Andrew Johnson

Born December 29, 1808
Raleigh, North Carolina

Died July 31, 1875
Carter's Station, Tennessee

President, politician, and tailor

"[Most,] if not all, of our domestic troubles are directly traceable to violations of the organic law and excessive legislation. The most striking illustrations of this fact are furnished by the enact ments of the past three years upon the question of reconstruction."

Andrew Johnson succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65) in April 1865, just a month into Lincoln's second term as president. Johnson was chosen by Lincoln to be his vice president as a symbolic gesture of uniting the nation during the Civil War (1861–65): Lincoln was a Republican from the North, Johnson a Democrat from the South. Johnson faced great challenges as president; the Civil War was over and the nation needed to be reunified and to respect the freedom of emancipated slaves. But Congress and Johnson held different views on Reconstruction (1865–77), the rebuilding of the United States after the Civil War. Those differences would frustrate Johnson, whose presidential power was overshadowed by Congress and who faced impeachment and removal from office for defying Congress. Johnson survived removal by one vote.

From poverty to shop owner at eighteen

Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, in a cottage in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was the youngest of two sons of Jacob and Mary Johnson. Johnson's father worked many odd jobs to provide for his family, including porter (one who carries suitcases for guests) and waiter at an inn and janitor at a bank. He served in the local militia (a citizen military force) and as a sexton (a minor church official) of the community's Presbyterian Church. Shortly after Johnson turned three, his father died from complications that began after he dove into a pond to save two men from drowning. Already poor, the family scraped along on the money Mary Johnson earned by sewing, weaving, and washing.

Johnson never attended school and no one in the family could read. By age ten, he began working for a tailor, responsible for cleaning shop and learning the skills of a tailor. By his early teens, Johnson had acquired tailoring skills and had learned the basics of reading and writing. It was common for shop owners to keep their workers entertained by having someone read to them while they worked. A local minister read to the tailors in the shop where Johnson worked, and he spent some extra time teaching Johnson how to read and write.

Johnson and his brother left Raleigh in 1824, when Johnson was fifteen, after being involved in some mischief. They wandered over the state border into Tennessee and found work as tailors in the town of Greeneville. Johnson returned to Raleigh in 1826 to convince his mother and his step-father to join him in Greeneville. Johnson seized an opportunity the following year, at the age of eighteen: The best tailor left town, and Johnson opened up a small shop of his own, called A. Johnson, Tailor.

When Johnson first entered Greeneville, he caught the eye of Eliza McCardle, then fourteen years old. They married three years later, on May 17, 1827. Eliza Johnson helped her husband improve his skills in reading, writing, and math. They would have five children: Martha, Charles, Mary, Robert, and Andrew Jr.

Hangout for political discussions

Johnson worked hard and took pride in his labors. Outspoken for the rights and values of common people, he joined a debating society, and his tailor shop became a lively place for political discussions. With a strong speaking voice and strong opinions on issues of importance to working-class people, Johnson was elected as an alderman (town council position) in 1828. Two years later, he became mayor of Greeneville and served in this capacity until 1833, managing his growing tailor business at the same time.

During the period from 1828 to 1838, political power in the United States shifted from large landowners to people of more humble means. Their national hero was President Andrew Jackson (1767–1845; served 1829–1837), who was also a former U.S. senator and representative from Tennessee. Jackson's Democratic Party came to prominence, and Johnson became a member of the party. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives and served from 1835 to 1837.

Johnson failed to win reelection in 1837 and learned an important lesson. He had voted against a road improvement bill, based on his belief that government should be limited and should resist raising taxes to fund projects. The people of eastern Tennessee whom Johnson represented wanted improved roads. Johnson dropped his ideological opposition (a position based on one's ideals) in order to fight for what was best for the people. He was elected again to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1839. Johnson fought vigorously for laborers of eastern Tennessee against more wealthy slave owners in the state. He was elected to the state senate in 1841. Johnson failed in efforts to repeal a state law that favored slaveholders over other landowners.

Johnson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 at the age of thirty-four and served for ten years. His most notable action as a congressman came in 1846 when he proposed the nation's first homestead legislation. His homestead bill, which failed to pass in the U.S. Senate, would have set aside inexpensive plots of land on the western frontier where small farmers could establish homes and livelihoods. Though the bill failed at the time, the Homestead Act of 1862 that became law was modeled closely on Johnson's original proposal. Johnson's original proposal failed during the 1840s when there was fear in the U.S. Senate that opening up the West would feed the expansion of slavery to new territories and states. In 1862, the Civil War was being fought and Congress and President Lincoln were anxious to push the legislation under the assumption that expansion of slavery was no longer an issue.

In 1853, Johnson was elected for the first of two terms as governor of Tennessee. He supported and signed into law bills that created the state's first public school system, a state library, and a system of agricultural and mechanical fairs to share information on developments in industry and agriculture. In 1857, Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate; soon thereafter, he renewed his efforts for a homestead bill. In an argumentative legislature, Southern Democrats opposed the bill as they voted in a bloc against any bill that might undermine their protection of slavery. But Johnson was not a crusader against slavery; he wanted to provide more opportunities for people who could not afford to have slaves.

Johnson supported the Democratic Party in the elections of 1860. When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected on an antislavery platform, many Southern states seceded (separated) from the Union and formed their own government, called the Confederacy. Tennessee did not secede until the Confederacy fired on the federal government's Fort Sumter in South Carolina, which started the Civil War. As Tennesseans debated whether or not to join the Confederacy, Johnson campaigned against leaving the Union. He was committed to the United States and the Constitution. When citizens voted to join the Confederacy, Johnson had to leave the state, and then Confederate authorities forced his wife and children to leave as well. Johnson was the only Southern senator not to resign his seat in Congress.

Johnson becomes president

In 1862, Johnson was appointed brigadier general by Lincoln to serve as military governor of Tennessee. (A military governor is the head government official of an area that has been taken over in a military action.) Johnson restored order in the state: His administration collected taxes, dismissed officials unwilling to take the federal oath of allegiance, shut down Confederate newspapers, and arrested pro-Confederate ministers and fighters.

When Lincoln ran for reelection in 1864, he wanted to appeal to Northern Democrats and Southern Unionists (those that remained in the Union) as well as Republicans. For the election, the Republican Party's name was changed to the National Union Party, and Johnson, a Southern Unionist Democrat, ran as vice president with Lincoln, a Republican. When the Lincoln-Johnson ticket won, it marked only the second time that the nation's president and vice president came from different parties. (President John Adams [1735–1826] and Vice President Thomas Jefferson [1743–1826] were the first.)

Johnson had a brief, but very difficult, time as vice president. On inauguration day (the day he was sworn in as vice president), he was suffering from a fever and drank some alcohol to fight his fever. When called on to make a speech, his words were slurred and his speech was disorganized. The incident damaged his reputation and led to persistent rumors that Johnson had a drinking problem. However, no historical evidence suggests that Johnson was an alcoholic or that his performance at the inaugural was more than an isolated incident.

As vice president, Johnson only discussed issues with Lincoln on one occasion—briefly, on the day Lincoln was later shot by an assassin. Lincoln died the next morning, only a month into his second term. Johnson was sworn into the office of president on April 15, 1865, by Salmon P. Chase (1808–1873), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Johnson faced formidable issues: The Civil War was over and the nation needed to be reunified; Congress was led by a group known as the Radical Republicans, with key U.S. senators Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868; see entry) and Charles Sumner (1811–1874), who were intent on punishing the former Confederacy and aggressively pursuing civil rights for freed slaves; and Congress believed it had the authority to set the terms of Reconstruction. Believing the president, not Congress, should lead the Reconstruction effort, Johnson prepared to forge ahead before the next session of Congress began in December.

Believing in a limited federal government, Johnson wanted to reestablish state governments in the South as quickly as possible. After assuming the presidency, Johnson announced his Reconstruction plan: Former Confederate states had to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (which included the abolishment, or destruction, of slavery), renounce Confederate debts, and nullify (invalidate) secession ordinances. When states met those conditions, Johnson, as the temporary wartime authority, would recognize their restoration to the Union. Several states quickly met the obligations proposed by Johnson. When Congress returned in December 1865, the battle between the executive and legislative branches over Reconstruction became one of the worst struggles between the executive and legislative branches in the nation's history.

Congress versus Johnson

Congress immediately halted Johnson's Reconstruction plan and refused to seat congressmen who had been elected from former Confederate states. Many in Congress were concerned about protecting the civil rights of freedmen (former slaves now emancipated). Johnson believed that Congress was overstepping its bounds. He vetoed civil rights legislation—citing such legislation as a matter for states, not the federal government—and refused to endorse a new constitutional amendment granting African Americans rights of citizenship. The remainder of Johnson's term was a bitter and losing struggle. Congress succeeded in controlling Reconstruction and passed laws that limited presidential authority, including the Tenure of Office Act (see box).

Congress in Charge

Passed in 1867 by Congress over President Johnson's veto, the Tenure of Office Act concerned federal officials appointed by the president that required confirmation by the Senate. Under the Tenure of Office Act, such officials could not be removed from their position by the president without the consent of the Senate. If the Senate was not in session, the president could suspend an official, but once the Senate reconvened it had to approve the removal or the official would have to be reinstated by the president.

The Tenure of Office Act was one of several actions by Congress during Johnson's administration that enhanced the authority of Congress at the expense of the presidency. Historians generally regard the period from 1865 to 1885 as an era when Congress was more powerful than the president. The powers of the two branches of government became more balanced in 1885, during the presidency of Grover Cleveland (1837–1908; served 1885–89, 1893–97), when the Tenure of Office Act was repealed. Cleveland won back some of the prestige of the presidency, and two of his successors, William McKinley (1843–1901; served 1897–1901) and Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919; served 1901–9) were powerful presidents.

As Congress continued to lead the Reconstruction policy, Johnson made angry public speeches about the federal legislature and actively campaigned for congressional candidates who supported his view in 1866. However, Republicans made even more congressional gains in 1866. Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867 that placed military governments in former Confederate states and required those states to pass the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to begin the process of returning to the Union (see box).

Johnson, meanwhile, decided to test the Tenure of Office Act during the summer of 1867, when Congress was not in session. Johnson's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton (1814–1869; see entry), supported the Reconstruction policies of Republicans in Congress. Johnson wanted to remove Stanton from office. Since Stanton had been appointed by Abraham Lincoln, had been confirmed by the Senate as a Lincoln appointee, and remained in his position when Johnson succeeded Lincoln, Johnson believed the Tenure of Office Act did not apply since he had not appointed Stanton. In August 1867, Johnson asked for Stanton's resignation. When Stanton refused, Johnson suspended him from office, ordering Stanton to cease all exercise of authority, and transferred his power to Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885; see entry), the Civil War hero whom Johnson wanted as his new secretary of war.

After Congress reconvened in January 1868, the Senate voted 35-16 to overrule Johnson on Stanton's removal. Johnson, in turn, refused to accept the Senate's decision and called the Tenure of Office Act an unconstitutional infringement on the power of the president. The House of Representatives immediately began impeachment hearings against Johnson (see box for a description of the impeachment process).

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution set the terms for former Confederate states being readmitted into the Union. The states had to approve the Fourteenth Amendment as part of the process for reentering the Union. Reprinted below are three sections meant to apply specifically to states that had formerly allowed slavery.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.…

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Hearings on grounds for impeaching Johnson began in a few days. The House of Representatives approved eleven articles of impeachment against Johnson for actions related to his attempt to remove Secretary of War Stanton from office and for remarks he made in speeches in Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri, where he defamed Congress. Article X of the Articles of Impeachment describes Johnson's public speeches against Congress: "utterances, declarations, threats and harangues [highly emotional speeches], highly censurable in any, are peculiarly indecent and unbecoming in the Chief Magistrate of the United States, by means whereof the said Andrew Johnson has brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule and disgrace, to the great scandal of all good citizens, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did commit, and was then and there guilty of a high misdemeanor in office."

The Impeachment Process

Framers of the Constitution wanted to address actions that warranted removal of a federal official from office. Those actions fall under the category of treason, bribery, and "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Impeachment proceedings against a president begin when the House of Representatives votes to begin an investigation into actions that are considered impeachable as defined by the Constitution. The investigation committee reports its findings and recommendations to the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee drafts and approves Articles of Impeachment: Each article discusses a specific impeachable offense. The entire House of Representatives then votes on whether or not to approve each article. Two-thirds majority is needed to approve impeachment. If the House approves any of the articles, the president is considered impeached and must face trial in the U.S. Senate. Presidents are defended by their lawyers, while cases against presidents are argued by Managers—a group of Representatives that are selected to represent Congress. The Senate trial is presided over in the Senate by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

After House Managers and the president's defense lawyers have argued their cases, the U.S. Senate votes on the guilt or innocence of the president based on the Articles of Impeachment and the definition of impeachable offenses in the Constitution. If two-thirds of the Senate vote guilty, the president is removed from office. If less than two-thirds vote guilty, the president remains in office.

During Johnson's impeachment trial in the Senate, the president's lawyers argued that Johnson's attempt to remove Stanton was a test of the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act. They focused on the key issue that since Stanton had been appointed by President Lincoln, the Tenure of Office Act did not apply to Stanton's position under President Johnson.

When arguments were completed in Johnson's impeachment trial, the Senate voted first to determine whether each of the eleven articles were grounds for impeachment. The Senate voted against all but three of the articles. Concerned that they might not have the two-thirds majority to find Johnson guilty (needing 36 of 54 votes), Republican Senate leaders delayed the impeachment vote. When the Senate finally voted on the first of the articles, thirty-five senators voted guilty, one short of the majority needed to convict Johnson and remove him from office. After ten days and intense pressuring of Republicans who voted Johnson not guilty, the final two votes were taken, and they also ended 35-19, one short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

Johnson's legacy

Johnson's battles with Congress over Reconstruction and Congress's impeachment of Johnson are the most frequently reviewed events of Johnson's presidency. Those circumstances lead historians to rank Johnson among the least effective presidents though there were positive events during Johnson's presidency. Johnson's secretary of state, William Seward (1801–1872), negotiated the Alaska Purchase, where the United States bought the territory known then as Russian-America from Russia for just over $7 million. While some Americans ridiculed the purchase as "Seward's Folly" and viewed the area as a vast, icy wasteland, the purchase proved extremely valuable. Johnson was successful in challenging France over that nation's increasing involvement in Mexico. France had helped arm factions (small groups) loyal to a prince whom France wanted to become emperor of Mexico. Johnson sent a warning to France not to interfere with Mexican affairs, and France withdrew a military force.

Johnson's presidency did not end on a positive note. He was passed over for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1868 election and left office after making an often bitter Annual Address to Congress in December 1868. In the address, he called Reconstruction a failure: "[Most,] if not all, of our domestic troubles are directly traceable to violations of the organic law [laws that are changeable] and excessive legislation. The most striking illustrations of this fact are furnished by the enactments of the past three years upon the question of reconstruction."

After he left office in March 1869, Johnson returned to Tennessee. He remained politically active and won enough support to run for and win election to the U.S. Senate in 1874. He is the only president ever to have been elected senator after his presidency. (Former president John Quincy Adams [1767–1848; served 1825–29] served in the House of Representatives from 1831 to 1848; former president John Tyler [1790–1862; served 1841–45] was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives in 1861, but died before his term began.) Johnson received a standing ovation on his first day as senator but did not serve for long. He suffered a stroke and died on July 31, 1875. He was buried in Greeneville, the town where he had worked himself up from poverty and launched a political career that brought him to the nation's highest office.

For More Information

Books

Dubkowski, Cathy East. Andrew Johnson: Rebuilding the Union. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1991.

Hearn, Chester G. The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2000.

Mantell, Martin E. Johnson, Grant and the Politics of Reconstruction. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973.

McKittrick, Eric L. Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Simpson, Brooks D. The Reconstruction Presidents. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Trefousse, Hans L. Andrew Johnson: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Trefousse, Hans Louis. Impeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Blacks, and Reconstruction. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1975. Reprint, New York: Fordham University Press, 1999.

Web Sites

"Andrew Johnson National Historic Site." National Parks Service.http://www.nps.gov/anjo/ (accessed on June 28, 2004).

"Famous American Trials: The Andrew Johnson Impeachment Trial." University of Missouri–Kansas City.http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/impeach/impeachmt.htm (accessed on July 26, 2004).

"North Carolina Encyclopedia: The Biography of Andrew Johnson." The State Library of North Carolina.http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/public/johnson.htm (accessed on June 28, 2004).