|
|
|
|
| US
Presidents Patriotism Daddy's
Day
|
United States Presidents
Early Years: Johnson was born into extreme poverty. He was apprenticed to a tailor at 14, and eventually owned a successful business. He had learned to read a little, and his wife taught him to write. His Presidency: Johnson became president when Lincoln died. He disagreed with the North and opposed Congress so often that he was eventually impeached. Although he failed as president, he had been very popular in his own state. Johnson had been highly regarded by Lincoln because he had risked his life working to preserve the Union serving as military governor in Tennessee. His Life: With the Assassination of Lincoln, the Presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate of Presidents. Arrayed against him were the Radical Republicans in Congress, brilliantly led and ruthless in their tactics. Johnson was no match for them. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808, Johnson grew up in poverty. He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran away. He opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle, and participated in debates at the local academy. Entering politics, he became an adept stump speaker, championing the common man and vilifying the plantation aristocracy. As a Member of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1840's and '50's, he advocated a homestead bill to provide a free farm for the poor man. During the secession crisis, Johnson remained in the Senate even when Tennessee seceded, which made him a hero in the North and a traitor in the eyes of most Southerners. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him Military Governor of Tennessee, and Johnson used the state as a laboratory for reconstruction. In 1864 the Republicans, contending that their National Union Party was for all loyal men, nominated Johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat, for Vice President. After Lincoln's death, President Johnson proceeded to reconstruct the former Confederate States while Congress was not in session in 1865. He pardoned all who would take an oath of allegiance, but required leaders and men of wealth to obtain special Presidential pardons. By the time Congress met in December 1865, most southern states were reconstructed, slavery was being abolished, but "black codes" to regulate the freedmen were beginning to appear. Radical Republicans in Congress moved vigorously to change Johnson's program. They gained the support of northerners who were dismayed to see Southerners keeping many prewar leaders and imposing many prewar restrictions upon Negroes. The Radicals' first step was to refuse to seat any Senator or Representative from the old Confederacy. Next they passed measures dealing with the former slaves. Johnson vetoed the legislation. The Radicals mustered enough votes in Congress to pass legislation over his veto--the first time that Congress had overridden a President on an important bill. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which established Negroes as American citizens and forbade discrimination against them. A few months later Congress submitted to the states the Fourteenth Amendment, which specified that no state should "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." All the former Confederate States except Tennessee refused to ratify the amendment; further, there were two bloody race riots in the South. Speaking in the Middle West, Johnson faced hostile audiences. The Radical Republicans won an overwhelming victory in Congressional elections that fall. In March 1867, the Radicals effected their own plan of Reconstruction, again placing southern states under military rule. They passed laws placing restrictions upon the President. When Johnson allegedly violated one of these, the Tenure of Office Act, by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the House voted eleven articles of impeachment against him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by one vote. In 1875, Tennessee returned Johnson to the Senate. He died a few months later. Quotations "There are no good laws but such as repeal other laws." - Andrew Johnson (1835) "Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide." - Andrew Johnson "Of all the dangers which our nation has yet encountered, none are equal to those which must result from success of the current effort to Africanize the southern half of the country." -
Andrew Johnson "I have been almost overwhelmed by the announcement of the sad event [Lincoln’s assassination] which has so recently occurred. I feel incompetent to perform duties so important and responsible as those which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me." - Andrew Johnson "The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people." - Andrew Johnson "If the rabble were lopped off at one end and the aristocrat at the other, all would be well with the country." - Andrew Johnson "I hold it the duty of the executive to insist upon frugality in the expenditure, and a sparing economy is itself a great national source." - Andrew Johnson "A railroad! It would frighten horses, put the owners of public vehicles out of business, break up inns and taverns, and be a monopoly generally." - Andrew Johnson "There are some who lack confidence in the integrity and capacity of the people to govern themselves. To all who entertain such fears I will most respectfully say that I entertain none . . . If man is not capable, and is not to be trusted with the government of himself, is he to be trusted with the government of others . . . Who, then, will govern? The answer must be, Man—for we have no angels in the shape of men, as yet, who are willing to take charge of our political affairs." - Andrew Johnson (1853) "Notwithstanding a mendacious press; notwithstanding a subsidized gang of hirelings who have not ceased to traduce me, I have discharged all my official duties and fulfilled my pledges. And I say here tonight that if my predecessor [Lincoln] had lived, the vials of wrath would have been poured out upon him." - Andrew Johnson "I have been informed that part of the business to be transacted on the present occasion is the assassination of the individual who now has the honor of addressing you . . . Therefore, if any man has come here tonight for the purpose indicated, I do not say to him let him speak, but let him shoot." -
Andrew Johnson "If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet." -
Andrew Johnson "Slavery exists. It is black in the South, and white in the North." - Andrew Johnson
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2002 The Junto Society - All rights reserved. Permission to reprint granted provided a link to this site [http://www.juntosociety.com] is plainly accompanying the article. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
[Home] [About Us] [Breaking News] [Commentary] [Contact Us] [Discussion Groups] [Education] [Guest Commentator's] [Political News] [Store] |
Click
on Books
