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Andrew Johnson Birth: December 29, 1808 Death: July 31, 1875 Term: 1865- 1869 Party: Democrat Vice President: none was appointed

Andrew Johnson was not elected to be President. During the election of 1864 President Lincoln chose Johnson as his vice-presidential running mate. Lincoln made this choice to help secure more Southern votes. By choosing Johnson his opponents could not claim that Lincoln was an abolitionist or anti-Southern because Johnson was from the south and supported slavery. Johnson also helped Lincoln get working class votes because Johnson was a working class man himself and was known to have often helped those in need. Lincoln’s plan worked and he was reelected. Just six weeks after being sworn into office Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson became president. Unfortunately, Johnson ended up being “the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time”. Johnson deserves an F for his term as president because of his inability to unite and reconstruct America at the end of the Civil War. He also had very poor leadership skills that kept him from working positively with Congress. Johnson behaved as a dictator instead of the president of a democracy.

Since the Civil War had just ended, Johnson’s main goal as president was to reconstruct America. Johnson opted for a mild Reconstruction of the South. He allowed most of the Confederate leaders to regain power on the state level. As a result, these people used their power to limit the freedom of former slaves. These laws became known as “Black Codes”. Although the blacks were not slaves anymore, they now had almost no basic rights. They were not allowed to vote, own property, hunt, fish, or carry firearms. They had to have signed contracts of employment or they would be arrested as vagrants. They were not slaves anymore, but they were still treated like slaves. The South was not willing to give former slaves any political power or even the right to vote. Congress, especially the Radical Republicans, wanted all men to have equal rights. Congress countered Johnson’s plan with the Civil Rights Act (1866) which protected the rights of the blacks in the South and also passed the Fourteenth Amendment. In response to the efforts of Congress to implement their Reconstruction plans, Johnson exercised 29 vetoes. Overall, his goal of Reconstruction failed the country because the northerner’s weren’t treating the blacks well, there was bitter opposition from most white southerners towards reconstruction, and Johnson was unwilling to grant civil rights to blacks due to his racism.

Andrew Johnson did not have a good relationship with Congress. Johnson was a democrat from the South and the majority of people in Congress were Radical Republicans. Johnson’s goal as president was to reconstruct the country. The Republicans thought that his plan to do this was too mild. They opted for a much more stern reconstruction plan. Johnson attempted to thwart the Republicans and he vetoed 29 bills that the Congress passed. However, congress overrode 15 of his vetoes. They passed the Freedmen’s Bureau Act, the District of Columbia Suffrage act, and the four Reconstruction Acts, all of them were passed over Johnson’s veto. Congress also passed the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson’s veto. This act forbade the president from removing certain public officials without consent of the Senate. However Johnson went against them and dismissed Secretary of War Stanton who had been going behind Johnson’s backs and back and undermining his policies. The House voted 127-147 to impeach Johnson for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Senate allowed Johnson 10 days to prepare for the trial. Come trial day Johnson was not impeached. Senate was just 1 vote short of the necessary two-thirds necessary for conviction and removal. He was not impeached because his successor, Benjamin Wade, was thought to be even worse than Johnson. As one can see Johnson did not have a very good relationship with Congress because of the fact that he was a democrat and they were mostly republicans, they disagreed on how to reconstruct the country, he vetoed almost every bill they tried to pass, and they tried to impeach him.

Johnson did not do very many positive things during his presidency. However, he was able to ratify the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution. The thirteenth amendment officially abolished slavery and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime. The fourteenth amendment provides a broad definition of citizenship, meaning it gives citizenship to the African Americans. This was the most positive thing because it finally gave equal rights to the African Americans. It made sure that the southern people could not take their rights away from them. He also purchased Alaska and established good relations with Britain.

The most negative thing that Johnson did was his attempt at reconstructing America. Even though he had very good intentions when he did this, it didn’t end well. All he tried to do was reunite the country. Reconstruction failed because he was really racist and didn’t want to give civil rights to black people. His attempt at reconstruction resulted in the enactment of the Black Codes and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. The Black Codes restricted the rights of former slaves. Under the Black Codes black people were denied the right to vote, serve on juries or testify against white people in court, to marry a white person, or to contract for their labor on an equal basis with whites. The KKK was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee and it promoted white supremacy and resisted Reconstruction by terrorism. All in all his attempted reconstruction of the country had more negative outcomes than positive outcomes.

During Johnson’s presidency Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act by overriding Johnson’s veto. Even thought the Act was not passed by Johnson it was passed by his administration. The Act forbids presidents to remove certain public officials with consent of the Senate. This Act has definitely affected future presidents because now if someone is undermining their policies, as Stanton was doing to Johnson, then the President cannot just immediately remove them he must get permission from Senate first. Due to Johnson's dictator like behavior presidential power was stinted and for the next 35 year Congress ruled the government.

In conclusion Johnson deserves an F for his term as President. He deserves an F because the country was not better off after he left the presidency. In fact the country was worse off. The north wasn’t treating the south well, no one was treating the blacks, well and the southern white held bitter resentment towards reconstruction. Not only that but because of reconstruction the Black Codes were enacted the KKK was formed, and presidential power was for the most part taken away for the next 35 years.

Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents)//. 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.