Andrew Johnson Facts & Worksheets

• Johnson and his brother ditched their apprenticeship because they were unhappy with its restrictions. The two became itinerant tailors by eluding the authorities who wanted to send them back to their employer. Later, the boys went back home, and the family settled in Greeneville, Tennessee. 
• Soon after, Johnson married Eliza McCardle in 1827 and built a prosperous tailoring company. She gave him advice on business ventures and supported him in his efforts to educate himself. Despite having tuberculosis, Eliza was Johnson's steadfast ally during their 50-year marriage.
• Johnson had a keen interest in politics, and his tailor shop became a meeting place for talk about politics.
• He became a powerful spokesman for the local working class and won their support. 
• Five years after winning the election to become Greeneville's mayor, he was elected as an alderman in 1829. 
• Tennessee enacted a new state constitution in 1831 following the Nat Turner Rebellion, which included a clause denying free African-American people the right to vote. 
• Johnson gained a lot of attention by endorsing the clause and advocating for its ratification throughout the state.
• Johnson was elected to the Tennessee state assembly in 1835. He aligned with Andrew Jackson's Democratic ideas, supporting the underprivileged and opposing wasteful government expenditure. Not only was he a fervent opponent of abolition, but he also championed state sovereignty and the Union without reservation.

INVOLVEMENT WITH NATIONAL POLITICS

• Johnson was elected as the first Democrat from Tennessee to the US Congress in 1843. He said that slavery was necessary for the maintenance of the Union and joined a newly formed Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. This was a little different from what his fellow Southerners were saying, who were starting to talk of splitting up if slavery was outlawed. The Whig party was growing in Tennessee during Johnson's fifth and last term in Congress, and he realised that his chances of winning a sixth term were limited.
• Johnson was elected to serve as Tennessee's governor in 1853. He attempted to advance his fiscally conservative, populist beliefs throughout his two terms in office, but he found the process discouraging because the governor's constitutional powers were restricted to making recommendations to the legislature—he had no veto authority. By assigning significant positions to political supporters, he maximised the use of his position.
• Johnson thought about running for president as the 1856 election drew closer, but he didn't think he had the necessary level of national exposure. Instead, he decided to run for office in the US. Senate. Despite his party's dominance in the legislature, the campaign proved challenging. 
• His populist ideas were not well received by many Democratic leaders. Nevertheless, the legislature of Tennessee did elect him, and the opposition press responded sharply and quickly. Johnson was described by the Richmond Whig as "the most unscrupulous and vilest radical demagogue in the Union."
• Johnson supported the Homestead Act as a congressman and proposed it as a senator. 
• Many Southern Democrats fiercely opposed the law, fearing that impoverished ‘Whites’ and immigrants who couldn't afford or didn't want slavery in the area would inhabit the property. 
• President Buchanan vetoed an extensively revised law that had been passed. 
• Johnson maintained his independent path for the balance of his Senate tenure, publicly expressing his support for the Union and opposing abolition.
• Following the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Tennessee withdrew from the Union. Johnson became the first senator from the South to keep his position in the Senate after breaking with his home state. Senate. It was the South that demonised him. His wife and two daughters were forced to leave Tennessee, and his property was seized. The Lincoln Administration did not, however, ignore his fervour for the Union. 
• Johnson was named military governor by Lincoln in 1862, following the occupation of Tennessee by Union forces. He treads carefully, extending an olive branch to his fellow Tennesseans while threatening rebels with the full weight of the federal government. Because rebels under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest often invaded cities and towns, he was never able to seize total control of the state.
• Johnson first disagreed with the Emancipation Proclamation, but he eventually came around to it once Tennessee was granted an exception and he saw how crucial it was to bringing an end to the war. His shifts were exposed by Southern newspapers, who also charged him with running for office. This notion played out when Lincoln, worried about his odds for reelection, selected Johnson as his vice president to help balance his campaign in 1864. Lincoln won a resounding victory for reelection in the summer and autumn of 1864, following a string of notable Union triumphs.