Compare And Contrast The Impeachment Of Andrew Johnson

Hannah Basler
Pellegrino
Honors Humanities 9
27 October 2016
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson April 15, 1865 changed America for the worst. Andrew Johnson was sworn into presidency right after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Andrew Johnson grew up in a family that had little education and money. He worked as a tailor, and did not have a formal education. Andrew Johnson was the Senator of Tennessee and during the Civil War, he was the only Southern Senator to stay with the Union. Abraham Lincoln chose Andrew Johnson as his Vice President for 45t5ihis second term, and Johnson became President only six weeks later. He was a democrat unlike Lincoln, and he believed that the United States of America was a country for white men. The difference

Andrew Johnson tried to take the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton out of office. Andrew Johnson wanted Edwin Stanton removed because he was the only member on his cabinet that was a Republican. Andrew Johnson replaced Edwin Stanton with Ulysses S. Grant on February 21, 1868. Therefore, the act was created to prevent the President from aiming to discard government officials without Senate consent (Ross, 98). Andrew Johnson disregarded the act, knowing the risks, and tried once again to replace Edwin Stanton with General Lorenzo Thomas (“Tenure of Office Act”). After his second attempt, it created more of a problem for President Johnson because nine of his eleven articles of impeachment were caused by his unlawful breaking of the Tenure of Office Act. Andrew Johnson believed that the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional and was not fair to the rights of an American citizen. After looking over the act, the Senate decided that it was not unconstitutional at the time. Years after Andrew Johnson’s term, Senate did rule the act unconstitutional, but it could not contribute to the case against Andrew

Reconstruction was a policy made to grant all southern states that succeeded, access back in the union as quickly as possible. Radical Republicans knew the Reconstruction plan would fail with Andrew Johnson in office. The Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill both were created to protect the rights of newly freed African Americans and Andrew Johnson vetoed the bills. Johnson was a democrat, so he believed that white men were superior to african american men. He stated at a speech, “This is a country for white men and as long as I am President, it shall be a Government for white men.” Andrew Johnson made this statement and many citizens of the United States became angry. America fought in the Civil War and this statement disagreed with what America had fought through to get to the spot they were at. The newly formed union wanted to get back to sea to shining sea, with every person having the same chance of equal rights. Slaves were now freed and continued to feel subjugated because non-colored citizens kept taking away the rights to the slaves newly freed world. By law, anyone could now do anything they would like as long as it followed the laws, and it was not just a white man's