With the
Assassination of Lincoln, the Presidency fell upon an
old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced
states' rights views. Although an honest and honorable man,
Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate of Presidents.
Arrayed against him were the Radical Republicans in Congress,
brilliantly led and ruthless in their tactics. Johnson was no
match for them.
Born in
Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808, Johnson grew up in poverty.
He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran away. He
opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, married Eliza
McCardle, and participated in debates at the local academy.
Entering
politics, he became an adept stump speaker, championing the
common man and vilifying the plantation aristocracy. As a
Member of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the
1840's and '50's, he advocated a homestead bill to provide a
free farm for the poor man.
During
the secession crisis, Johnson remained in the Senate even when
Tennessee seceded, which made him a hero in the North and a
traitor in the eyes of most Southerners. In 1862 President
Lincoln appointed him Military Governor of Tennessee, and
Johnson used the state as a laboratory for reconstruction. In
1864 the Republicans, contending that their National Union
Party was for all loyal men, nominated Johnson, a Southerner
and a Democrat, for Vice President.
After
Lincoln's death, President Johnson proceeded to reconstruct
the former Confederate States while Congress was not in
session in 1865. He pardoned all who would take an oath of
allegiance, but required leaders and men of wealth to obtain
special Presidential pardons.
By the
time Congress met in December 1865, most southern states were
reconstructed, slavery was being abolished, but "black
codes" to regulate the freedmen were beginning to appear.
Radical
Republicans in Congress moved vigorously to change Johnson's
program. They gained the support of northerners who were
dismayed to see Southerners keeping many prewar leaders and
imposing many prewar restrictions upon Negroes.
The
Radicals' first step was to refuse to seat any Senator or
Representative from the old Confederacy. Next they passed
measures dealing with the former slaves. Johnson vetoed the
legislation. The Radicals mustered enough votes in Congress to
pass legislation over his veto--the first time that Congress
had overridden a President on an important bill. They passed
the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which established Negroes as
American citizens and forbade discrimination against them.
A few
months later Congress submitted to the states the Fourteenth
Amendment, which specified that no state should "deprive
any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process
of law."
All the
former Confederate States except Tennessee refused to ratify
the amendment; further, there were two bloody race riots in
the South. Speaking in the Middle West, Johnson faced hostile
audiences. The Radical Republicans won an overwhelming victory
in Congressional elections that fall.
In March
1867, the Radicals effected their own plan of Reconstruction,
again placing southern states under military rule. They passed
laws placing restrictions upon the President. When Johnson
allegedly violated one of these, the Tenure of Office Act, by
dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the House voted
eleven articles of impeachment against him. He was tried by
the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by one vote.
In 1875,
Tennessee returned Johnson to the Senate. He died a few months
later.
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Andrew
Johnson