President Andrew Johnson
President Andrew Johnson | Facts Family & Politics | Study.com
Learn facts about Andrew Johnson and discover the 17th president of the US. Discover where Andrew Johnson was born and facts about the Andrew...
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As the Election of 1864 drew near, war fatigue was setting in and Lincoln was under immense pressure. He decided, as a show of unity and good faith, to reach across the aisle and nominate Democrat Andrew Johnson as his new running mate, removing his former VP from the ticket. Together, Lincoln and Johnson won a landslide victory bolstered by the Union victory at the Battle of Atlanta late that summer.

The date most often listed as the end of the Civil War is April 9, 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Battle of Appomattox. However, it's a bit more complicated than that. There was no official peace treaty as there is in most wars, and vestiges of the Confederacy continued to resist Union control throughout 1865. It would be Andrew Johnson though, not Abraham Lincoln, who would have to deal bringing the Confederacy and the War to its final conclusion. Just days after General Lee surrendered on April 9th, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on the 15th. Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President that very same day.

President Andrew Johnson

Lincoln had already gone over a plan for reconstructing the south with members of his cabinet prior to his assassination. Critical to those plans was the enfranchisement of black men. Lincoln and many other Republican leaders considered giving African-American men the right to vote critical of maintaining control in the south and ensuring it didn't fall into old habits. Johnson went against these plans, choosing not to make black suffrage a requirement for re-admittance to the Union. In his first actions, Johnson appointed provisional governors in defeated confederate states. He had those governors convene to write new state constitutions. Two requirements were made, those constitutions must abolish slavery and renounce secession. After the constitutions were signed, new governors would be elected and representatives would be sent to Congress to apply for re-admittance.

Though Johnson had railed against the planter elite his whole political career, he decided to sign thousands of pardons that allowed the planter class and other Confederate leaders to maintain power at the state level. Johnson never gave a clear reason why he did this, leaving it for historians to speculate.

When the Republican-controlled Congress finally re-convened in December of 1865, they disagreed with many of Johnson's plans for Reconstruction. The two sides clashed for the next two years, dooming Reconstruction. The biggest issue was Johnson's apparent determination to deny civil rights to African-Americans. He vetoed the Freedmen's Bureau Act and the Civil Right Act of 1866, forcing Congress to override his veto in both instances.

When the midterm elections of 1866 came around Johnson campaigned vigorously for those who would support his policies in Congress. His blatantly vile and racist remarks during this campaign even offended many Democrats, which led to the Republican gaining control of two-thirds of both houses. Congress then proceeded to limit Johnson's power through legislation. Johnson began to lash out against Congress. He tried to challenge their authority by dismissing his Secretary of War after Congress had passed legislation that barred the removal of civil officers without the consent of the Senate. It was for this that Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 24, 1868. However, when the Senate voted for his removal, they came up 1 vote short of the required two-thirds majority. That same year Johnson failed to even be nominated by his own party, the Democrats, for the presidential election of 1868. Thus marking an end to his presidency. Johnson is considered by scholars and historians to be one of the worst presidents ever. His squandering the years directly following the civil war doomed Reconstruction, the impact of which still lingers today.

Senate Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, in a log cabin in North Carolina. He came from a poor background and never received a formal education. When he was 17 he moved to Tennessee to become a tailor. There he met his wife, Eliza, who was 16 at the time. Eliza taught Andrew how to read, write, figure, and invest money. With her training, he took up a career in politics. He started as town alderman but eventually was elected mayor. He then ran for the Tennessee state legislator and eventually for US Congress. When the Civil War broke out he was one of the few Southern Democrats who argued against secession. He tried to keep his state, Tennessee, in the Union, but when he failed he was forced to flee to Kentucky.

In 1864, Lincoln, a Republican president, chose Johnson, a Democrat, to be his running mate as a sign of unity. A month after Lincoln was sworn in as President for the second time he was assassinated, making Andrew Johnson the 17th President of the United States. Instead of enacting vital Reconstruction policies, Johnson wasted his Presidency fighting with Congress over his belief that African-Americans should not be given civil liberties. Johnson was the first president to ever be impeached, and is largely considered to be one of the worst presidents to ever hold the office.