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Andrew Johnson Facts

Andrew Johnson Facts
Andrew Johnson was Vice President of the United States of America under President Abraham Lincoln and the seventeenth President of the Unite States when Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Since Lincoln was assassinated not long after his inauguration, Johnson served for nearly a complete term, but lost the his party's nomination for the presidency in 1868 and with it a chance to serve a second term. His presidency was marked by nearly continual political and legal battles with the Republican dominated Congress, which culminated with his impeachment in February 1868 by the House of Representatives, although the Senate voted not to convict. Johnson was born on December 29, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina to Jacob and Mary Johnson. Growing up in poverty, Johnson was not formally educated and worked as a tailor as a young man and moved throughout the southeast. Johnson eventually moved to eastern Tennessee, where he met his future wife, Eliza McCardle. The couple were married by Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham Lincoln.
Interesting Andrew Johnson Facts:
Despite lacking a formal education, Johnson learned how to read and write from a number of different people, including his wife.
Johnson began his political career in the Tennessee state legislature and although not initially a member of a party, he eventually became an ardent Jacksonian Democrat.
Johnson was known to be an excellent orator and debater.
From 1843 to 1853 Johnson represented Tennessee's 1st District in the United States House of Representatives
Johnson was elected to serve as Tennessee's governor from October 15, 1853 to November 3, 1857 and served as military governor of the state during the Civil War.
Johnson was United States Senator from Tennessee from 1857 to 1862.
Although a slave owner, Johnson agreed with the Emancipation Proclamation.
During the 1864 U.S. Presidential Election, although a Democrat, Johnson ran as Lincoln's vice presidential candidate on the "Union Ticket."
Johnson favored a lenient Reconstruction in the south, whereby each state would be allowed to reassemble their governments and to determine the voting rights of black men.
Since he was a Democrat, a southerner, and favored lenient Reconstruction, Johnson immediately found himself at odds with the "Radical" faction of the Republican Party.
Johnson favored re-enfranchising less wealthy Confederates over the planter class.
During the celebration of George Washington's birthday on February 22, 1866, Johnson gave a fiery speech where he accused several Radical Republicans, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, of plotting his assassination.
Johnson vetoed the Voting Rights Act of 1866 on March 27, 1866, which would have given citizenship to former slaves.
Although the Republicans were continually exasperated by Johnson's continual vetoes of their bills, the immediate cause of the impeachment was Johnson's dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.
After a three month impeachment trial in the Senate, Johnson was acquitted in May 1868.
Before leaving office, Johnson pardoned all of the remaining high-profile Confederates, including former CSA President Jefferson Davis.
After his presidential term was over, Johnson returned to Tennessee where he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate and Congress.
His son Robert committed suicide in 1869
He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election on March 4, 1875.
Johnson died on July 30, 1875 at the age of sixty-six due to complications from multiple strokes.


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