Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869 during the turbulent years immediately following the Civil War. Born into poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina, Johnson rose through American politics largely through his own efforts, becoming a tailor, local politician, congressman, governor, senator, and eventually vice president. His presidency was dominated by the enormous challenge of reconstructing the Union and determining the political and legal status of the former Confederate states and the formerly enslaved population. Johnson favored a lenient restoration of the Southern states and opposed many of the policies pursued by the Republican-controlled Congress. His conflict with Congress ultimately led to his impeachment, making him the first American president to be impeached by the House of Representatives, although he was acquitted by the Senate and remained in office.

Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Jacob Johnson and Mary McDonough Johnson. His father died when Andrew was only three years old, leaving his mother to support the family through work as a laundress. Johnson received little formal education and was apprenticed to a tailor as a young boy. He eventually left his apprenticeship and moved with his family to Tennessee, where he established himself as a tailor in Greeneville. Although he had little schooling, Johnson taught himself to read and developed an interest in politics. His experience growing up poor and without land or social connections strongly influenced his political outlook: he became a fierce advocate for the interests of small farmers and workingmen and developed a deep hostility toward the wealthy planter elite that dominated much of the South.

Johnson entered politics in Tennessee in the 1820s and quickly rose through local government. He served as an alderman and mayor of Greeneville before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. He later served in the Tennessee Senate and became governor of Tennessee in 1853. In 1857, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he became a prominent spokesman for the interests of non-slaveholding white Southerners. Although he owned enslaved people himself, Johnson opposed the political dominance of the planter aristocracy and supported measures that he believed would benefit ordinary farmers. When the Southern states began seceding in 1860–1861, Johnson remained loyal to the Union, making him one of the most prominent Southern Unionists. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him military governor of occupied Tennessee in 1862, and in 1864 Lincoln selected him as his vice-presidential running mate on the National Union ticket. Johnson became vice president in March 1865 and assumed the presidency after Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, taking the oath of office on April 15.

Johnson's presidency was almost entirely consumed by Reconstruction. He believed that the Union had been preserved and that the Southern states should be restored relatively quickly with limited federal intervention. He issued pardons to many former Confederates and allowed Southern governments to be reorganized under his lenient terms. These governments enacted laws known as Black Codes, which restricted the freedom and economic opportunities of formerly enslaved people. Republicans in Congress, particularly the Radical Republicans, responded by demanding stronger federal protections for African Americans and a more substantial transformation of Southern political institutions. Johnson repeatedly clashed with Congress, vetoing major Reconstruction legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1866, although Congress overrode his veto. The conflict reached its peak when Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act and Johnson attempted to remove Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The House of Representatives impeached Johnson in February 1868, primarily over his violation of the Tenure of Office Act, but the Senate trial ended in May with his acquittal by one vote. Johnson completed his term and left office in March 1869, when Ulysses S. Grant became president.

After leaving the presidency, Johnson returned to Tennessee and attempted to revive his political career. He remained a controversial figure, but his political supporters continued to regard him as a defender of the Constitution against what they considered congressional overreach. Johnson unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Senate in 1869 and the House of Representatives in 1872. In 1875, however, the Tennessee legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate, making him the only former president ever to return to the Senate after serving as president. His return was short-lived. Johnson's political career continued to be marked by his strong opposition to Republican Reconstruction policies and his belief that the federal government had exceeded its constitutional authority in its treatment of the Southern states.

Johnson died on July 31, 1875, near Elizabethton, Tennessee, after suffering a stroke. He was buried at the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Greeneville, Tennessee. Johnson's historical reputation has remained deeply controversial. He is often remembered as one of the weakest presidents of the Reconstruction era because his opposition to congressional Reconstruction helped limit federal protection for formerly enslaved people during a crucial period of American history. At the same time, historians have noted that his rise from poverty to the presidency was remarkable and that his loyalty to the Union during the Civil War distinguished him from most Southern politicians. His presidency illustrates the enormous constitutional and political conflict over how the Union should be restored after the Civil War and what freedom and citizenship would mean for the four million people emancipated by the conflict.