Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was the sixteenth Vice President (1865) and the seventeenth President of the United States (1865–1869), succeeding to the presidency upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He is regarded to be one of the worst presidents.

National office

He was elected Vice President of the United States on the National Union ticket headed by Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and was inaugurated March 4, 1865. He became President of the United States on April 15, 1865, upon the death of Lincoln. He was the first Vice President to succeed to the U.S. Presidency upon the assassination of a President and the third to succeed upon the death of a President.

Related Topics:
1864 - March 4 - 1865 - April 15

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Cabinet

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Impeachment

Congress and Johnson argued in an increasingly public way about Reconstruction: the manner in which the Southern secessionist states would be readmitted to the Union. Johnson favored a very quick restoration of all rights and privileges of other states. However, "Congressional Reconstruction", enforced by repeated acts passed over Johnson's veto, provided for provisional state governments run by the military and ensuring the local passage of civil rights laws and otherwise imposing the will of the United States Congress — which, of course, was run by the North. Johnson's public criticisms of Congress provoked much talk of impeachment over the months.

Related Topics:
Reconstruction - Veto - Civil rights

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On February 21, 1868, Johnson notified Congress that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War, and was replacing him in the interim with Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas. This was an apparent violation of the Tenure-of-Office Act, made law in March of 1867, which was a law that Congress had specifically designed to protect Stanton. The Act said, "...every person holding any civil office, to which he has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate ... shall be entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified," thus removing the President's previous unlimited power to fire any of his Cabinet members at will. Johnson had previously vetoed the Act, claiming it was unconstitutional, and subsequently Congress had passed the Act again by the required two-thirds majority to make it law, over the objection of the President. (Years later in Myers v. United States (1926), the Supreme Court ruled that such laws were indeed unconstitutional.)

Related Topics:
February 21 - 1868 - Edwin Stanton - Lorenzo Thomas - Tenure-of-Office Act - 1867 - Myers v. United States - 1926 - Supreme Court

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The Senate and House entered into hot debate. Thomas attempted to move into the War office, for which Stanton had Thomas arrested. Three days after Stanton's removal, the House passed a resolution to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors", specifically, for intentionally violating the Tenure-of-Office Act and thus violating the law of the land, which he had sworn an oath to enforce.

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On March 5, 1868 a court of impeachment was organized in the Senate to hear charges against the President. William M. Evarts served as his counsel. Eleven articles were set out in the resolution and the trial before the Senate lasted three months. Johnson's defense was based on a clause in the Tenure-of-Office Act stating that the then-current Secretaries would hold their posts throughout the term of the President who appointed them. Since Lincoln had appointed Stanton, it was claimed, the applicability of the Act had already run its course.

Related Topics:
March 5 - 1868 - William M. Evarts

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Johnson was acquitted by a vote of thirty-five for conviction to nineteen for acquittal. He had avoided removal from office by a single vote. There were two votes in the Senate: one on May 16, 1868 for the 11th article, and another on May 26 for the other 10.

Related Topics:
May 16 - 1868 - May 26

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Johnson was the first President to be impeached, and the only one until the impeachment trials of Bill Clinton on December 19, 1998.

Related Topics:
Impeachment trials of Bill Clinton - December 19 - 1998

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States Admitted to the Union

• Nebraska – March 1, 1867