Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina into a family stricken with poverty. He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy but ran away. He opened up a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle and debated at the local academy.
Johnso stood for the rights of the common man and talking down to the plantation-owning aristocrats. As a member of the House of Representatives, he issued a bill that provided poor men with a farm. During the secession crisis, Johnson remained in the Senate even when Tennessee seceded, which made him a hero in the north and a traitor in the south.
After Lincoln's death, Johnson proceeded to reconstruct the former Confederate States while Congress was not in session in 1865. By the time Congress congregated in 1865, most southern states were reconstructed, slavery was abolished, but "black codes" to regulate the freedmen began to appear. Radical Republicans in Congress aimed to change Johnson's program and gained the support of northerners.
Congress submitted the Fourteenth Amendment to the states, which specified that no state should “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” All former Confederate states except Tennessee refused to ratify the new amendment.
Later, restrictions were placed on the president so that he wouldn't get too much power. Johnson allegedly violated one of those and was soon impeached. He died in 1875.
Fun Facts:
- Johnson was the first of two presidents to be impeached.
- His father died when he was only three.
- He made his own clothes for much of his life. He even sewed a few garments while he was president!
Andrew Johnson:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful. Think to yourself, "Would I say this to a child?"