Guide Note:

Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States. He became President after Lincoln's assassination, led initial Reconstruction efforts after the U.S. Civil War, and was the first President to be impeached.

Fast Facts:

1. Born: December 29, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina
2. Political Party: Democratic
3. Administration: 1865 to 1869
4. Vice-President: None
5. Succeeded by: Ulysses S. Grant
6. Secretary of State: William H. Seward
7. First Lady: Eliza McCardle Johnson
8. Occupation before politics: Tailor
9. Died: July 31, 1875 in Greenville, Tennessee
10. Other offices held: Congressman from Tennessee's first district, U.S. Senator from Tennessee, and Vice President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln
11. Owned slaves until 1863
12. First President to be impeached
13. First Vice-President to become President as a result of assassination

Before entering politics, Johnson worked as a tailor in his home state of North Carolina, and then in Tennessee. In 1833, he became the mayor of Greenville, Tennessee, became a U.S. Representative from Tennessee ten years later, and then ten years after that, in 1853, became Governor of the state. In 1857, Johnson, a Democrat, was elected Senator from Tennessee and held that position at the time the Civil War broke out.

As the Senator of a slave state that had seceded from the Union, Johnson was the rare Southerner who supported the North during the War. In 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of the state, and in 1864, seeking a pro-North Democrat to be his running mate, chose Johnson as his Vice-Presidential nominee. Johnson briefly served as Vice-President from his inauguration in March, 1865, until the assassination of Lincoln a little more than a month later, whereupon Johnson assumed the Presidency.

Johnson's Presidency posed a dilemma, since he was a Southern Democrat leading a party dominated by Northern Republicans. After the end of the war, Johnson attempted to reunite the country by swiftly pardoning Confederate soldiers and leaders, and allowed rapid Congressional elections in the Southern states. "Radical Republicans" in the North became enraged at Johnson's leniency toward the South, and blocked the appointment of the new Southern Congressional delegation, pointing out that it was dominated by those very Confederate leaders who had taken up arms against the United States. Johnson also vetoed efforts by the northern Republicans to establish a Freedman's Bureau to help aid liberated slaves, and vetoed a Civil Rights Bill that eventually became the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. After Republicans swept Congressional elections in 1866, Johnson lost much of his power, and vigorous efforts were made to unseat the increasingly unpopular President.

In 1867, in an effort to limit Johnson's power over his own cabinet, and specifically his power to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the Republican Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson's veto of the Act was overturned, and when Johnson removed Stanton anyway, the Republican-dominated Congress began impeachment proceedings against him, citing his violation of the recently-passed Act. While Johnson was impeached, he was not removed as the Congress did not garner the two-thirds majority necessary for conviction.

Johnson did not run for re-election in 1868, but instead ran for Senator from Tennessee, but lost. However, in 1874, he was elected Senator, but died of a stroke soon after taking office.