JOHNSON 



3159 



JOHNSON 



DC 



1865 JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION 1869 



view 

 of 



Grand Army. 

 June, 

 1865 



Purchased from 

 Russia in 1867 



NEBRASKA 

 Admitted to 

 I Union, 1867 



Amendments > 



XIII Anti-Slavery 



XIV Equal Rights 



Reconstruction Period 

 (The Carpet Baggers) 



The Great Eastern 

 laid Atlantic Cable 

 in 1865 



DC 



gon boundary dispute and the question of war 

 with Mexico. He approved the Compromise 

 of 1850 as a matter of expediency, but as a 

 general proposition opposed all compromise as 

 a sacrifice of principles. He urged the adop- 

 tion of a homestead law and low tariffs, and 

 consistently opposed the policy of internal 

 improvement. In 1853 the Tennessee Con- 

 gressional districts were rearranged in such a 

 way that Johnson's district was overwhelmingly 

 Whig. Instead of vainly seeking reelection, he 

 announced himself as a Democratic candidate 

 for governor, and was easily elected. He was 

 an excellent governor. Himself an uneducated 

 man, he became a champion of free public 

 schools. He continued to urge the passage of 

 a national homestead law and other measures 

 for the benefit of the poorer classes. 



Slavery and Secession. In 1857, after serv- 

 ing four years as governor of Tennessee, Joh'n- 

 son was elected to the United States Senate, 

 where he was almost alone in his peculiar 

 views on the great issues then under discus- 

 sion. He did not, as has been said, believe 

 in compromises, but it is interesting to note 

 that his own views on political issues were 

 moderate and usually occupied a middle 



ground. Thus he regretted the political power 

 of the slave-owners, but opposed the anti- 

 slavery agitation because it threatened danger 

 to the Union. He voted to admit free Cali- 

 fornia, but on the other hand felt that the 

 territories should be allowed popular sover- 

 eignty and that Congress should protect the 

 institution of slavery wherever it already ex- 

 isted. His Unionism, on the one side, and his 

 defense of slavery, on the other, suggested his 

 availability as a compromise candidate for the 

 Presidency in 1860, and in the Democratic 

 convention he received the vote of Tennessee. 

 But when the convention split, Johnson with- 

 drew his name and supported John C. Breck- 

 inridge. 



Until the autumn of 1860 he seems to have 

 believed that any organized attempt at seces- 

 sion was impossible, but once undeceived he 

 left no doubt as to his own position. He was 

 the only Southern member of Congress who 

 refused to secede with his. state. In a fiery 

 speech before the Senate he announced his in- 

 tention to stand by the Constitution, and on 

 March 2, 1861, he said, referring to the seces- 

 sionists, that he "would have them arrested 

 and tried for treason, and if convicted, by the 



