans has been heavily criticized. He is considered by many historians as one of the worst presidents in American history.
Video Andrew Johnson
Early life and career
Childhood
Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808, to Jacob Johnson (1778-1812) and Mary ("Polly") McDonough (1783-1856), a washerwoman. He is of British, Scottish, and Irish descent. He has William's brother, four years older than him, and an elder sister Elizabeth, who died in childhood. Johnson's birth in a two-room cabin was a political asset in the mid-19th century, and he would often remind voters of his humble origins. Jacob Johnson was a poor man, like his father, William Johnson, but he became a cop city of Raleigh before marriage and started a family. Both Jacob and Mary were illiterate, and had worked as shop assistants, while Johnson never went to school. Johnson grew up in poverty and deprivation. Jacob died of a clear heart attack while ringing the bells of the city, shortly after rescuing three drowned men, when his son Andrew was three years old. Polly Johnson worked as a washerwoman and became the only support for her family. His work was then looked down upon, as he often took it to another house unaccompanied. There is even a rumor that Andrew, who does not resemble his brother or sister, is the father of another man. Polly Johnson finally married again, with Turner Doughtry, who was as poor as he was.
Ms. Johnson apprenticed her son William to the tailor, James Selby. Andrew also became an apprentice at the Selby store at the age of ten and is legally bound to serve until his 21st birthday. Johnson lives with his mother for a part of his ministry, and one of Selby's employees taught him an imperfect literacy skill. His education was added by the citizens who would come to Selby's store to read to the tailors as they worked. Even before he became an apprentice, Johnson came to listen. The readings led to lifelong love for study, and one of his biographers, Annette Gordon-Reed, pointed out that Johnson, who later became a talented public speaker, studied the art when he hooked needles and cut cloth.
Johnson was not happy at James Selby, and after about five years, both he and his brother fled. Selby responded by giving a reward for their return: "Ten Dollars Rewards, running away from customers, two apprentices, legally bound, named William and Andrew Johnson... [payment] to anyone who will deliver my apprenticeship in Raleigh, or I will give you the gift above for Andrew Johnson himself. "The brothers went to Carthage, North Carolina, where Andrew Johnson worked as a tailor for several months. Fearing he would be arrested and returned to Raleigh, Johnson moved to Laurens, South Carolina. He finds fast work, meets his first love, Mary Wood, and makes it a blanket as a gift. However, he refused his marriage proposal. He returns to Raleigh, hoping to buy his apprenticeship, but can not make peace with Selby. Unable to live in Raleigh, where he risked being arrested for leaving Selby, he decided to move west.
Move to Tennessee
Johnson left North Carolina to Tennessee, traveling mostly on foot. After a brief period in Knoxville, he moved to Mooresville, Alabama. He then worked as a tailor in Columbia, Tennessee, but was recalled to Raleigh by his mother and stepfather, who saw limited opportunities there and who wanted to emigrate to the west. Johnson and his entourage traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Greeneville, Tennessee. Andrew Johnson fell in love with the city at first sight, and when he became affluent bought the land where he first camped and planted trees to commemorate the day.
In Greeneville, Johnson set up a successful sewing business in front of his home. In 1827, at the age of 18, he married Eliza McCardle, daughter of a local 16-year-old shoe maker. The couple were married by Justice of the Peace Mordecai Lincoln, the first cousin of Thomas Lincoln, whose son will be president. The Johnsons were married for almost 50 years and had five children: Martha (1828), Charles (1830), Mary (1832), Robert (1834), and Andrew Jr. (1852). Although she had Tuberculosis, Eliza supported her husband's efforts. She taught him math skills and taught him to improve his writing. Shy and retired by nature, Eliza Johnson usually remains in Greeneville during Johnson's political rise. She was not often seen during her husband's presidency; their daughter, Martha, usually serves as an official hostess.
Johnson's sewing business expanded during the early years of marriage, allowing him to hire help and give him funds to invest profitably in real estate. He then boasted of his talent as a tailor, "my job never rips or gives way." He is a greedy reader. Books about famous orators aroused his interest in political dialogue, and he had a personal debate about the issues of the day with customers who had opposing views. He also took part in the debates at Greeneville College.
Maps Andrew Johnson
Political rise
Tennessee politicians
Johnson helped organize a mechanic (male worker) ticket in the Greeneville town election of 1829. He was elected a member of the city council, along with his friends Blackston McDannel and Mordecai Lincoln. After 1831 Nat Turner's slave-slave convention, the state convention was called to pass a new constitution, including the provision to repeal the right of freedom of colored people. The Convention also wants to reform real estate tax rates, and provide ways to finance Tennessee's infrastructure improvements. The Constitution was handed over to a public vote, and Johnson spoke extensively for his adoption; a successful campaign gave him statewide exposure. On January 4, 1834, his colleagues elected him as mayor of Greeneville.
In 1835, Johnson made an offer for the "float" seat election in which Greene County shared with neighboring Washington County in the Tennessee Council of Representatives. According to his biographer, Hans L. Trefousse, Johnson "destroyed" the opposition in the debate and won the election with almost two to one margin. Soon after taking his seat, Johnson bought his first slave, Dolly, 14 years old. Dolly has three children over the years. Johnson has a reputation for treating his slaves well, and the fact that Dolly is dark-skinned, and his offspring is much lighter, causes speculation both during and after his lifetime that he is a father. During Greeneville's time, Johnson joined the Tennessee Militia as a member of the 90th Regiment. He reached the rank of colonel, although while the members were registered, Johnson was fined for an unknown offense. After that, he is often called or called by his rank.
In his first term in the legislature, which met in the state capital of Nashville, Johnson did not consistently vote with the newly formed Democratic Party or Whig Party, although he respected President Andrew Jackson, a Democrat and a fellow Tennessean. The major parties still determine their core values ​​and policy proposals, with the party system in a state of flux. The Whig Party has organized opposition to Jackson, fearing concentration of power in the government's Executive Branch; Johnson differs from Whig because he opposes more than minimal government spending and speaks against aid for trains, while his constituents look forward to improvements in transportation. After Brookins Campbell and Whig beat Johnson to re-election in 1837, Johnson will not lose another race for thirty years. In 1839, he attempted to regain his position, initially as Whig, but when another candidate sought the Whig nomination, he ran for a Democrat and was elected. Since then he has supported the Democrats and built a powerful political machine in Greene County. Johnson became a strong supporter of the Democratic Party, renowned for his speeches, and in an era when the public spoke to inform the public and console him, people flocked to hear him.
In 1840, Johnson was elected presidential elector for Tennessee, giving him more publicity across the state. Although Democrat President Martin Van Buren was defeated by former Ohio senator William Henry Harrison, Johnson was instrumental in keeping Tennessee and Greene County in the Democratic column. He was elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1841, where he served a two-year term. He has achieved financial success in his sewing business, but sold it to concentrate on politics. He also gained additional real estate, including larger homes and a farm (where his mother and stepfather lived), and among his assets amounted to eight or nine slaves.
Member of Congress (1843-1853)
After serving in both state legislative assemblies, Johnson sees the election for Congress as the next step in his political career. He was involved in a number of political maneuvers to gain Democratic support, including Whig postmaster removal in Greeneville, and beat Jonesborough lawyer John A. Aiken with 5,495 votes to 4,892 votes. In Washington, he joined the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Johnson advocates for the benefit of the poor, maintains an anti-abolitionist attitude, believes only limited spending by the government and against protective tariffs. With Eliza left in Greeneville, Congressman Johnson avoids the social functions that support the study at the Library of Congress. Although fellow Tennessee Democrat James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, and Johnson has campaigned for him, both men have difficult relationships, and President Polk rejects some of his protective advice.
Johnson believes, as did many Southern Democrats, that the Constitution protects personal property, including slaves, and thus prohibits federal and state governments from removing slavery. He won a second term in 1845 against Wiliam G. Brownlow, presenting himself as the defender of the poor against the aristocracy. During his second term, Johnson supported the Polk government's decision to combat the Mexican War, seen by some North as an attempt to get the territory to expand slavery to the west, and against Wilmot Proviso, a proposal to ban slavery in any region acquired from Mexico. He introduced his first Bill Homestead, to provide 160 acres (65 ha) to people who are willing to settle the land and gain the right to it. This issue is very important for Johnson because of its simple beginnings.
In the presidential election of 1848, the Democratic Party broke the issue of slavery, and the abolitionists formed the Free Land Party, with former president Van Buren as their candidate. Johnson supports Democratic candidate, former Michigan senator Lewis Cass. With the party split, Whig candidate General Zachary Taylor easily won, and brought Tennessee. Johnson's relationship with Polk remains poor; The President noted his last New Year's acceptance in 1849
Among the visitors I observed in today's crowd was Hon. Andrew Johnson from Ho. Repts. [House of Representatives] Although he represents the Democratic District in Tennessee (My own country), this is the first time I've seen him during this Congress session. Since claiming to be a Democrat, he has been politically, if not personally hostile to me during my tenure. He is very vengeful and wicked in his temperament and manner. If he has manhood and freedom to express his opposition openly, he knows he can not be elected by his constituents. I did not realize that I ever gave him a reason for the offense.
Johnson, due to national interest in new railway construction and in response to better transportation needs in his own district, also supported government assistance to East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad.
In his fourth term of office, Johnson focused on three issues: slavery, homestead and court elections. He defeated his opponent, Nathaniel G. Taylor, in August 1849, with a margin of magnitude greater than in his previous campaign. When the House of Representatives convened in December, the party division caused by the Free Land Party prevented the formation of the majority needed to elect a Speaker. Johnson proposes adoption of rules that allow the selection of Speakers by plurality; a few weeks later the others took a similar proposal, and the Democrat Howell Cobb was elected.
After the election of the Chief finishes and Congress is ready to do the legislative business, the problem of slavery becomes the center of attention. The northerners tried to recognize California, the independent state, to the Union. Kentucky's Henry Clay was introduced in the Senate series of resolutions, Compromise of 1850, to recognize California and pass legislation sought by either side. Johnson chose all the terms except the abolition of slavery in the nation's capital. He pressed a resolution to a constitutional amendment to provide a popular election of senators (later elected by state legislature) and president (elected by Electoral College), and limit the term of a federal judge to 12 years. It's all defeated.
A group of Democrats nominate Landon Carter Haynes to oppose Johnson as he seeks fifth term; The Whig are very pleased with the internecine battle between Democrats in the general election that they are not nominating their own candidates. The campaign includes a heated debate: Johnson's main issue is part of Bill Homestead; Haynes believes it will facilitate the elimination. Johnson won the election with more than 1,600 votes. Although he was not enamored of party presidential candidates in 1852, former New Hampshire senator Franklin Pierce, Johnson campaigned for him. Pierce was elected, but he failed to bring Tennessee. In 1852, Johnson managed to get the House to pass the Homestead bill, but failed in the Senate. The Whig had control of Tennessee's legislature, and, under the leadership of Gustavus Henry, changed the boundaries of Johnson's First District to make it a safe place for their party. The Nashville Union calls this "Henry-mandering"; regrets Johnson, "I have no political future."
Tennessee Governor (1853-57)
If Johnson considers retiring from politics after deciding not to seek re-election, he immediately changes his mind. His political friends began to maneuver to nominate him for governor. The Democratic Convention unanimously named him, though some party members were unhappy with his choice. Whig has won two previous gubernatorial elections, and is still in control of the legislature. The party nominated Henry, making the First District's "Henry-mandering" an urgent issue. The two men argued in the county seat in Tennessee before the meeting was canceled two weeks before the August 1853 election due to illness in Henry's family. Johnson won the election with 63,413 votes to 61,163; some votes for him were given in return for his promise to support Whig Nathaniel Taylor for his old chair in Congress.
The governor of Tennessee has little power: Johnson can propose legislation but not veto, and most promises are made by the Whig-controlled legislature. Nevertheless, the office is a "bullies" that allows him to publicize himself and his political views. He managed to get the appointment he wanted in return for his support of John Bell, a Whig, for one of the US Senate seats. In his first biennial speech, Johnson urged the simplification of the state judicial system, the abolition of the Bank of Tennessee, and the establishment of institutions to provide uniformity in weight and size; the last one passed. Johnson is critical of Tennessee's public school system and suggests enhanced funding through taxes, either statewide or county by district - a mixture of both are legalized. Reforms made during Johnson's time as governor included the foundations of the State public library (making books available to all) and the first public school system, and regular state exhibition initiatives to benefit craftsmen and farmers.
Although the Whig Party is in the last decline nationally, it remains strong in Tennessee, and the outlook for Democrats there in 1855 was poor. Feeling that being reelected as governor is necessary to give him a chance at the higher office he is looking for, Johnson agrees to run. Meredith P. Gentry received the Whig nomination. A series of over a dozen heated debates ensued. Issues in the campaign were slavery, the prohibition of alcohol, and the position of the nativists in the Know-It Nothing Party. Johnson liked the first, but opposed the others. Gentry is more vague in the matter of alcohol, and has the support of Know Nothings, the Johnson group described as a secret society. Johnson unexpectedly wins, albeit with a smaller margin than in 1853.
When the presidential election of 1856 approached, Johnson hoped to be nominated; some Tennessee county conventions signify her "favorite son". His position that the best interests of the Society served through slavery in some areas makes it a practical compromise candidate for the president. He has never been a major competitor; nominations fell to former Pennsylvania senator James Buchanan. Although he was not impressed by both, Johnson campaigned for Buchanan and his partner, John C. Breckinridge, who was elected.
Johnson decided not to seek a third position as governor, with the aim of election to the US Senate. In 1857, when he returned from Washington, his train slipped, causing serious damage to his right arm. This injury will make it difficult in the coming years.
US Senator
Homestead Bill's Advocate
The winners in the 1857 state legislative campaign will, once they convene in October, elect the United States Senator. Former Whig governor William B. Campbell wrote to his uncle, "Whig's great anxiety is to elect a majority in the legislature so as to defeat Andrew Johnson for the senator.Should the Democrats have a majority, he will surely be their choice, and nobody lives to whom Americans and Whigs have as much antipathy as Johnson. "The governor spoke extensively in the campaign, and his party won the governor's race and legislative control. Johnson's last address as governor gave him a chance to influence his electorate, and he made a popular proposal among Democrats. Two days later the legislature elected him to the Senate. The opposition was surprised, with the Richmond newspaper Whig referring to him as "the most radical and evil demagogue in the Union."
Johnson gained high office because of his proven record as a man popular with small farmers and self-employed merchants who make the most of Tennessee voters. He calls them "plebeians"; he is less popular among planters and lawyers who lead the country's Democratic Party, but no one can match him as a voter. After his death, a Tennessee voter wrote about him, "Johnson is always the same for everyone... the rewards given to him do not make him forget to be kind to the humble citizens." Always seen in flawless clothes, he cuts out impressive figures, and has the stamina to endure long campaigns with daily trips through bad roads leading to speeches or other debates. Most reject the party machine, it relies on a network of friends, advisors, and contacts. A friend, Hugh Douglas, declared in a letter to him, "You have prevented us to be great people for a long time.In the hearts of many of us never wanted you to be Governor, not one of us." has been selected at the time and we only want to use you. Then we do not want you to go to the Senate but people will send you . "
The new senator took his seat when the Congress convened in December 1857 (his predecessor, James C. Jones, terminated in March). He came to Washington as usual without his wife and family; Eliza would visit Washington only once during Johnson's first time as senator, in 1860. Johnson soon began to introduce Bill Homestead in the Senate, but since most of the senators who supported him were North (many associated with newly established Republican parties), the problem became involved in suspicion of slavery. The Southern Senator feels that those who take advantage of Bill Homestead's provisions are more likely to be non-North slave owners. The problem of slavery has been complicated by the Supreme Court ruling earlier in the year at Dred Scott v. Sandford that slavery can not be banned in the region. Johnson, a southern slaveholding senator, made a major speech in the Senate in May next in an attempt to convince his colleagues that Bill and Homestead's slavery were not at odds. However, the Southern opposition is the key to defeating the law, 30-22. In 1859, he failed in procedural voting when Vice President Breckinridge broke with the bill, and in 1860 the water-down version passed through the two houses, only to be vetoed by Buchanan at the insistence of the South. Johnson continues his resistance to spending, leading the committee to control it.
He opposed funding to build infrastructure in Washington, D.C., stating that it is unfair to expect citizens to pay for city streets, even if it is the center of government. He is opposed to spending money on troops to stop the insurgency by the Mormons in the Utah Territory, arguing for temporary volunteers because the United States should not have a permanent army.
Crisis splitting
In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown and sympathizers raided the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). Tensions in Washington between pro-and anti-slavery forces are increasing rapidly. Johnson gave a keynote address in the Senate in December, denouncing the North people who would endanger the Union by attempting to ban slavery. The Tennessee senator stated that "all human beings are created equal" from the Declaration of Independence does not apply to African-Americans, because the Illinois Constitution contains that phrase - and it prohibits voting by African-Americans. Johnson, at the moment, is a wealthy man who has several domestic slaves.
Johnson hopes that he will be a compromise candidate for the presidential nomination since the Democrats pull themselves apart on the question of slavery. Busy with Homestead Bill during the 1860 National Democratic Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, he sent his two sons and his main political advisers to represent his interests in making the backroom. The service was deadlocked, with no candidate able to get the required two-thirds vote, but the two sides were too far away to consider Johnson as a compromise. The party split, with the Northern people supporting Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, while the South, including Johnson, supported Vice President Breckinridge to become president. With former Tennessee senator John Bell running a fourth party nomination and subsequently dividing votes, the Republican voted for his first president, former Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln. The election of Lincoln, known against the spread of slavery, is unacceptable to many in the South. Although the secession of the Union has not been a problem in the campaign, the talk about it begins in the countries of the South.
Johnson climbed to the Senate floor after the election, giving a well-received speech in the North, "I will not give up this government... No, I intend to support it... and I invite everyone patriot to... gather around the altar of our country together... and swear by our Lord, and all the pure and holy, that the Constitution will be saved, and the Union preserved. "When the South senators announced that they would resign if their countries broke away, he reminded Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis that if the South people would only defend their seats, the Democrats would control the Senate, and could defend the South's interests against any offense by Lincoln. Gordon-Reed points out that while Johnson's faith in the inseparable Union is sincere, he has alienated Southern leaders, including Davis, who will soon become president of the United Confederation, formed by the breakaway states. If Tennessean supports the Confederacy, he will have little influence in his government.
Johnson returned home when his country took issue of secession. His successor as governor, Isham G. Harris, and the legislature held a referendum on whether to have a constitutional convention to legalize secession; when it fails, they ask the question of leaving the Union to a popular voice. Despite threats to Johnson's life, and actual attacks, he campaigns against both questions, sometimes speaking with a pistol at the podium in front of him. Although Johnson's eastern area in Tennessee largely opposed secession, the second referendum went by, and in June 1861, Tennessee joined the Confederacy. Believing he would be killed if he lived, Johnson fled through the Cumberland Gap, where his party was actually shot. He left his wife and family in Greeneville.
As the only member of a remnant state in the most prominent Senate and South Unionista, Johnson had Lincoln's ears in the early months of the war. With much of Tennessee at the hands of the Confederacy, Johnson spent a congressional recess in Kentucky and Ohio, trying in vain to convince every Union commander who would listen for operations to East Tennessee.
Tennessee Military Governor
Johnson's first possession in the Senate ended in March 1862 when Lincoln appointed him as Tennessee's military governor. Much of the central and western part of the state has been found. Although some argue that the civilian government should only resume after the Confederation was defeated in an area, Lincoln chose to exercise his powers as supreme commander to appoint a military governor over the territory of the Union-controlled South. The Senate quickly affirmed Johnson's nomination along with the rank of brigadier general. In response, the Confederate confiscated his land and his slaves, and turned his house into a military hospital. Then in 1862, after his departure from the Senate and without the presence of most Southern legislators, Bill Homestead finally came into effect. Along with the laws for college land grants and for the transcontinental railway, Bill Homestead has been credited with opening West America to the settlements.
As a military governor, Johnson sought to eliminate the influence of rebels in the state. He demanded the oath of allegiance from public officials, and closed all newspapers owned by Confederate sympathizers. Much of east Tennessee remained in the hands of the Confederates, and the ups and downs of war during 1862 sometimes brought Confederate control again close to Nashville. However, the Confederation allowed his wife and family to cross the line to join him. Johnson defended Nashville as well as he could, although the city was constantly harassed by a cavalry attack led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Help from Union regular people did not arrive until William S. Rosecrans defeated the Confederacy in Murfreesboro in early 1863. Most of the east Tennessee region was captured later that year.
When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, declaring freedom for all slaves in Confederate-held areas, he excluded Tennessee at Johnson's request. The proclamation raises the debate about what should be a slave after the war, because not all Unionists support the abolition. Johnson finally decided that slavery should be ended. He writes, "If the institution of slavery... seeks to overthrow [the Government], then the Government has a clear right to destroy it." He reluctantly endorsed an attempt to ask former slaves into the Union Army, feeling that African Americans should perform rough duties to free white Americans to fight. Nevertheless, he managed to recruit 20,000 black troops to serve the Union.
Vice President (1865)
In 1860, Lincoln's coworkers were Senators from Maine, Hannibal Hamlin. Vice President Hamlin has served competently, in good health, and wants to run again. Nevertheless, Johnson emerged as a couple for Lincoln's reelection bid in 1864.
Lincoln considered several War Democrats for tickets in 1864, and sent an agent to voice General Benjamin Butler as a potential mate. In May 1864, the President sent General Daniel Sickles to Nashville for a fact-finding mission. Although Sickles denied he was there to investigate or interview military governors, the biographer Johnson Hans L. Trefousse believes that Sickles' journey is connected with Johnson's next nomination for vice president. According to historian Albert Castel in his report on Johnson's presidency, Lincoln was impressed by the Johnson administration in Tennessee. Gordon-Reed pointed out that while the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket might have been considered geographically balanced in 1860, "having Johnson, South Democrats War, on a ticket sending the correct message about the stupidity of secession and the ongoing capacity for union worker in the country. "Another factor is the desire of Secretary of State William Seward to thwart the nomination of New York's vice president, former senator Daniel S. Dickinson, a Democrat of the Democratic Party, because Seward may have to give his place if another New Yorker becomes Vice President. Johnson, as he was told by journalists the possibility of visiting Sickles, active in his own name, gave a speech and had his political friends working behind the scenes to improve his candidacy.
To voice a unity theme, Lincoln in 1864 went under the banner of the National Unity Party, rather than the Republic. At a party convention in Baltimore in June, Lincoln was easily nominated, although there was some talk to replace him with a Cabinet officer or one of the more successful generals. After the service supported Lincoln, former War Secretary Simon Cameron offered the resolution to nominate Hamlin, but he was defeated. Johnson was nominated for vice president by C.M. Allen of Indiana with Iowa delegation as second person. At the first vote, Johnson led with 200 votes to 150 for Hamlin and 108 for Dickinson. At the second ballot, Kentucky switched to pick Johnson, start the assault. Johnson was named in a second vote with 491 votes for Hamlin 17 and eight for Dickinson; nominations are made unanimously. Lincoln expressed delight with the results, "Andy Johnson, I think, is a good man." When news reached Nashville, crowds gathered and a military governor was required with a speech against his choice as a Southman meaning that the rebel states did not actually leave the Union.
While it was not uncommon at the time for national candidates to actively campaign, Johnson gave a number of speeches in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. He also seeks to increase his chances in Tennessee while re-establishing the civilian government by making even more stringent loyalty oaths, in which voters now must swear they are opposed to making a settlement with the Confederacy. Democratic presidential nominee George McClellan hopes to avoid additional bloodshed through negotiations, and thus a more stringent allegiance of allegiance effectively deprives the rights of his supporters. Lincoln refused to overwrite Johnson, and their ticket took the country with 25,000 votes. Congress refused to count votes in Tennessee, but Lincoln and Johnson did not need them, having won in many of the states that had voted, and easily secured elections.
Now, the elected Vice-President, Johnson desperately wants to complete the work of rebuilding the civilian government in Tennessee, although the timetable for the new governor election is not possible to last until after the Inauguration Day, March 4. He wished to remain in Nashville to complete his duties, but was told by Lincoln's advisers that he could not stay, but would be sworn in by Lincoln. In these months, Union forces have retaken east Tennessee, including Greeneville. Just before his departure, Tennessee voters ratified the new constitution, abolishing slavery, on February 22, 1865. One of Johnson's last acts as a military governor was to legitimize the results.
Johnson went to Washington to be sworn in, although according to Gordon-Reed, "given what happened on March 4, 1865, it might be better if Johnson stays in Nashville." He may be sick; Castel mentions typhoid fever, although Gordon-Reed notes that there is no independent evidence for the diagnosis. On the afternoon of March 3, Johnson attended the party in his honor; he drinks a lot. Once satisfied the next morning at the Capitol, he asked Vice President Hamlin to drink whiskey. Hamlin produced a bottle, and Johnson took two liquors, stating "I need all the strength for the opportunity I can have." In the Senate Chamber, Johnson delivered a rambling speech when Lincoln, Congress, and officials looked at it. Barely coherent, he finally stopped, and Hamlin hastily swore at him as vice president. Lincoln, who watched sadly during the disaster, then went to his own oath outside the Capitol, and delivered a second inaugural address he liked.
In the weeks after the inauguration, Johnson only led the Senate briefly, and hid from public ridicule at the home of a Maryland friend, Francis Preston Blair. When he returned to Washington, it was with the intention of leaving for Tennessee to rebuild his family in Greeneville. On the contrary, he remained after the word came that General Ulysses S. Grant had seized the capital of the Richmond Confederation, Virginia, which ends the war. Lincoln said, in response to criticism of Johnson's behavior, "I've known Andy Johnson for years, he did a bad slip a few days ago, but you have nothing to fear: Andy is not a drunkard."
Presidency (1865-69)
Accession
On the afternoon of April 14, 1865, Lincoln and Johnson met for the first time since the inauguration. Trefousse states that Johnson wanted to "persuade Lincoln not to be too soft with traitors"; Gordon-Reed agreed.
That night, President Lincoln was shot and badly wounded by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. The President's shooting was part of a conspiracy to kill Lincoln, Johnson, and Seward on the same night. Seward barely survived his injuries, while Johnson escaped the attack because his assassin candidate, George Atzerodt, was drunk instead of killing his vice president. Leonard J. Farwell, a dormitory fellow at Kirkwood House, woke Johnson up with the news of Lincoln's shooting at Ford's Theater. Johnson rushed to the deathbed of the President, where he stayed for a while, upon his return he promised, "They will suffer for this, they will suffer for this." Lincoln died at 7:22 the next morning; Johnson's oath takes place between 10 and 11 am with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase leading before most of the Cabinet. Johnson's attitude is described by newspapers as "solemn and dignified". Several members of the cabinet last saw Johnson, who appeared to be drunk, at the time of the inauguration. During the day, Johnson meets his first Cabinet meeting at the office of the Minister of Finance, and asks all members to remain in their positions.
The killings resulted in speculation, then and later, of Johnson and what the conspirators might have meant for him. In the hopeless hope of saving his life after his arrest, Atzerodt talks a lot about conspiracy, but does not say anything to show that the premeditated murder of Johnson is just a ruse. Conspiracy theories point to the fact that on the day of the murder, Booth came to Kirkwood House and left one of his cards. This object was accepted by Johnson's personal secretary, William A. Browning, with the inscription, "Do not want to disturb you.You are at home? J. Wilkes Booth."
Johnson leads with dignity for Lincoln's funeral in Washington, before the corpse of his predecessor was sent home to Springfield, Illinois, for burial. Shortly after Lincoln's death, Union General William T. Sherman reported that he, without consulting Washington, reached a ceasefire agreement with Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston for the surrender of the Confederate forces in North Carolina in exchange for the remaining ruling state government, with the right of private property to be respected. This does not even recognize their freedom in slavery. It is unacceptable to Johnson or the Cabinet to send news to Sherman to guarantee submission without making a political deal, which he does. Furthermore, Johnson placed a $ 100,000 prize (equivalent to $ 1.6 million in 2017) to President of the Confederate Davis, who later became a fugitive, who gave him a reputation as a man who would be harsh in the South. More controversially, he permitted the execution of Mary Surratt for his part in the killing of Lincoln. The surrat was executed with three others, including Atzerodt, on 7 July 1865.
Reconstruction
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After taking over the office, Johnson faced questions about what to do with the Confederacy. President Lincoln has authorized the loyal government in Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee when the Union comes to control most of the state and advocates a ten percent plan that will allow elections after ten percent of voters in any state take a vow of the future. loyalty to the Union. Congress considers this too soft; his own plan, requiring a majority of voters to take an oath of allegiance, passed the two houses in 1864, but Lincoln's pockets vetoed.
Johnson has three goals in the Reconstruction. He sought the rapid recovery of the states, arguing that they never really left the Union, and thus had to be recognized again after loyal citizens formed the government. For Johnson, African-American suffrage is delay and distraction; it is always the responsibility of the state to decide who should vote. Secondly, the political power in the Southern countries must move from the planting class to its favorite "kampung". Johnson worries that people are liberated, many of whom are still economically tied to their former employers, may have voted in their direction. Johnson's third priority was his own election in 1868, an achievement never achieved by a deceased president, trying to secure a coalition of anti-Congressional Democratic Reconstruction in the South.
Republicans have formed a number of factions. Radical Republicans seek voting rights and other civil rights for African Americans. They believe that liberated people can be encouraged to choose the Republic as a thank-you for emancipation, and that a black voice can keep Republicans in power and South Democrats, including ex-rebels, without influence. They believe that the top Confederacy must be punished. Moderate Republicans sought to keep the Democrats from power at the national level, and prevent former rebels from continuing in power. They are not as enthusiastic about the idea of ​​African-American voting rights as their Radical colleagues, either because of their own local politics, or because they believe that free people tend to vote poorly. North Democrats love the unconditional restoration of the Southern states. They do not support African-American suffrage, which may threaten Democratic control in the South.
Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson was initially left to draft the Reconstruction policy without legislative intervention, since Congress would not meet again until December 1865. Radical Republicanists told the President that the South states were economically in a state of chaos and urged him to use his influence to insist on the right to the person freed as a condition of restoration to the Union. But Johnson, with the support of other officials including Seward, insisted that the franchise was a state, not a federal matter. The Cabinet is divided on this issue.
Johnson's first reconstruction action was two statements, with the unanimous endorsement of his cabinet, on 29 May. One acknowledged the Virginia government led by the interim Governor Francis Pierpont. The second gives amnesty to all former rebels except those who have property worth $ 20,000 or more; it also appointed a temporary governor for North Carolina and an official election. None of these statements include provisions on black privileges or the rights of liberated persons. The President ordered constitutional conventions in other former rebel countries.
When the South states began the process of forming the government, Johnson's policies received massive public support in the North, which he took as unconditional support for the speedy recovery of the South. While he received such support from the white South, he underestimated the determination of the North people to ensure that the war was not fought for no reason. It is important, in the public opinion of the North, that South Korea recognizes its defeat, that slavery is ended, and that many African-Americans are enhanced. Voting rights are less important - however, only a handful of Northern states (mostly in New England) grant African Americans the right to vote on the same basis as whites, and by the end of 1865, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Minnesota voted under African-American suffrage proposal with a large margin. The North's public opinion tolerates Johnson's inertia in black privileges as an experiment, to be allowed if it accelerates the Southern acceptance of defeat. In contrast, the white south man feels brave. A number of Southern states pass through the Black Codes, tying African-American workers to agriculture on an annual contract that they can not stop, and enabling law enforcement to hold them to vandalize and lease their labor. Most of the Southerners elected to Congress are former Confederates, with the most prominent being the designated Georgian Senator and former Confederate vice-president Alexander Stephens. The Congress was inaugurated in early December 1865; Johnson's annual conciliatory message to them was well received. However, Congress refused to place Southern legislators and set up a committee to recommend appropriate Reconstruction legislation.
The North is angry at the idea of ​​unconverted Confederate leaders, like Stephens, rejoining the federal government at a time when the emotional wounds of war remain raw. They see Black Codes put African Americans in a position almost on top of slavery. Republicans are also worried that the restoration of the Southern states will bring the Democrats back into power. Moreover, according to David O. Stewart in his book on Johnson's impeachment, "violence and poverty that oppress the South will inflate opposition to Johnson".
Break with Republicans: 1866
Congress was reluctant to confront the President, and initially only attempted to perfect Johnson's policies towards the South. According to Trefousse, "If there is a time when Johnson can reach agreement with moderate Republican, that is the period after the return of Congress". The President was not happy with the provocative actions of the Southern states, and about continued control by the antebellum elite there, but made no statements openly, believing that the South people had the right to act as they did, even if it was unwise to do so. At the end of January 1866, he was convinced that winning the battle with the Radical Republic was necessary for his political plans - both for the success of Reconstruction and re-election in 1868. He preferred that conflict arise over legislative efforts for the African American enfranchise in the District of Columbia, defeated greatly in an all-white referendum. The bill to achieve this passed the House, but to Johnson's disappointment, stalled in the Senate before he could veto.
Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull, moderate Republican and Justice Committee leader, is keen to reach an understanding with the President. He ushered through Congress a bill extending the Freedmen Bureau beyond the abolition schedule in 1867, and the first Civil Rights Bill, to grant citizenship to the freedmen. Trumbull met several times with Johnson, and was convinced the President would sign the measures (Johnson rarely contradicts the visitors, often fooling those who meet him to think that he agrees). In fact, the President opposes both the bill as a violation of state sovereignty. In addition, both of Trumbull's bills were unpopular among white Americans, whom Johnson expected to be included in his new party. Johnson vetoed the Freedman Bureau Bill on February 18, 1866, to please the white South and angry Republican legislators. He considers himself liberated when a move to override a veto fails in the Senate the following day. Johnson believed that the Radicals would now be exiled and defeated, and that the Moderate Republic would form behind it; he does not understand that Moderates also want to see African Americans treated fairly.
On February 22, 1866, Washington's Birthday, Johnson gave a spontaneous speech to supporters who had marched to the White House and called for an address in honor of the first president. In his one-hour speech, he called himself more than 200 times. More destructive, he also speaks of "man... still opposing Unity" to which he can not extend the hand of friendship he gives to the South. When called upon by the masses to say who they are, Johnson is called Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner, and abolitionist Wendell Phillips, and accuses them of plotting his murder. Republicans view the address as a declaration of war, while a Democratic ally estimates Johnson's speech at the expense of the party's 200,000 votes in the congressional elections in 1866.
Although strongly urged by Moderat to sign the Civil Rights Bill, Johnson decided firmly by vetting it on 27 March. In his veto message, he objected to the action for granting citizenship to the person released at the time of 11 of the 36 states. not represented in Congress, and that it discriminates against African-Americans and against whites. Within three weeks, Congress has ruled out its veto, the first time ever done on a grand bill in American history. The veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, often seen as a major blunder of Johnson's presidency, convinced the Moderates that there was no hope of working with it. Historian Eric Foner in his volume of Reconstruction views him as "the worst miscalculation of his political career". According to Stewart, the veto is "for many decisive errors, setting the tone of eternal confrontation with the Congress that applies to the rest of his presidency".
The Congress also proposed the Fourteenth Amendment to the states. Written by Trumbull and others, it was sent for ratification by the state legislature in a process in which the president did not play a part, even though Johnson was against it. The amendment was designed to lay down key provisions of the Civil Rights Act into the Constitution, but also went further. Amendments extended citizenship to any person born in the United States (except Indians on booking), punishing a non-voting state for release, and most importantly, creating new federal civil rights that can be protected by federal courts. It also ensures that federal debt will be repaid and prohibit payment of the Confederate war debts. Furthermore, he disqualified many former Confederate members from his post, although his disability could be eliminated - by Congress, not the president. Both houses passed the Freedmen Bureau Act for the second time, and once again the President voiced it; this time, the veto was imposed. In the summer of 1866, when Congress was finally postponed, Johnson's method of returning the country to the Union by the executive fiat, without the protection of the liberated, was in big trouble. His native country, Tennessee, ratified the Fourteenth Amendment despite opposition from the President. When Tennessee did so, Congress immediately sat down the proposed delegate, humiliating Johnson.
Compromise attempts failed, and political warfare took place between the united Republic on one side, and on the other hand, Johnson and his allies in the Democrats, North and South. He called the National Unity Party convention. The Republic has re-used its previous identifier; Johnson intends to use the discarded name to unite his supporters and get elections for a full term, in 1868. The battle was the election of 1866; Southern states are not allowed to vote. Johnson campaigned excitedly, doing a public speaking tour, known as "Swing Around the Circle". The trip, including the speeches in Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Columbus, proved to be politically disastrous, with the President making a controversial comparison between himself and Christ, and engaging in arguments with the hecklers. This exchange is attacked as under the dignity of the presidency. Republicans won a landslide, increased their two-thirds majority in Congress, and made plans to control the Reconstruction. Johnson blamed the Democrats for just giving warm support to the National Unity movement.
Radical Reconstruction
Even with the Republic's victory in November 1866, Johnson considered himself in a strong position. The Fourteenth Amendment has been ratified by no Southern or border states except Tennessee, and has been rejected in Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland. Since the amendment required ratification by three quarters of the state to become part of the Constitution, he was convinced that the impasse would be broken for him, leading to his election in 1868. After re-establishing in December 1866, the energized Congress began passing legislation. , often more than the president's veto; this includes the bill of votes of the District of Columbia. Congress recognizes Nebraska to the Union over the veto, and Republicans win two senators and the state immediately ratifies the amendment. Johnson's veto from bills for statehood for the Colorado Region is maintained; quite senators agree that a district with a population of 30,000 is not yet eligible to be a state to win the day.
In January 1867, Congress Stevens introduced legislation to dissolve Southern state governments and rearrange them into five military districts, under martial law. Countries will start again by holding constitutional conventions. African Americans can vote or become delegates; the former Confederate could not. In the legislative process, Congress added to the bill that restoration to the Union would follow the country's ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the completion of its process of addition to the Constitution. Johnson and the South sought a compromise, in which the South would approve a modified version of an amendment without the disqualified former Confederate, and for limited black suffrage. Republicans insist on a full language amendment, and the deal fails. Although Johnson could have vetoed the First Reconstruction Act because it was presented to him less than ten days before the end of the Thirty-Nine Congress, he chose to veto directly on March 2, 1867; Congress rejected it on the same day. Also on March 2, Congress passed the Ratification of Office Law over the President's veto, in response to a statement during Swing Around the Circle that he planned to dismiss the Cabinet secretary who disagreed with him. The bill, requiring Senate approval for the dismissal of Cabinet members during the term of office of the president who appoints them and for a month thereafter, soon becomes controversial, with some senators doubting that it is constitutional or that its provisions apply to Johnson, whose key cabinet officers are relics of Lincoln.
Impeachment
War Secretary Edwin Stanton is a capable and hardworking person, but hard to handle. Johnson was admired and disappointed by his War Secretary, who, in combination with General Grant's Army, worked to weaken the South's presidential policies from within his own government. Johnson is considered to have sacked Stanton, but respected him for his war service as a secretary. Stanton, for his part, was afraid of letting Johnson name his successor and refused to resign, despite public disapproval with his president.
The new Congress met for several weeks in March 1867, then postponed, leaving the Justice Board Committee, burdened with reporting back to the full Building whether there was a reason for Johnson to be dismissed. The committee should meet, examine the bank accounts of the President, and summon the Cabinet members to testify. When a federal court freed the former president of the Confederate Davis on bail on May 13 (he was arrested shortly after the war), the committee investigated whether the President had blocked the prosecution. He learns that Johnson is eager for Davis to try. The bipartisan majority of the committee rejected the impeachment allegations; the committee was postponed on 3 June.
Later in June, Johnson and Stanton fought the question of whether military officers stationed in the Southern command could overrule civilian authorities. The President has Attorney General Henry Stanbery issuing opinions that support his position that they can not. Johnson attempted to trap Stanton well for, and thus support Johnson's position, or fight, showing himself to oppose the president and the rest of the Cabinet. Stanton avoided the point of meeting and written communication. When Congress reunited in July, he passed the Reconstruction Act on Johnson's position, waited for his veto, rejected him, and went home. In addition to clarifying the power of the generals, the law also lifted the President's control of the Army in the South. With the Congress recess until November, Johnson decided to fire Stanton and release one of the military commanders, General Philip Sheridan, who had sacked the Texas governor and installed his successor with little popular support. Johnson was initially hindered by a strong objection from Grant, but on August 5, P
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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