“Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, attained to the highest office upon the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Johnson’s legacy? He is perhaps best known as being the first American President to be impeached by Congress. However, his greater legacy, according to biographer Hans Trefousse, was that "Johnson was a child of his time, but he failed to grow with it" (p.379) and Johnson "had achieved at least in the long run what he wanted, the continued existence of viable Southern state governments within the Union and the maintenance of white supremacy. His boost to Southern conservatives by undermining Reconstruction was his legacy to the nation, one that would trouble the country for generations to come" (p.352). This is a sad legacy for someone who had similarities to President Lincoln: both had been born/raised in poverty, and both hailed from Southern border states. But here the comparison ends, and the contrasts begin. Unlike Lincoln, the “Tailor President” (reflecting his trade) never empathized with those born under slavery. And unlike Lincoln who failed to win most of his political elections prior to running for President, Johnson was quite successful in running for offices in his home state of Tennessee. Interestingly, Lincoln liked Johnson, though Johnson remained a steadfast “Jacksonian Democrat” his entire life. He was an acceptable Vice President running mate for Lincoln in 1864 in part because he was a “war Democrat,” in fact Johnson was the only Southern Senator who remained in Congress as a Unionist during the Civil War. However after Lincoln’s death, Johnson pursued his personal agenda: a firm belief in states-rights, opposition to African-American suffrage, and draconian Jacksonian economics. This is in large part why Andrew Johnson was impeached by congress during the volatile era of Reconstruction. His acquittal was only due to lack of any evidence for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" (p.283), and not because of his popularity with Congress. Like John Quincy Adams, after his presidency Andrew Johnson returned to Washington to serve in Congress in the few remaining years prior to his death in 1875.”
tapbirds wrote this review Saturday, October 27, 2012.
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