JOHNSON 



3160 



JOHNSON 



eternal God, they should suffer the penalty of 

 the law at the hands of the executioner." At 

 Liberty, Virginia, on his way from Washington 

 to Tennessee after this speech, he was attacked 

 by a mob, which he held off with his pistol, 

 and at other places he was hissed and hanged 

 in effigy. 



One year later, on March 4, 1862, President 

 Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor 

 of Tennessee. It was a position of great diffi- 

 culty, in which he exercised the powers of an 

 absolute autocrat, yet he showed moderation 

 and restraint. His rule opened the way to the 

 return of Tennessee to the Union, and in 

 March, 1864, the state, under Johnson's orders, 

 elected officers. Johnson's work had made him 

 a national figure, perhaps the most conspicu- 

 ous of the War Democrats. There was a gen- 

 eral feeling at the Republican convention in 

 1864 that the sacrifices of the War Democrats 

 demanded recognition, which was given by 

 nominating Johnson for Vice-President on the 

 ticket with Lincoln. In the light of later events 

 it is important to note that in accepting the 

 nomination Johnson explained that his accept- 

 ance did not involve a departure from Demo- 

 cratic principles, but was due to "the higher 

 duty of first preserving the government." 



Lincoln and Johnson were elected, and were 

 duly inaugurated on March 4, 1865. Johnson 

 was just recovering from an illness, and to 

 strengthen himself for the ordeal of inaugura- 

 tion, had taken several drinks of strong liquor. 

 In his weakened condition the stimulation was 

 greater than he had expected, and when he 

 came to deliver his inaugural address he was 

 somewhat undignified and incoherent. His 

 explanation was later generally accepted as 

 satisfactory, but the incident was extremely 

 unfortunate, for it created an unfavorable im- 

 pression of the man, and was the basis of 

 charges that he frequently drank to excess. 



Administration of Andrew Johnson, 1865- 

 1869. Lincoln and Johnson were inaugurated 

 on Saturday, March 4; six weeks later, on 

 Saturday, April 15, Lincoln died, a victim of 

 the assassin's bullet. Johnson thus succeeded 

 to the Presidency, and on the same day was 

 sworn in by Chief Justice Chase. It was sup- 

 posed that the new President would be harsh 

 and vindictive toward the South. He was 

 known to be bitter against the Southern aris- 

 tocracy, and he had protested against the gen- 

 erous but just terms of surrender granted to Lee 

 by Grant. Barely a month elapsed, however, 

 before the public saw evidences of a change 



in the President's views, a change which was 

 due partly to the sobering effect of responsi- 

 bility and partly to the influence of William 

 H. Seward, who remained in Johnson's Cabinet 

 as Secretary of State. 



The Beginning of Reconstruction. During 

 the first six months of Johnson's term Con- 

 gress was not in session, and long before 

 December, when it met, it was apparent that 

 the President had adopted Lincoln's policy of 

 leniency. On May 9, 1865, he issued a 

 proclamation restoring Virginia to the Union, 

 and on May 29 declared a general amnesty 

 to all except fourteen specified classes of citi- 

 zens. Between May 9 and the middle of July 

 the President also appointed seven provisional 

 governors, whose duty it was to reorganize 

 the state governments recently in the Confed- 

 eracy. The reorganized governments at once 

 passed stringent laws relating to the negroes, 

 whose position, according to the radical Re- 

 publicans in Congress, became worse than ever 

 before. When Congress met the Republicans 

 were in a large majority, and opposition to 

 Johnson's plan of reconstruction increased be- 

 cause it was almost certain that the Souther 

 Congressmen, if admitted, would vote with the 

 Democrats. There was also a feeling that the 

 Southern leaders had not been sufficiently pui 

 ished, and many of the Northern member 

 were angered at the possibility that men wh< 

 had been in rebellion against the United Stat 

 within a year might sit in Congress. 



Break between Congress and Johnson. Tl 

 first open break between Johnson and 

 gress came in February, 1866, when the 

 dent vetoed a bill to establish a Freedmen's 

 Bureau (which see), for the protection of for- 

 mer slaves. Johnson's chief reason for vetoir 

 the bill was that it had been passed by 

 Congress in which the Southern states 

 not represented. In July Congress passed 

 second bill to establish the Bureau; Johns 

 vetoed it and Congress passed it over his vet 

 In the meantime the President had vetoed 

 Civil Rights Bill, which made the freedme 

 citizens, because according to his view it inter 

 fered with the rights of the states. Conj 

 repassed the bill over his veto, and then prc 

 posed the Fourteenth Amendment, whic 

 contained the principles of the bill. Johi 

 disapproved of the amendment, but it was rati- 

 fied by the required number of states 

 went into effect July 28, 1868. 



Johnson's Views. In considering the Presi- 

 dent's veto and disapproval of these measi 



