Andrew Johnson's Assassination

President Andrew Johnson assumed office following Lincoln’s assassination. Johnson had his own ideas of Reconstruction and tried to take his own course of action in putting the Union back together following the Civil War. A series of bitter political quarrels between President Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction Policy in the South eventually led to his impeachment.

In addition to being divided on the issue on how to bring the Southern states back into the Union, the nation later became divided on the rights that should be bestowed upon the emancipated slaves. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Democratic Vice President Andrew Johnson took control of the executive branch and his background foreshadowed the “political drama” that would take place. President Johnson was a Senator from Tennessee before he entered the Vice Presidency and he had racist leanings and he opposed political rights for the freedmen. Additionally, Johnson was open about his sympathy for the South and he was determined to control the path of Reconstruction. The first example of conflict between Johnson and the Republican

After the Civil War, the southern whites were extremely resentful and bitter. In 1865 the southern states began issuing “black codes,” which were laws made subsequent to the Civil War that had the effect of limiting the civil rights and civil liberties of blacks. This term tends to refer to the legislation passed by southern states to control the labor, migration, and other activities of newly freed slaves. When the slaves were freed, they still had

1. In 1865, before he was president, Andrew Johnson was expected to be assassinated along with Abraham Lincoln, but the assailant got cold feet and backed out. After Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson assumed the presidency. Many people never thought of Johnson ever becoming a president because he was a very stubborn man and didn't seem fit for the position. He was also quite different than Abraham Lincoln, he was a previous slave owner from the south and he was not a fan of criticism. He had different views on reconstruction and was more into revenge and punishment rather than equality. President Johnson proposed amnesty for ex confederates and gave freed slaves no protection and no voting rights. In reaction, congress began passing reconstruction acts. Congress wanted an extension on the Freedmen's bureau but Johnson vetoed the bill. Overall, Johnson had an outrageous 29 vetoes for congress bills. The tenure of office act was Johnson's last chance to change but congress decided to draft impeachment forms. Johnson won the impeachment trial by one vote.

The Union Victory in the Civil War in 1865 granted freedom to approximately 4 million slaves, however, the process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period 1865-1877 brought a lot of challenges. In 1865 and 1866 under the supervision of President Andrew Johnson, new Southern state legislatives passed the “black codes” to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. During the Radical Reconstruction in 1869, new enfranchised blacks had a voice in the government for the first time in

After President Lincoln’s assassination his Vice President Andrew Johnson became the new President and began his own version of reconstruction. Although it was common knowledge at the time President Johnson did not like southern planter elites, he was surprisingly lenient towards them. He even blocked radicals in Congress attempts to pass punitive legislation on the Confederate states (ushistory.org, 2008).

During Reconstruction there were massive changes in America’s culture, economy, and politics. Reconstruction for Lincoln was supposed to be a time for union and forgiveness. Who knows what would've happened if Lincoln could of cared out his plans, but Andrew Johnson took over and his plan for Reconstruction was very different. He believed the South had no right to succeed to begin with. He believed that the blacks should have no part in Reconstruction because today he's known as a racist. Andrew Johnson made sure to establish his all white government which to me looks like he's just copying the all white confederate government like before.

This only furthered the already present fracture among the country and was not improved anytime soon. Moreover, President Johnson’s efforts in reconstruction proved to be just as abysmal as he failed to serve the newly freed black Americans in a way that was truly effective and allowed, “southern states legislatures [to pass] restrictive ‘black codes’ to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans” (History.com Staff, “Reconstruction”) which directly conflicted with the Thirteenth Amendment which clearly states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States” (Greene). Southern states began to implement an increased amount of government actions that not only kept African Americans from being able to legitimately enter the political and societal constructs of a post-abolition America. Some of these repressive laws included required literacy tests in order to vote and in increase in poll taxes. For the south to do this meant that they would only be trying to return to a slavery based economy as it resulted in most of, if not all, free African Americans living in the south working for minimal to nearly no wage at all, exactly as they did while slaves. The north responded to these codes by using their dominant power in congress to refuse the seats of southern representatives as well as making states develop new

It also allowed black men to join the Union Army and Navy, “enabling the liberated to become liberators.” (The Emancipation Proclamation) The big change in slavery and the fight for equality did not come until the Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. With this event, it was declared that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” (13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution) Although this Amendment did give slaves their freedom, it did not guarantee them the same rights nor the same treatment that other citizens of the United States had and took for granted. This was especially seen in the states that “enacted ‘black codes’ that were intended to limit the civil rights of the newly free slaves.” (Civil Rights) These “black codes” and the obvious difference in treatment were a large issue, and they were later addressed in the Constitution with the introduction of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868 and it made large changes for black individuals. This Amendment “granted citizenship to ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States,’ which included former slaves recently freed.” (14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) It also “forbids states from denying

Legally African Americans were free. They no longer had to be enslaved and forced to work without any pay. Even though that is true, African Americans still didn't have the freedom whites did. After the 13th amendment, which legally abolished slavery, African Americans still were required to carry a specific pass to be able to travel to a different state. African Americans faced many restrictions that shortened their freedom. Some examples are the Black Codes, which legally prevented slaves from having fully equal rights. African Americans were thought of as uneducated and incapable to be part in the government of their country. In the eyes of the whites, blacks were still not free or equal to them, and because of that African Americans faced

Andrew Johnson took office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was a Southern Democrat from Tennessee, when he became president, the Civil War had ended and reconstruction was in its beginning stages. Johnson was then faced with the same problems Lincoln had -- the challenge of mending a broken nation, yet there was a definite difference in the ways Johnson and Lincoln approached the problems of Reconstruction. Johnson was not one of our best or brightest presidents, he did not care about his public appearance and he was not good at making decisions. One of the most illogical decisions Johnson made as president was to start a new reconstruction plan, before his death Lincoln already had a plan set out. Yet Johnson

After the Civil War Southern culture remained deeply racist and hostile against African Americans. Although the Union was victorious in the war and were able to abolish slavery due to the passage of the 13th Amendment, it was as if they had not succeeded at all as "There [was] a kind of innate feeling, a lingering hope among many in the South that slavery will be regalvanized in some shape or other. They tried by their laws to make a worse slavery than there was before, for the freedman has not the protection which the master from interest gave him before”(Du Bois). This was evident by the implementation of black codes which were intended to restrict the freedom that African Americans newly possessed. These laws which were passed immediately after the 13th amendment forced African American people to work as punishment for crimes that were selectively enforced against them. Furthermore, the enforcement of these laws allowed for southern white people to maintain their cultural views of black people serving only as labor workers in order to maintain and boost their economy. This perception of

With the assassination of President Lincoln, the north grieved and became angrier than before. In the south some astute politicians predicted that Lincoln’s death meant trouble for them. These men were soon proved correct. Without President Lincoln to block them Congress cast the new president, Andrew Johnson aside and implemented a

"In 1865, the federal government established the Freedmen's Bureau, which provided temporary relief for newly free slaves, managed abandoned and confiscated property, helped to reunite families, provided medical supplies and food rations, and established institutions such as hospitals, schools, and orphanages" (Segal, 2016, p. 32 cited Trattner, 1999). Even though this social policy was developed, it was still a struggle to practice rights given by the government. Several rejected freed slaves and exercised racial theories. They experienced officials sabotaging opportunities. Land was taken away, free men and women were taken advantage of by former masters by increasing cost of agriculture to the point where debt was never going to be

After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson became president. Both Republicans and Congress ended up siding against Johnson because he favored the emancipation as a way of removing the elite planters from their positions of power. Johnson was not against the ownership of slaves and “wished that ‘…every head of family in the United States had one slave to take the drudgery and menial service off his family’” (410). In addition, his hope was that the restoration would take place quickly and that the only changes would be the abolishment of slavery and the denial of states’ rights to secede.