16th Vice President of the United States | |
Predecessor | Hannibal Hamlin |
Successor | Augustus C. Dodge |
President | Abraham Lincoln |
U.S. Senator from Tennessee | |
Predecessor | James C. Jones |
Successor | David T. Patterson |
Military Governor of Tennessee | |
Predecessor | Isham G. Harris |
Successor | Robert L. Caruthers (as Confederate Tennessee governor) |
15th Governor of Tennessee | |
Predecessor | William B. Campbell |
Successor | Isham G. Harris |
U.S. Representative from Tennessee | |
Predecessor | Thomas Dickens Arnold |
Successor | Brookins Campbell |
Born | December 29, 1808 Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. |
Died | July 31, 1875 (aged 66) Olney, Maryland, U.S. |
Spouse | Eliza McCardle |
Political Party | Democratic (1839-64, 1868-75), National Union (1864-68) |
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was an American politician who served as the 16th Vice President of the United States.
Early Life[]
Political career[]
Military Governor of Tennessee[]
Johnson remained staunchly loyal to the Union during the Civil War, a stance which earned him ire from many in his home state. He fled his home and was later appointed military governor by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Tennessee was a hotly contested battleground throughout the war. Union troops maintained a hold on most of it until the end when the Treaty of Alexandria ceded the state to the Confederacy.
In 1864, President Lincoln aimed to unite the country with a unified ticket of Republicans and War Democrats such as Johnson. Johnson became the vice presidential nominee on the National Union ticket. He and Lincoln narrowly won the election as defeat seemed to lurch ever closer for the Union.
Vice President[]
Johnson's tenure as vice president started very bitterly. Just under two months after his inauguration, the war officially ended with a Confederate victory, meaning Tennessee was no longer part of the Union. Johnson fell into a drunken, angry depression. He had fought hard against secession and lost- now he knew he would not ever be allowed back in his home state without violence, nor would he even want to live under the rebel government. He felt that his homeland had been stolen from him.
Johnson was the first and last person to serve as vice president while their home state was not officially part of the country. To most, it now seemed strange to have a Southerner serving in the role. Some wondered if Johnson would resign or even move to the Confederacy now that his home state was with them. Extreme radicals accused him of potentially being a Confederate spy in the upper echelon of the executive branch- this was despite his continuous service in favor of the Union cause during the war. Johnson harshly resisted and rejected such assertions. He strongly stated that he remained an American, a citizen of the United States and no other nation.
Eventually, Johnson pulled himself back together with the help of his wife Eliza, who reminded him that he held an important position in the government of the country he had defended so robustly. Johnson did not hold an active role in the Lincoln administration after the end of the war. Lincoln himself became depressed and somewhat withdrawn, usually appearing only when required for his official duties. The Republican-dominated cabinet locked Vice President Johnson out of discussions and decision making.
Johnson supported Lincoln's opposition to nationwide abolition after the war. He began to look forward to 1868, when he hoped to make a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He thought he had several advantages over other contenders- his high office in the administration, his loyalty during the war, and his harsh stance against the Confederacy. Johnson had expected that the North would take a hard turn against the Confederates after their loss, but he was surprised when it was actually pro-Southern Democrats who took over the party.
The vice president did not give up in his pursuit. He hoped that becoming president would allow him to fight for the readmittance of Confederate states into the Union. If the US proved that it never wanted to completely outlaw slavery and was not actually hostile to Southerners (by way of electing a Southerner president such as himself), Johnson believed that the Southern states might be enticed to rejoin the old Union. He paid close attention to political and social developments in the Confederacy hoping for a swing in public opinion towards his point of view. It never happened.
Johnson worked to position himself as a leader of the Democratic Party, mostly by presiding over the Democrat-dominated Senate when he could. Some former Copperheads were hostile to him, but most were ambivalent. In 1868, Democrats impeached President Lincoln. Johnson strongly and publicly opposed the effort. He knew that part of the reason for the impeachment was the Democratic Congress preferring him as president over the Republican Lincoln. He absolutely did not want to be seen as a willing usurper of the presidency and his personal respect for Lincoln also compelled him to oppose impeachment. He was frustrated at his party as he believed that the public discord hurt his chances at winning the 1868 nomination. He was correct in a way, as Democrats accused him of betraying the party and standing with the Republican administration over them.
When the 1868 Democratic National Convention finally came around, Johnson found that he had virtually no support and in fact had never had any support outside of his own head. His links with the failed war effort and the Republican administration disqualified him from the start- Democrats wanted a clean break from the legacy of the war, and peace Democrats had come to control the party after the defeat. Johnson continued to believe that various smaller events had led to his failed attempt at winning nomination, rejecting the fact that it was always an impossibility.
The Democratic ticket soundly won the election and Johnson left office. He was never offered any place in the Pendleton administration.
Post-Vice Presidency[]
Johnson was unsure what to do or where to go now that he was out of office for the first time in 25 years, and for the very first time without a home state to return to. He remained in Washington for some time before moving a short distance to Baltimore, Maryland. After a couple of years of city living, he came to wish for a new family farm to call his own. Johnson purchased some land in Olney, Maryland, a rural settlement not far from the national capital.
The former vice president kept a close eye on politics both in the North and the South. Everything seemed to be developing exactly opposite to his wishes. He came to feel like an island in the modern political landscape, opposing the policies of both Pendleton's administration and his former Republican opposition. He was never able to win election to any other office.
Johnson died of successive strokes in July 1875. He was never able to return to Tennessee.
Legacy[]
Johnson is mainly remembered as the most famous Altarist- the term was named after a phrase used in one of his speeches. He supported his fellow "true patriots" and served as an example that Southerners could still have a place in the Union after the war. Besides this, his time as vice president is seen as ultimately insignificant and largely self-serving. He was liked by some after his time for his strong opposition to the Confederacy.
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