Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Johnson, Andrew

 JOHNSON, Andrew (1808-1875), seventeenth president of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, December 29, 1808. His youth was passed in such poverty that it was not till during his apprenticeship as tailor that he learned to read. His wife taught him to write and cipher after their marriage. Settling in Greenville, Tennessee, he worked at his trade, and in 1828 began to take an active part in politics, organizing a working man's party, by which he was elected to several local offices. He served in the State legislature; from 1843 till 1853 he was member of Congress; in 1853, and again in 1855, he was elected governor of Tennessee; and in 1857 he took his seat as United States senator from Tennessee. His independence procured him prominence in the senate. In opposition to the general policy of the Democratic party, whose nominee he was, he ardently supported the homestead bill; and, though in the important presidential election of 1860 he had supported Breckenridge and Lane, the candidates of the southern wing of the Democratic party, yet, when Lincoln was elected, Johnson made a strong speech in the senate, denouncing secession, and pledging himself to unconditional support of the Union. This loyalty to the Union subjected him to grave personal danger from the secessionists of Tennessee, when he returned to the State to organize a Union party. In 1862 Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of Tennessee, a post of difficulty and danger, in which he displayed an amount of energy and ability in dealing with the secessionists that attracted attention in the north, and led to his nomination for the vice-presidency by the Republican convention of 1864, which nominated Lincoln for the presidency. When, a few weeks after his inauguration, the assassination of Lincoln, on April 14, 1865, made Johnson president, his vigorous denunciation of treason as “a crime that must be punished” placed him for a time high in public favour. The rest of his term of office was spent in dissension with Congress as to the conditions upon which the seceding States should be allowed to return to the Union. Johnson vetoed bill after bill; but Congress passed them over his veto. In August 1866 the president, attended by members of his cabinet, made a tour through several of the northern and western States, denouncing the action of Congress as rebellious, and appealing to the people to support him. But at the congressional elections of that year the policy of Congress was endorsed by large majorities. The conflict became still more bitter, and was at last brought to a crisis by the president's attempts to remove secretary Stanton from office, after the senate had refused its approval. The Republicans in Congress claimed that Johnson had violated the tenure of office law, and on February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives passed a resolution impeaching him for high crimes and misdemeanours. At the trial before the senate the articles of impeachment were not sustained. A two-thirds majority was necessary for conviction; and thirty-five voted “guilty,” nineteen “not guilty.” On March 4, 1869, Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by U. S. Grant. Retiring to Greenville, he immediately prepared to re-enter public life; and in January 1875 he was elected United States senator. He died July 31, 1875.