Andrew Johnson Event Timeline
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General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders near Durham Station, North Carolina on more stringent terms than first proposed. Other forces across the South and west of the Mississippi River later surrender. (Click here for more information about Johnston’s surrender.)

Interview with George L. Stearns. Discusses restoring Southern states to Congress, and the issue of negro voting rights “The negro with vote with the late master whom he does not hate, rather than with the non-slaveholding white, whom he does hate. Universal suffrage would create another war, not against us, but a war of races.”

Remarks to the First District of Columbia Colored Regiment. “Can four millions of people, raised as they have been with all the prejudices of the white, can they take their places in the community and be made to work harmoniously and congruously in our system?”

An Interview with a delegation from South Carolina. “Those coming out of slavery cannot do without work; they cannot lie down in dissipation; they must work; they ought to understand that liberty means simply the right to work and enjoy the products of labor, and that the laws protect them.”

Mississippi enacts the first Black Codes, a set of laws restricting the rights of African Americans and subordinating their place in society. Other ex-Confederate states follow suit in the following months. (Click here for more information about the Black Codes.)

Interview with a delegation of “colored representatives” on the issue of suffrage. The delegation included Frederick Douglass and George T. Downing. Johnson asks whether it is right to “force upon” the white community the right to vote for “the colored race” without the consent of the whites? “. . . you propose now to incorporate into [government] an element that didn’t exist before.” Douglass observes "Let the negro once understand that he has an organic right to vote, and he will raise up a party in the Southern States among the poor, who will rally with him."

Vetoes “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees.” Cites the Freedmen’s Bureau as a constitutionally unwarranted act of “immense patronage” given the “condition of [the Union’s] fiscal affairs.” (Veto is sustained by two votes.)

Extemporaneous Remarks to a large crowd in Washington DC on the occasion of the Birthday of George Washington. The President states his view that no state had a right to secede, and thus once defeated—and yielding—in the rebellion, and swearing loyalty to the Union, there is no Constitutional basis for keeping states from being represented in Congress. Holding contrary views is actually treasonous. Provoked by the crowd, he names three traitors. He also offers to be a martyr for the Constitution.

Vetoes the Civil Rights Act (14 Stat 27) following Congress’s failure to pass the Freedmen’s Bureau Act. Cites provisions as “made to operate in favor of the colored and against the white race,” in addition to interfering with State municipal legislation. Congress overrides the veto. (Click here for more information about the Civil Rights Act.)

Special Message to Congress recommending changes in the 07/02/1862 Oath of Office Act to eliminate a requirement that the office-holder swear they had not been an active participant in the rebellion. Forwards reports from the Treasury Department and the Post Office outlining the difficulties resulting from the required oath.

The Fenian Raid and The Battle of Ridgeway occur in British-held territory in Canada. Issues Proclamation 155 urging many of the actors, who are Civil War veterans, to refrain from attacking the area. (Click here for more information about the Battle of Ridgeway.)

Congress passes and sends the 14th Amendment to the states for ratification following displeasure with President Johnson’s leniency toward the former Confederate states. The Amendment grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including those formerly enslaved. The Amendment, when later ratified, overturns the Dred Scott decision of 1857.

Vetoes “An Act to continue in force and to amend ‘An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees’ and for other Purposes” (14 Stat 173). Questions why “this war measure” should be “continued beyond the period designated in the original act,” since the war has ended. Congress overrides this veto the same day.

In New Orleans, a mob attacks delegates to a Louisiana Constitutional. The resulting racial violence was eventually controlled by Federal troops, but not before at least 37 were dead and 100 more wounded. General Phil Sheridan wrote Ulysses Grant that “It was no riot. It was an absolute massacre by the police. . . “ (Link to report of the New Orleans Massacre. For Sheridan see Personal Memoirs p. 235)

Embarks on “Swing Around the Circle” speaking tour. Visits the states of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio. Defends leniency toward the ex-Confederate states, attacks congressional enemies, and criticizes the 14th Amendment in his speeches. (Click here for more information about the Swing Around the Circle speaking tour.)

Remarks in Cleveland, Ohio. Replies “Why not hang Thad Stevens and Wendell Phillips?” to a crowd member who had yelled “Hang Jeff Davis!” In response to another remark from the crowd says “I care not for dignity.” After these exchanges press reporting is more critical.

Vetoes “An Act to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia.” The bill would give voting rights to “people of color” without any demonstration of “qualifications requiring intelligence or property.” Johnson points out that in “special elections” held in December 1866, qualified voters in the District overwhelmingly opposed this change. The veto is overridden on 01/08/1867 (14 Stat 375).

Vetoes “An act for the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union.” Objects to requiring that Nebraska not deny the vote “to any person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians not taxed. . .” That condition was not previously required or specified. The veto is overridden on 02/09/1867 (14 Stat 391).

Vetoes the “Tenure of Office Act” requiring the President to seek Senate advice and consent before removing an appointee from office. The message reviews at length the history of limitations on the removal power, concluding that it had long been settled that the Presidential removal power did not require Senate advice and consent. The veto is overridden on the same day (14 Stat 430). Conflict over this issue is at the heart of Johnson’s later impeachment.

Vetoes First Reconstruction Act (14 Stat 428). Insists Southerners are “united in the effort to reorganize their society...as rapidly and as completely as their circumstances will permit.” Congress overrides the veto, dividing the South, except for Tennessee, into five military districts for governance. (Click here for more information about the Reconstruction Act.)

The impeachment trial begins in the Senate. Johnson does not appear at trial on the advice of counsel but agrees to numerous press conferences during the proceedings. (Click here for more information about Johnson’s impeachment trial.)

Supreme Court decides Grisar v. McDowell, concerning disposition of public lands in the past by President Fillmore. The ruling underscores presidential unilateral powers. The Court concluded “from an early period in the history of the government it has been the practice of the President to order, from time to time, as the exigencies of the public service required, parcels of land belonging to the United States to be reserved from sale and set apart for public uses.”

Vetoes the Act amending the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Act restricted the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (apparently with the goal of limiting the Court’s jurisdiction in a specific pending case Ex parte McCardle). Johnson points out that the bill alters Court jurisdiction “on appeals that have already been made to that high judicial body.” The veto is overridden on 03/27/1868 (15 Stat 44).

The Senate fails to convict Johnson on articles 2 and 3 in the impeachment trial. The Senate acquits Johnson and adjourns as a court of impeachment. (Click here for more information about Johnson’s impeachment trial.)

Vetoes “An Act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to Representation in Congress” (15 Stat 73). Repeats objections made in Veto of Act concerning Arkansas’ congressional representation. Argues legislation is unnecessary because the Constitution already declares each State entitled to congressional representation. Congress overrides the Veto.

Vetoes a Joint Resolution “excluding from the electoral college the votes of States lately in rebellion which shall not have been reorganized.” Argues that because secession is unconstitutional, the States in fact never left the union or forfeited their rights. The veto was overridden on the same day (15 Stat 257).

By Proclamation 179, grants Full Pardon and Amnesty for the Offense of Treason (but not for other crimes) to “all and to every person who, directly or indirectly, participated in the late insurrection or rebellion.” This ended the prosecution of Jefferson Davis for treason.

On January 26, 1875, Johnson was elected to the Senate by the Tennessee legislature for the term starting 03/04/1875. He served until his death 07/31/1875. He was the only former President to return to the Senate.