Andrew+Johnson

=__Andrew Johnson__=

toc Johnson was Vice President under Lincoln. He became President after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Johnson was the 17th president. Hei was impeached but he was never voted out. He was one of the two presidents to be impeached.==Early Life== Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808. He grew up in poverty. Johnson was the 17th president, and was president from 1865 to 1869. He was a member of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1840's and '50's. He opened a taylor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee. There he married a woman named Eliza McCardle. He stayed in the Senate even when Tennessee seceded. In the North he was considered a hero, but in the South he was considered a Traitor.[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/President_Andrew_Johnson_standing.jpg width="325" height="425" align="right"

Early Years
Andrew Johnson's political career advanced very quickly. He was elected as an alderman of Greeneville, Tennessee in 1828, and two years later he became mayor of the town. In 1835 Johnson won election to the Tennessee House of Representatives. He was not re-elected in 1837 but won a subsequent campaign in 1839. After completing this second term, Johnson ran for the Tennessee Senate and won. Johnson still supported the rights of free laborers. While in the state senate he wanted to get rid of a law providing greater representation to slaveholders, but his motion was defeated. When President Lincoln was shot Johnson became president. Johnson was working on reconstructing the Confederate States while Congress was not in session in 1865. When Congress met again in December 1865 most of the southern states were reconstructed and slavery was being abolished. However that is when we began to see "black codes." Radical Republicans wanted to change Johnson's plan.

Impeachment
After President Johnson told Congress on February 21, 1868, that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War and replaced him with Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas, it took the House of Representatives only three days to impeach him for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Johnson did not attend his trial which began on March 23 and Chief Justice Salmon B. Chase was the main judge. There were eleven articles of impeachment. On May 16, the Senate voted on the eleventh article, which included many charges. Johnson was not impeached, the 35-19 count was just short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

Later Years
After President Johnson lost the Democratic Party nomination for the 1868 presidential election, he finished his term in office and then returned to Tennessee. "I have performed my duty to my God, my country, and my family," he said as he left Washington. "I have nothing to fear." Back at home, he stayed involved with politics, running and losing for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. However he did return to the Senate in 1875. He was the only president to serve on the Senate after his presidential term was over. As a senator, Johnson spoke out against the policies and corruption of the administration of Ulysses S. Grant.

Later in Life
Johnson did not serve long in the Senate. He soon suffered from a stroke in July 1875. Johnson died shortly after his stroke. He is now buried in Greenville, Tennessee. He is buried in what is now the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. The cemetery is part of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. The Andrew Johnson National Historic Site also includes his residence.

Resources
1. "Biography of Andrew Johnson". __whitehouse.gov.__ 25 October 2008 http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/aj17.html

2. "Andrew Johnson". __statelibrary.com__ 25 October 2008 http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/public/johnson.htm

3. Garraty, John A. __The Story of America__ Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1994.