Sarah+-+AJO+-+SP09

= ** Andrew Johnson ** = Born: December 29, 1808 Died: July 31, 1875 Political Party: Democrat/National Union Party Two Terms of Office: April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869 Vice President: None

**__ Evaluation: __**
Since Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Vice President Andrew Johnson had to take over the role of president of the United States. The odds were against him, since the majority in Congress was Radical Republicans. Even though he had good intentions for the country, he left the country more divided than it already was. Racism drastically grew in the south because of his reconstruction plan. For this, President Andrew Jackson deserves the letter grade of a D+.

President Johnson had many goals when he entered office. When he became president, he became the leader of Reconstruction. Abraham Lincoln had also wanted this, so Johnson decided to go forward with it. He also wanted to have the Confederate states rejoin the Union, since he believed they were never constitutionally allowed to secede. There was no Congress during this time, so he could make any decisions he wanted. He let many of the leaders go who had tried to separate the Confederate states from the Union States. He wanted to restore the Union quickly. The way in which he went about doing this was not important to him just so it was done. He wanted to draft a new constitution with representatives from both the north and the south. This plan did not work so well because people from the South did not want to share rights with former slaves. He wanted to expand the country, so he purchased Alaska from the Russians in 1867. His goal of reconstruction failed and divided the south and promoted racism even more.

Johnson’s relationship with Congress was bad since he was a Democrat and the majority of Congressmen were Radical Republicans. Since he was for Confederates and for the South, he vetoed many bills about civil rights. This made the republicans very angry during Congress meetings. The Republicans and Johnson also had very different views about Reconstruction. They argued frequently about ex-confederates being able to have a seat in Congress. Johnson thought they should, and the Congress thought they shouldn’t. However, his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, defended Johnson against the Republicans.

Johnson did not have many good decisions in office, but his best one was purchasing Alaska and admitting Nebraska to the Union. Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867 for 7.2 million dollars. People who were living in Alaska at the time were given the choice to move to Russia to remain Russian, or move to the United States and be granted citizenship. The people had three years to do this. Nebraska was also approved and became part of the Union in 1867.

Johnson had many bad decisions, but his worst decision while in office was his decision to try and “reconstruct” the country. He left the country in peril when he left office. As a result of his brilliant idea to put the country back together, he just divided the country even more. The south put Black Codes in place, which limited the former slave population from voting. They also had to pass certain literacy tests and had taxes enforced just for them. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was also formed as a result of Johnson trying to put the country back together too quickly. Things needed time to settle down. People still had hatred towards the Union and former slaves. The whole idea of reconstruction was overall a good plan, but it was not enacted well. More time and thought was needed before it was put into place.

Johnson really did not have any influence on future presidents. The one thing he did, however, was violate the Tenure of Office Act. Because of this, he became the first president to get impeached. He decided to remove the Secretary of War, Stanton, without the consent of the Senate. He wanted to remove him because he was going against the ways of the president and not enforcing acts. This was not allowed, and considered a high crime. Many of the future presidents did not want to be looked down upon like he was, so they would follow all laws very strictly.

Andrew Johnson did not have a choice when he became president. Perhaps he would have made better decisions if was given more time to prepare for the position. He left America a racist country. The states were not in sync with each other, and the south was more defiant than ever. He did not influence many presidents, and was the first president to get impeached. For these actions, he deserves a D+ for a letter grade.

__** Bibliography: **__
The American Pageant The Complete Book of United States Presidents [] [] []