Andrew Johnson, The Seventeenth President of The United States

President Andrew Johnson was the seventeenth president of the United States of America. He came into office after President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. President Johnson was born on December 12, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Johnson grew up in poverty, his family was too poor to send him to school. When Johnson was older he got a job as a tailor boy but ran away later. When he was older he opened up a tailor shop in Tennessee. He started with politics by debating in a local academy. He married Eliza McCartney and had six children. He was a senator and was a member of the House of Representatives. In the civil war he stayed senator, many northerners thought he was great but the southerners didn’t like him. Later he got appointed to be military governor of Tennessee by President Lincoln.

In 1864 he got elected to be vice president for Abraham Lincoln.Andrew Johnson got elected as vice president, not president. After President Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s theature he became president. He was also supposed to be assassinated by George Azterodt. But Azterodt didn’t end up going through with the assassination out of fear. Even though he didn’t go through with the assassination, Azterodt was still hung. What qualified him to be a vice president was because he was a Senator in Tennessee he was steadfast to the Union during the civil war. He was also appointed Military Governor of Tennessee by President Lincoln. Andrew Johnson had a few controversies when he was president and here are a few of them.

When Johnson became president some “radicals” in the House of Representatives, Senate, and Congress wanted to pass a bill dealing with former slaves. President Johnson then vetoed it because he liked slavery and owned slaves. The “radicals” got enough votes to override the president. It was first time in American history that congress override the president on an important bill. Congress passed the Civil Rights act of 1866 that let former slaves be American citizens, and that there couldn’t be any discrimination against them.

Andrew Johnson was the first president to go up for impeachment, some people even call him the worst president in American history. The senate wrote up 11 articles for Johnson’s impeachment. The main reason why he got put up for impeachment was because he took Stanton out of office and violated an act. He replaced Stanton with Thomas without going to senate first, which is violating the Constitution. Johnson escaped being impeached by only one vote.