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Andrew Johnson
Shu Yu Zhang
I. Andrew Johnson (12/ 29/ 1808- 7/ 31/ 1875)
II. Education: No formal education Occupation: Tailor, public official Other Government Positions:
i. Served as Alderman of Greeneville, Tennessee, 1830-33
ii. Elected Mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee, 1834
iii. Member of Tennessee State Legislature, 1835-43
iv. Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1843-53
v. Governor of Tennessee, 1853-57
vi. United States Senator, 1857-62
vii. Military Governor of Tennessee, 1862-65
viii. Vice President, 1865
ix. United States Senator, 1875
III. 17th President of the United States (April 15, 1865 to March 3, 1869)
IV. none…took over Lincoln’s presidency
V. none
VI. none
VII. Political Party: Democratic
VIII. Domestic Happenings
· Beginning of the Johnson Reconstruction Era (1865) This was to finish the reconstruction of the South a continuation of Lincoln’s reconstruction. States are permitted to govern themselves and sent representatives to the Capitol once they return to the Union.
· 13th Amendment:
o Section 1
§ Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the Unites States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
o Section 2
§ Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
· Civil Rights Act (passed over Johnson’s veto) (1866) The Civil Rights Act guarantees the right to make and enforce contracts regardless of one's race. Courts have read this statute to prohibit employment discrimination based upon race.
· Tenure of Office Act and Command of the Army Act (1867) The Tenure of Office Act made sure that the president alone couldn’t remove cabinet office holders without the approval of the Senate. The members of the President's cabinet would hold office for the full term of the President and one month thereafter.The Command of the Army Act made the commanding general rather than President the effective head of the army.
· First Reconstruction Act (1867) Rebel states shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel states.
· 14th Amendment Ratified (1868) This amendment said that all persons, regardless of race, were to be granted full rights under the Constitution. It also gave blacks full voting rights. And dept from the Confederate states from the war will not be assumed by the nation, making it invalid.
IX. Foreign Policy
· Maximilian Affair in Mexico (1865) Napoleon III appointed Maximilian as the emperor of Mexico. The United States didn’t recognize the new Empire and were strongly against it. Soon, Napoleon III withdrew his troops. Maximilian was shot and killed by rebels in 1867.
· Purchase of Alaska (1867) Secretary of State William H. Seward purchased Alaska from Russia for $7 million. At the time, critics thought Seward was crazy and called the deal "Seward's folly", "Seward's icebox" and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden."
· Burlingame Treaty with China (1868) Burlingame, Anson headed a mission to visit foreign lands in order to secure information and sign treaties of amity. The Burlingame Treaty was a treaty of friendship based on Western principles of international law. One clause encouraged Chinese immigration (laborers were then much in demand in the West).
X. Major Conflicts
· Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1867) The Senate can try the president for "High crimes and wrong doing's”. The House of Representatives charged Johnson with violating the Tenure of Office Act, along with other misdeeds. In February 1868, Johnson dismissed Stanton, his disloyal Secretary of War. Andrew Johnson must have 36 votes for a conviction. The vote on all of the counts was 35 to 19, which was one short of the two-thirds vote needed to throw him out of office.
XI. Social Changes
· Ku Klux Klan organized (1865) The Ku Klux Klan was formed as a social club by a group of Confederate Army veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee around 1865. A Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest, was the Klan's first leader. White superiority was the philosophy of the Klan, and they would often use violence and terrorization of blacks as a means of exercising this philosophized superiority.
· Black Codes passed by many Southern States (1865) It was a name given to laws passed by southern governments to imposed restrictions on freed slaves. (Ex. prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, limiting their right to testify against white men, carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations.)
· National Labor Union organized (1866) A coalition of skilled and unskilled workers, farmers, and reformers, the National Labor Union, called on Congress to mandate an eight-hour workday and other labor reforms. It was formed in response to growing dangers in mills, mines, and other workplaces.
· Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange) is organized (1867) The Grange is officially known as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, founded in 1867 inspired by a desire to solve problems caused by the War Between the States. Today, it is a suburban/rural family fraternity organization.
XII. Inventions
· Atlantic Cable (1866) It was the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable, funded by Cyrus W. It linked New York, London and Newfoundland.
XIII. Overall rating
Beginning a Democrat in the 1860s, Andrew Johnson is not very loyal to the Union. Being such a terrible President that he is, he deserves no more than a one in a scale to ten. He doesn’t allow the Senate to pass any law, and he also vetoed everything. This president, Johnson, did not seem to have any particular goals in mind except to upset the senate and the House of Representatives by vetoing all laws proposed. His goals aren’t very clear. Through his decisions reflects that of the South. He did attempt to reconstruct the South. All of his decisions like the vetoing of the Civil Rights Act (which were enabled to guarantee the right to make contracts and to prohibit discrimination) were leaning to the South. He didn’t seem to be a president of the country as a whole. He didn’t do anything about (which prevented freed Blacks from having full freedom) or the formation of the Ku Klux Klan (which persecuted Catholics and Blacks).
Andrew Johnson made many appointees on his cabinet. Many of them were removed before they had enough time to make significant improvements or actions to affect the outcome of the government. One of the more significant removals was Edward M. Stanton, his disloyal Secretary of War. For this, he was tried for impeachment for breaking the Tenure of Office Act (which prohibited the removal of office officials without consent and approval from the senate).
President Johnson was rather unpopular with the Senate and the House of Representative because they were from the North and Johnson did everything in his power to prevent the North from growing stronger vise versa the South becoming inferior. He vetoed most of the Acts passed by the North and dismissed most of the Northern cabinet holders.
Andrew Johnson didn’t make stands on any discriminatory happenings, such as the Black Codes or the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Many of the acts that were passed, were vetoed by Johnson and overridden by the Senate. Ex. The Civil Rights Act and the Tenure of Office Act. The greatest success of the administration is either one of two: not getting impeached by the Senate or Reconstructing the South. Johnson was very unpopular, and it was a surprise to not be impeached. The majority of the people of the United States loathed Johnson. This is because he seemed he was in favor of the South along with giving them sympathy. It also seemed Johnson was not in favor of Black people. He vetoed the 2nd Freedmen’s Bureau Act (which helped the freed Blacks) and didn’t stop the prejudice against peoples of different color. Three adjectives to describe Andrew Johnson would be: shameful, meaningless, and discriminatory. Andrew Johnson was shamefully bias toward people of the Union and color. He used his time in office meaninglessly by not improving the quality of life for many people. Since he has a discriminatory view of the “house divided”, he didn’t attempt to unify the nation in any way. In his presidency, he has advices future generations not to do what he did (which is being a president and holding a bias at the same time). Overall, Johnson failed at his weak attempt to become a good president. Hopefully the world’s leaders aren’t as prejudice as he was.
