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Johnson's Presidency

Added Mar 06, 2019 •

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April 14th 1865 is remembered as the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination buddy Washington it was an evening of General treachery evil men about Lincoln was shot Secretary of State William Seward was stabbed General Ulysses S Grant was targeted but was fortunately out of town Vice President Andrew Johnson was on The Hit List 2 was offered tickets to attend the play at Ford's Theater but turn them down probably a good thing but Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth knew exactly where the vice president would be spending the night he assigned to conspirator to go to Johnson suite at the Kirkwood boarding house Johnson retires to his quarters at the Kirkwood house he's completely unaware of anything that's going on in fact night reading then goes to bed we've all had gone according to plan Johnson would have been awakened sometime later by a knock at the door at which point a knife would have been plunged into his heart but it never happened demand assigned by Booth to assassinate Johnson lost his nerve started drinking decided he wasn't going to go through with it so the vice president was spared and when Lincoln died of his wounds the following morning Andrew became the first American President to gain the office because of an Assassin's bullet that's part of what will evolve into Johnson's difficulties he assumed the presidency he was not elected to it and so Johnson is coming in as of Sparks and a pretender to the throne number 17 Andrew Johnson Democrat Union 1865 to 1869 6 years old from Tennessee Andrew Johnson was nothing like his martyred feet assessor unlike Lincoln he was a southerner at a Democrat and had at one point owned a small number of slaves but during the Civil War he was the only senator from assisting state to remain with the union and he had been selected as Lincoln's running mate in 1864 to broaden the tickets appeal nobody anticipated at all Johnson become president if anyone had thought that my possibly have they should we would have put them on the ticket Johnson was regarded as stubborn or principled depending on whether you agree with him or not like Lincoln he had risen from poverty to prominence through his own determination upwards driving in Lincoln went along with the kind of wit and modesty and open-mindedness and ability to deal with all sorts of people some Howard Johnson he has his clothes game personality he's very self and if he doesn't listen to other people he doesn't care about other people does not very many friends Johnson's background and personality greatly influenced his management style he had no formal education and had trained to be a Taylor he also had righteous streak Johnson was dogged and stubborn inflexible once he took a position and he was never willing to compromise it he has a tendency to see conspiracies on all sides against he was thin-skinned about criticism showing all of these respects she different sharply from Lancaster Forum on how to run his new presidency Johnson look for a former president with whom he shared a home state and a very similar name Andrew Jackson Jackson's great quotations our federal union it must be preserved and Johnson pick that up and use that throughout his career and the argument can be made that he was the last jacksonia Mike Jackson Johnson believed he was the voice of the Common Man for at least the common white band is probably the most racist president we've ever had and he thinks he talks about blacks as Savages Barber Eddie really thinks I should go back to work on the plantation and leave the public sphere to whites when Johnson took the oath of office the Civil War was essentially over now it was up to the Taylor from Tennessee to stitch the tattered Union together his entire Legacy would be staked on the question of reconstruction why did the Reconstruction crisis was the greatest crisis in American history other than the crisis of the Civil War itself because what was an issue was not simply bringing the South back into the Union but defining the essence of The American Nation who is going to be a citizen of the United States what are the rights of citizens are to enjoy who is an American basically among the most eager to learn about you policies with a so-called radical republican reform-minded wing of the party men like Pennsylvania representative Thaddeus Stevens and Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner they believe the South should be punished and the free slaves protected made citizens that given the right to vote Johnson played the role very skillfully in those first few weeks and the immediate reaction is yes we trust Johnson and we can deal with him then leaves Washington not to come back again until December so Johnson has that wonderful window of opportunity there to take over as president what Johnson did with his do you want to come up with his own Presidential Reconstruction Plan many of the defeated South were prepared for the worst in April 1865 The South was lay prostrate at the feet of the Conquering North and many Southerners then so shell-shocked that they would have been willing to accept it almost any terms of reconstruction Johnson came in thundering Revenge punishment for these same people and in their despair. All my God you know this is what I Raiders score today but Johnson had a pleasant surprise in store for the dispirited Southerners they are a conquered range but he doesn't want to treat them as a conquered me these are his after all nobody knows for sure what Lincoln would have done but Johnson's plan favored amnesty for most ex-confederates and quick acceptance of the seceded States into the Union the freed slaves. little protection they weren't guaranteed citizenship or the right to vote Johnson was on the wrong side of history on the wrong side of morality on the wrong side of politics he just was unable to recognize that the Civil War the nation that the emancipation of the slaves carried with it some obligation to protect the basic rights of these emancipated slaves when Congress comes back to town December 65 Johnson announces that the registration to South is and that is startling news to members of Congress Congress immediately started passing reconstruction acts of its own beginning with an extension of the Freedmen's Bureau a measure begun under Lincoln to Aid the trends the blacks from slavery into Freedom Johnson vetoed it and from that point on that will be the story of the relationship between Congress and the president Congress passes from Cerritos Congress passes Vito's Johnson's 29 presidential vetoes shatter the previous record of 12 which was sent by his hero Andrew Jackson when you hitch your present relationship to the Vita wagon you're not going and Johnson stubborn and defiant that he was refused to see that no it was congress's turn to make history beginning with the Civil Rights bill of 1866 they realize they had the votes to override Johnson's vetoes their record of overturning President Johnson 15 x still stands throughout 1866 and 1867 Congress hammered away at Johnson's Authority in March of 1867 they pass the tenure of office act limiting the president's ability to remove appointees without the Senate's consent it was a trap and Johnson couldn't resist the bait he suspended and later dismissed his Secretary of War a holdover from Lincoln's cabinet take no prisoners was his attitude and of course that inspired the other side to fight back in the same way and that's why you was impeached the tenure of office act Johnson gave the radicals Congress an excuse to get rid of it articles of impeachment were drafted opposition only made it more more stubborn he was unwilling to meet his critics halfway he was unwilling to listen to criticism so he just destroy his own presidency in February of 1868 the House of Representatives made an unprecedented move voting to impeach the president their charges were flimsy at best and clearly politically motivated Johnston's Toyota the Smith Lincoln Spears he thought the impeachment was an outrage he said the people who are violating the Constitution impeaching me for violating and Constitution should be the other way around a trial in the Senate would determine whether Johnson's Miss D mounted to the high crimes and misdemeanors required by the Constitution to remove him from office if two-thirds of the Senators voted to convict him the Johnson presidency would be over tickets to this tree we're like getting tickets to the Super Bowl now that was scalped outside the Senate chambers it was a matter of great entertainers like a big athletic event a Busby social event in Washington and women and all that finery and the diplomats everybody came to the Senate to see what this going to go on it was a circus just as it was 1999 in the end Johnson avoided conviction and removal from office by a single vote chastened by his running with Congress Johnson passed the rest of his term quietly after returning home to Tennessee he would become the only former president to be elected to the Senate at the end of the day you have to admit that he was November Hamley but who wants and Johnson lived with that shadow over his entire 10 years president I think Johnson in a way discredited the presidency his intransigence helped Empower Congress to take a greater and greater role in formulating National policy the Troublesome relationship between Andrew Johnson in the Congress had a lasting impact on the executive office for the next 30 Years a series of relatively weak presidents would occupy the White House Andrew Johnson did not attend a single day of school he taught himself how to read

Uploaded by James Carson.

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Johnson's Presidency

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