Biography:

Andrew Johnson was the seventeenth president of the United States, taking office after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865. Johnson was a southern Democrat, born in North Carolina and living most of his life in East Tennessee. Johnson grew up in a poor family, lost his father at an early age, and was apprenticed to a tailor, and then ran away. He settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he set up a tailor shop, married, raised a family, and entered local politics. In 1835 he was elected to the Tennessee legislature, lost that seat in 1837, and then regained it in 1839. In 1843 he was elected to the US House of Representatives as a Jacksonian Democrat.  He served in the House for ten years, where he was a sponsor of the homestead bill, which provided western settlers with public land. This support alienated many southern conservatives since this measure could weaken slavery. Johnson was not abolitionist, however. Indeed, he owned several slaves and was a strong believer in white supremacy and state’s rights. When gerrymandered out of his House seat in 1853, Johnson ran for governor of Tennessee instead, and won. In 1857 he was chosen US Senator. In the Senate he continued his advocacy for the homestead bill.
 
In 1860, Johnson hoped to run for the presidency on the Democratic ticket. He was unsuccessful in securing the nomination, and when the party split, he endorsed the proslavery ticket of John Breckenridge and Joseph Lane. Following Abraham Lincoln’s election, however, Johnson remained a strong Unionist and opposed secession. He remained in the Senate during the secession crisis, even after Tennessee seceded from the Union—though East Tennessee remained Unionist. This action made Johnson a hero in the North. In March 1862, after the fall of Nashville, Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of Tennessee.
 
In 1864, in an effort to attract war Democrats to the Lincoln ticket, the National Union Part nominated Johnson for vice president. He served as vice president for just over a month before Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson assumed the presidency. Because he believed that the Southern states had never actually seceded and in state’s rights, he initiated a Reconstruction policy that angered Northern Radical Republicans. He pardoned nearly all Southerners who would take an oath of allegiance, requiring only Southern leaders and men of wealth to obtain special presidential pardons. He also did not insist that Southern states enfranchise freedmen. These policies set up a battle with the Congress. Johnson vetoed several measures, including, in February 1866, the Freedman’s Bureau bill, and in March 1866, a civil rights bill. Congress overrode the veto of the Civil Rights Act and passed a new Freedman’s Bureau bill in June 1866, which Johnson was not able to veto. In fall 1866 Radical Republicans won in the congressional elections, further weakening Johnson. In 1867, he attempted to settle remaining claims with Great Britain, including the Alabama claims for damages to North from British built ships serving the Confederacy, but his efforts were rejected by the Senate. In March 1867, Congress enacted the Tenure of Office Act, which required Senate approval for dismissal of presidential appointees, and also began their own Reconstruction program. They also began efforts to impeach Johnson. After one failed attempt, Johnson was impeached for violations of the Tenure of Office Act in February 1868. The Senate then acquitted him by one vote in May 1868. In March 1869, Johnson left the presidency and returned to Tennessee. In 1875 he was returned to the US Senate. He died a few months later in Carter’s Station, Tennessee.