Messages and Papers of
ANDREW JOHNSON

April 15, 1865, to March 4, 1869

The three facts which will forever keep Andrew Johnson’s name alive are that he rose from a tailor’s bench to be Chief Magistrate of the Republic; that he was the only Senator of the United States from any seceding State that remained faithful to the Union. and that he was the only President of the United States who was ever impeached, although bills of impeachment were prepared against John Tyler, a fact not generally known. Not only is there great prejudice against Andrew Johnson in the public mind, but his talents are also greatly underrated. In integrity of purpose, in personal and moral courage, in intensity of patriotism he has had no superior among our Presidents. That his impeachment marks one of the most dangerous epochs of American history there can now be no question among people whose opinion is at all worthy of respect. Even intelligent Republicans now take this view of the matter.

Not long since in a lecture delivered before a college in this city, Mr. Justice John M. Harlan, of the Supreme Court of the United States, stated that as his opinion. He is certainly a competent witness.

The people of the North have never realized, and, perhaps, never will realize, the courage that was required for a man to stand for the Union in 1861 in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, or Maryland. It was as easy as falling off a log, a slippery log at that, for a man to be for the Union in Massachusetts. It was unprofitable to be anything else. It was easy to be a Confederate in South Carolina. It was dangerous to be otherwise. But in what are known as the "border States," including Tennessee, it was extremely hazardous to be one or the other. The truth is, that there really was no Civil war anywhere to any considerable extent outside of these "border States." So far as the extreme Northern States or the extreme Southern States were concerned what we term Civil war was to all intents and purposes a war between two countries foreign to each other. But in the "border States" it was not only neighborhood against neighborhood, but family against family, father against son, husband against wife, slave against master. That Johnson or any other man had the moral and physical courage to stand up against an overwhelming sentiment in his own State in that critical era is one of the marvels of history.

At the time of the firing on Fort Sumter he was not only one of the ablest men in the Senate from the South, but was also one of the most popular. At that time it appeared that by going with the South there was no station beyond his reach, and that by going with the North be had absolutely nothing, to hope for in the way of political preferment.But man proposes and God disposes, and by adhering to the Union he became President of the United States.

It is a fact known of all men who have turned their minds to a contemplation of the subject that for a man to sever his political relations or to run counter on any great question to the sentiments of the community or State in which he lived was, is, and must always be a most painful performance. That Johnson felt this there can be no question; but his love of the Union outweighed all other considerations, and he gave it a courageous, consistent and powerful support. His position probably fixed the position of thousands of Tennesseeans, for that State furnished nearly 40,000 white soldiers for the Union armies, most of them recruited from that portion of the State in which Johnson resided, and in which he had always had his greatest political influence. His love of the Union was supreme. He always said in his stump speeches that when he died he wanted to be buried with the Stars and Stripes for a winding sheet, and his wishes in this regard were gratified.

My own opinion about the matter is that he was impeached for undertaking to carry out the policy of reconciliation which Abraham Lincoln would have successfully carried out if he had lived. Lincoln would not have been impeached for doing what Johnson tried to do, because he was too strong in the hearts of what he affectionately called "the plain people of America," but that he would have suffered in popularity for so doing, there can be no question. But Johnson, being a Southerner, was under suspicion of radical Republicans from the start.

If a true history of the United States is ever written, while Andrew Johnson will not stand in the front rank of American statesmen, he will unquestionably stand in the front rank of American patriots. He did more, and risked more, to preserve the Union than was done by all the men combined who voted for his conviction. I love to remember that General John B. Henderson, of Missouri, a Republican Senator, saved the Republic from that stupendous calamity and burning shame.

ELIZA McCARDLE, Of Tennessee, married in 1826 Andrew Johnson, a tailor, eighteen years old, whose early education she superintended perseveringly until his learning exceeded her own. Her character was simple, true and unostentatious, the duties of wife and mother being always conscientiously fulfilled. Her health being undermined by suffering during the Rebellion, she was a confirmed invalid when called to the White House, therefore Mrs. Patterson. her eldest daughter, became hostess. She presided with simple elegance, ease, grace and remarkable tact during her father’s stormy administration. Their home life was delightful, and when they left Washington the whole family was much missed socially, as its popularity was widespread. Mrs. Johnson’s influence over her husband was always very marked, and throughout his life she was his greatest helper and adviser. She survived him only six months.

ANDREW JOHNSON was born in Raleigh, N. C., December 29, 1808. His parents were very poor. When he was 4 years old his father died of injuries received in rescuing a person from drowning. At the age of 10 years Andrew was apprenticed to a tailor. His early education was almost entirely neglected, and, notwithstanding his natural craving to learn, he never spent a day in school. Was taught the alphabet by a fellow-workman, borrowed a book, and learned to read. In 1824 removed to Laurens Court-House, S.C., where he worked as a journeyman tailor. In May, 1826, returned to Raleigh, and in September, with his mother and stepfather, set out for Greeneville, Tenn., in a two-wheeled cart drawn by a blind pony. Here he married Eliza McCardle, a woman of refinement, who taught him to write, and read to him while he was at work during the day. It was not until he had been in Congress that he learned to write with ease. From Greeneville went to the West, but returned after the lapse of a year. In 1828 was elected alderman; was reelected in 1829 and 1830, and in 1830 was advanced to the mayoralty, which office he held for three years. In 1831 was appointed by the county court a trustee of Rhea Academy, and about this time participated in the debates of a society at Greeneville College. In 1834 advocated the adoption of a new State constitution, by which the influence of the large landholders was abridged. In 1835 represented Greene and Washington counties in the legislature. Was defeated for the legislature in 1837, but in 1839 was reelected. In 1836 supported Hugh L. White for the Presidency, and in the political altercations between John Bell and James K. Polk, which distracted Tennessee at the time, supported the former. Mr. Johnson was the only ardent follower of Bell that failed to go over to the Whig party. Was an elector for the State at large on the Van Buren ticket in 1840, and made a State reputation by the force of his oratory. In 1841 was elected to the State senate from Greene and Hawkins counties, and while in that body was one of the "immortal thirteen" Democrats who, having it in their power to prevent the election of a Whig Senator, did so by refusing to meet the 3499house in joint convention; also proposed that the basis of representation should rest upon white votes, without regard to the ownership of slaves. Was elected to Congress in 1843 over John A. Asken, a United States Bank Democrat, who was supported by the Whigs. His first speech was in support of the resolution to restore to General Jackson the fine imposed upon him at New Orleans; also supported the annexation of Texas. In 1845 was reelected, and supported Polk’s Administration. Was regularly reelected to Congress until 1853. During this period opposed all expenditures for internal improvements that were not general; resisted and defeated the proposed contingent tax of 10 per cent on tea and coffee; made his celebrated defense of the veto power; urged the adoption of the homestead law, which was obnoxious to the extreme Southern element of his party; supported the compromise measures of 1850 as a matter of expediency, but opposed compromises in general as a sacrifice of principle. Was elected governor of Tennessee in 1853 over Gustavus A. Henry, the "Eagle Orator" of the State. In his message to the legislature he dwelt upon the homestead law and other measures for the benefit of the working classes, and earned the title of the "Mechanic Governor." Opposed the Know-nothing. movement with characteristic vehemence. Was reelected governor in 1855, defeating Meredith P. Gentry, the Whig-American candidate, after a most remarkable canvass. The Kansas-Nebraska bill received his earnest support. In 1857 was elected to the United States Senate, where he urged the passage of the homestead bill, and on May 20, 1858, made his greatest speech on this subject. Opposed the grant of aid for the construction of a Pacific railroad. Was prominent in debate, and frequently dashed with Southern supporters of the Administration. His pronounced Unionism estranged him from the extremists on the Southern side, while his acceptance of slavery as an institution guaranteed by the Constitution caused him to hold aloof from the Republicans on the other. At the Democratic convention at Charleston, S.C., in 1860 was a candidate for the Presidential nomination, but received only the vote of Tennessee, and when the convention reassembled in Baltimore withdrew his name. In the canvass that followed supported John C. Breckinridge. At the session of Congress beginning in December, 1860, took decided and unequivocal grounds in opposition to secession, and on December 13 introduced a joint resolution proposing to amend the Constitution so as to elect the President and Vice-President by district votes, Senators by a direct popular vote, and to limit the terms of Federal judges to twelve years, the judges to be equally divided between slaveholding and non-slaveholding States. In his speech on this resolution. December 18 and 19, declared his unyielding opposition to secession and announced his intention to stand by and act under the Constitution. Retained his seat in the Senate until appointed by President Lincoln military governor of Tennessee, March 4, 1862, March 12 reached Nashville, and organizeda provisional government for the State; March 18 issued a proclamation in which he appealed to the people to return to their allegiance, to uphold the law, and to accept a full and complete amnesty for all past acts and declarations;" April 5 removed the mayor and other officials of Nashville for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and appointed others; urged the holding of Union meetings throughout the State, and frequently attended them in person; completed the railroad from Nashville to the Tennessee River; raised twenty-five regiments for service in the State; December 8, 1862, issued a proclamation ordering Congressional elections, and on the 15th levied an assessment upon the richer Southern sympathizers "in behalf of the many helpless widows, wives, and children in the city of Nashville who have been reduced to poverty and wretchedness in consequence of their husbands, sons, and fathers having been forced into the armies of this unholy and nefarious rebellion." Was nominated for Vice-President of the United States at the national Republican convention at Baltimore June 8, 1864, and was elected on November 8. In his letter of acceptance of the nomination Mr. Johnson virtually disclaimed any departure from his principles as a Democrat, but placed his acceptance upon the ground of "the higher duty of first preserving the Government." On the night of the 14th of April, 1865, President Lincoln was shot by an assassin and died the next morning. At 11 o’clock a. m. April 15 Mr. Johnson was sworn in as President, at his rooms in the Kirkwood House, Washington, by Chief Justice Chase, in the presence of nearly all the Cabinet officers and others. April 29, 1865, issued a proclamation for the removal of trade restrictions in most of the insurrectionary States, which, being in contravention of an act of Congress, was subsequently modified. May 9 issued an Executive order restoring Virginia to the Union. May 22 proclaimed all ports, except four in Texas, opened to foreign commerce on July 1, 1865. May 29 issued a general amnesty proclamation, after which the fundamental and irreconcilable differences between President Johnson and the party that had elevated him to power became more apparent. He exercised the veto power to a very great extent, but it was generally nullified by the two-thirds votes of both Houses. From May 29 to July 13, 1865, proclaimed provisional governors for North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Alabama. South Carolina, and Florida, whose duties were to reorganize the State governments. The State governments were reorganized, but the Republicans claimed that the laws passed were so stringent in reference to the negroes that it was a worse form of slavery than the old. The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution became a law December 18, 1865, with Mr. Johnson’s concurrence. The first breach between the President and the party in power was the veto of the Freedmen’s Bureau bill, in February, 1866, which was designed to protect. the negroes. March 27 vetoed the civil-rights bill, but it was passed over his veto. In a message of June 22, 1866, opposed thejoint resolution proposing the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution. In June, 1866, the Republicans in Congress brought forward their plan of reconstruction, called the "Congressional plan," in contradistinction to that of the President. The chief features of the Congressional plan were to give the negroes the right to vote, to protect them in this right, and to prevent Confederate leaders from voting. January 5, 1867, vetoed the act giving negroes the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia, but it was passed over his veto. An attempt was made to impeach the President, but it failed. In January, 1867, a bill was passed to deprive the President of the power to proclaim general amnesty, which he disregarded. Measures were adopted looking to the meeting of the Fortieth and all subsequent Congresses immediately after the adjournment of the preceding. The President was deprived of the command of the Army by a rider to the army appropriation bill, which provided that his orders should only be given through the General, who was not to be removed without the previous consent of the Senate. The bill admitting Nebraska, providing that no law should ever be passed in that State denying the right of suffrage to any person because of his color or race, was vetoed by the President, but passed over his veto. March 2, 1867, vetoed the act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States, but it was passed over his veto. It embodied the Congressional plan of reconstruction, and divided the Southern States into five military districts, each under an officer of the Army not under the rank of brigadier-general, who was to exercise all the functions of government until the citizens had "formed a constitution of government in conformity with the Constitution of the United States in all respects." On the same day vetoed the tenure-of-office act, which was also passed over his veto. It provided that civil officers should remain in office until the confirmation of their successors; that the members of the Cabinet should be removed only with the consent of the Senate. and that when Congress was not in session the President could suspend but not remove any official, and in case the Senate at the next session should not ratify the suspension the suspended official should be reinducted into his office. August 5, 1867, requested Edwin M. Stanton to resign his office as Secretary of War. Mr. Stanton refused, was suspended, and General Grant was appointed Secretary of War ad interim. When Congress met, the Senate refused to ratify the suspension. General Grant then resigned, and Mr. Stanton resumed the duties of his office. The President removed him and appointed Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the Army, Secretary of War ad interim. The Senate declared this act illegal, and Mr. Stanton refused to comply, and notified the Speaker of the House. On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives resolved to impeach the President, and on March 2 and 3 articles of impeachment were agreed upon by the House of Representatives, and on the 4th were presented to the Senate. The trial began on March 30, May 16 the test vote was had;thirty-five Senators voted for conviction and nineteen for acquittal. A change of one vote would have carried conviction. A verdict of acquittal was entered, and the Senate sitting as a court of impeachment adjourned sine die. After the expiration of his term the ex-President returned to Tennessee. Was a candidate for the United States Senate, but was defeated. In 1872 was an unsuccessful candidate for Congressman from the State at large. In January, 1875, was elected to the United States Senate, and took his seat at the extra session of that year. Shortly after the session began made a speech which was a skillful but bitter attack upon President Grant. While visiting his daughter near Elizabethton, in garter County, Tenn., was stricken with paralysis July 30, 1875, and died the following day. He was buried at Greeneville, Tenn.