# 2217h - 1986 22c Pres. A. Johnson,single

Johnson’s early political career was marked by the support of the institution of slavery.  As a slave owner himself, he believed that the US Constitution protected a citizen’s right to own slaves and that the states had the authority to protect this right.  He also loved the Union and what it stood for, so when states began to secede in 1861, Andrew Johnson spoke out against them.  He became the only Southern senator who did not secede with his state.

As a Southerner, a strong Unionist, and a leading member of the War Democrats, Andrew Johnson was an ideal candidate to run for vice president in 1865.  The Lincoln-Johnson ticket was elected by both an electoral and popular landslide.  Johnson’s term as vice president lasted six weeks.  On April 14, President Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending a play.  Johnson took the oath of office the following morning.

Andrew Johnson became president at a difficult time in American history.  The Civil War had ended just days before, and there was no system in place for Reconstruction of the South.  Because he felt that the South was led into rebellion by politicians and wealthy plantation owners, President Johnson favored a moderate course of Reconstruction.  He granted full pardons to all Southern citizens except military and political leaders, and plantation owners whose estates were valued at over $20,000.  Congress favored a more radical Reconstruction; one that would limit the power of former Confederate leaders, protect the former slaves and give voting rights to African Americans. 

Because Congress was not in session when Johnson assumed the presidency, he began his more moderate plan of Reconstruction. However, when Congress returned, all of President Johnson’s Reconstruction laws were repealed and the more radical measures were voted in – even over presidential veto. 

The tension between the president and Congress came to a head when Congress passed two more laws that Johnson felt were unconstitutional.  One law, the First Reconstruction Act, put the South under strict military rule, denying citizens the right to vote for constitutional convention delegates.  Also, the Tenure of Office Act made it illegal for the president to remove from office any cabinet member who had previously been approved by Congress. 

When President Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act by removing Secretary of War Stanton from office, Congress took action against him.  They adopted eleven articles of impeachment, the most important of which charged Johnson with violating the Tenure of Office Act and conspiring against Congress and the Constitution.  On March 13, 1868, a two-month-long impeachment trial began.  However, Congress had a weak case against Johnson, and the president was found not guilty on all articles – by one vote. 

Despite his continuing battles with Congress and the massive task of Reconstruction, Johnson’s term is more positively remembered for some of his foreign policy measures.  Much of this was thanks to his Secretary of State, William Seward.  In 1866, Seward discovered that Czar Alexander II wanted to sell his holdings in North America.  Seward, under President Johnson’s guidance, offered the Czar $7.2 million for the nearly 500,000 square mile area, costing just 2¢ an acre.  The people of this land, that eventually became Alaska, became American citizens and the territory became a colonial possession.  At the time, many called the purchase “Seward’s Folly” because they viewed it as a massive, frozen wasteland.