Andrew Johnson: The 17th US President, The Reconstruction Battle, and the First Impeachment
The self-taught Tennessee tailor who succeeded Lincoln, battled Radical Republicans over Reconstruction, survived presidential impeachment by a single vote, and purchased Alaska.
📌 Executive Profile & Vital Statistics
1. Penniless Tailor's Apprentice to Unionist Tennessee Governor
Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, into extreme poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina. Apprenticed to a tailor at age ten, Johnson ran away, settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, and established a successful tailor shop. At age eighteen, he married Eliza McCardle, who patiently taught him how to write and do arithmetic while he worked at his tailoring bench.
Rising through Tennessee politics as an unyielding defender of the working poor against the plantation aristocracy, Johnson was elected Governor of Tennessee and US Senator. When Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Johnson made the courageous decision to become the only sitting Southern senator to refuse to join the Confederacy, declaring: "Damn the negroes, I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats, their masters!" In 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson Military Governor of Tennessee.
4. The 1868 Impeachment Trial: Surviving Conviction by a Single Vote
Succeeding Abraham Lincoln after John Wilkes Booth's bullet on April 15, 1865, Johnson pursued a lenient "Presidential Reconstruction", vetoing the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment. When Congress enacted the Tenure of Office Act over his veto to protect Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Johnson dismissed Stanton in February 1868.
On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted 126–47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson on eleven articles of impeachment. Following a dramatic, two-month Senate trial presided over by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, the Senate voted 35 to 19 for conviction on three separate ballots—falling exactly one vote short of the two-thirds constitutional majority required for removal, thanks to courageous moderate Republican Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas.
5. Foreign Success: William H. Seward & The Alaska Purchase (1867)
Johnson's greatest presidential triumph was negotiated by his visionary Secretary of State, William H. Seward. On March 30, 1867, the United States signed a treaty purchasing Alaska from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million (approximately 2 cents per acre). Although initially mocked in partisan newspapers as "Seward's Folly" and "Johnson's Polar Bear Garden", the acquisition added 586,412 square miles of mineral, gold, and oil wealth to the United States.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why was Andrew Johnson impeached in 1868?
He violated the Tenure of Office Act by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate approval and fiercely resisted Congressional Reconstruction policies.
By how many votes was Andrew Johnson acquitted?
He was acquitted by exactly one vote (35 for conviction, 19 for acquittal), falling just short of the required two-thirds majority in the Senate.
What was Andrew Johnson's major foreign policy achievement?
The purchase of Alaska from Imperial Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward.
Where can I learn more about all other US Presidents?
Explore our complete chronological guide to all 45 commanders-in-chief in our master directory: Complete List of All US Presidents (1st to 47th).