Andrew Johnson

Examples of Andrew Johnson in the following topics:

• Johnson's Plan

  • While Andrew Johnson favored punishment for Confederates after the Civil War, his policies toward the South softened during his presidency.
  • Initially, Vice President Andrew Johnson spoke of hanging rebel Confederates.
  • The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was one of the most dramatic events that occurred during the Reconstruction era in the United States, and was the first impeachment in history of a sitting U.S. president.
  • Johnson was acquitted by one vote.
  • Johnson was impeached on February 24, 1868, in the U.S.

• The Impeachment and Trial of Johnson

  • The impeachment of Andrew Johnson during the Reconstruction era was the first impeachment of a sitting president in the history of the U.S.
  • The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was one of the most dramatic events that occurred during the Reconstruction era in the United States, and was the first impeachment in history of a sitting United States president.
  • Johnson was acquitted by one vote.
  • Johnson was impeached in the U.S.
  • Identify the political motivations behind the attempt to impeach Andrew Johnson

• Reconstruction in the South

  • Reconstruction from 1865-1877 was characterized by the conflicting views of President Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction policy.
  • From 1863 to 1869, Presidents Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson took a moderate position designed to bring the South back to normal as soon as possible.
  • Vice President Andrew Johnson had spoken of hanging rebel Confederates.
  • However, Johnson took a much softer line when he became president, pardoning many Confederates.
  • Andrew Johnson's conservative view of Reconstruction did not include the involvement of former slaves in government.

• The Battle over Reconstruction

  • After Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President.
  • In May 1865, Johnson made his own proclamation that was very similar to Lincoln's.
  • Not long after Johnson took office, all of the former Confederate states were readmitted.
  • In 1866, Johnson vetoed two important bills.
  • In 1868, the House of Representatives impeached Andrew Johnson.

• The End of the War

  • Upon Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who had been elected as Lincoln's vice president in 1864, became president.
  • Like Lincoln, Johnson rejected the Radical Republicans' program of harsh, lengthy Reconstruction and instead appointed his own governors in the Southern states in an effort to finish Reconstruction by the end of 1865.
  • Johnson also believed that such service should be rewarded with citizenship.
  • A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln, 1865, entitled "The 'Rail Splitter' At Work Repairing the Union."
  • The caption reads (Johnson): "Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever!!"

• Lincoln's Plan and Congress's Response

  • The moderate position, held both by Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson (who took over the presidency after Lincoln's death), prevailed until the election of 1866, at which point the Radicals were able to take control of policy, remove former Confederates from power, and enfranchise the freedmen.
  • Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's vice president who took over the presidency after Lincoln's assassination, attempted to continue Lincoln's vision for Reconstruction.
  • These initially were vetoed by President Johnson, but later were overridden by Congress.
  • The other camp believes that the Radicals would have attempted to impeach Lincoln, just as they did his successor, Andrew Johnson, in 1868.

• Johnson's Battle with Congress

  • Concerned that President Andrew Johnson viewed Congress as an "illegal body" and was attempting to overthrow the government, Republicans in Congress took control of Reconstruction policies after the 1866 election.
  • Johnson ignored this, and openly encouraged southern states to refuse the ratification of the 14th Amendment.
  • The border states of Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky, as well as each former Confederate state excluding Tennessee, adhered to Johnson's recommendation and refused to ratify.
  • President Andrew Johnson's vetoes of these measures were overridden by Congress.

• The Democratic Party

  • Democratic-Republicans split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe, and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the Democratic Party .
  • Most War Democrats rallied to Republican President Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans' National Union Party in the election of 1864, which featured Andrew Johnson on the Republican ticket even though he was a Democrat from the South.
  • Andrew Jackson's opponents had labeled him a jackass during the intense mudslinging in 1828

• The Election of 1868

  • The incumbent president, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency in 1865 following the assassination of President Lincoln, was unsuccessful in his attempt to receive the Democratic presidential nomination.
  • Instead of Johnson, the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour, chairman of the convention, after a series of failed ballots with several other candidates vying for nomination.
  • Seymour and the Democratic Party wanted to carry out a Reconstruction policy that would emphasize peaceful reconciliation with the South, a policy similar to that advocated by Abraham Lincoln and President Johnson.
  • The platform also opposed using greenbacks (paper currency issued by the government during the Civil War) to redeem U.S. bonds, encouraged immigration, endorsed full rights for naturalized citizens, and favored "Radical Reconstruction" as distinct from the more lenient policy of President Johnson.

• The Radical Record

  • While Johnson opposed the Radical Republicans on some issues, the decisive congressional elections of 1866 gave the Radicals enough votes to enact their legislation over Johnson's vetoes.
  • Sumner, teaming with House leader Thaddeus Stevens, battled Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plans and sought to impose a Radical program on the South.
  • In January 1866, Congress renewed the Freedmen's Bureau, which Johnson vetoed in February.
  • Johnson said it was an invasion by federal authority of the rights of the United States.
  • Johnson used his influence to block the amendment in the states.