today we're looking at president andrew johnson
hello welcome to the daily bell ringer please don't forget to subscribe and take a look at
the questions down in the description also don't forget to check out dailybellringer.com where
you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos andrew johnson was
the 17th president of the united states from 1865 to 1869 and was a member of the democratic party
johnson was the first president in u.s history to assume the office of the president
after the assassination of the previous president with the death of president
abraham lincoln at the hands of assassin john wilkes booth johnson assumed the role
of president just as the united states was coming out of four years of a bloody civil war and would
need to begin the process of reconstruction andrew johnson was born on december 29 1808
in raleigh north carolina the son of jacob johnson and mary mcdonough both of johnson's parents
were poor and illiterate or in other words they couldn't read or write when andrew was only three
years old his father jacob died leaving his mother to be the primary provider for andrew and his two
siblings by the age of 10 andrew began working in a tailor shop as an apprentice learning to
sew and mend clothing while here customers would come in and would many times bring books which
led to andrew learning to read as his formal education was rather sporadic and not consistent
johnson became a lifelong learner and would read every book he could get his hands on
by the time he was 18 he like many other americans were looking to move west in 1826 johnson moved to
greenville tennessee where he opened his own tailoring business the following year in 1827
he married eliza mccradle and together they would go on to have five children together over the next
few years johnson's tailor shop grew and became very profitable making him one of the leading
citizens of greenville by 1829 he began his political career being elected as a town alderman
in greenville and then soon after in 1835 he was elected to the tennessee house of representatives
like many others at the time johnson became an enthusiastic supporter of andrew jackson and began
to align himself with the democratic party as johnson's success grew so did his financial means
and during this time period johnson bought up large pieces of property in and around greenville
but also purchased several enslaved people to work on his properties in 1843 he won election to the
united states house of representatives where he would serve for the next 10 years during this
time johnson spoke out in favor of states rights and took a position in favor of the expansion of
slavery arguing that the federal government had no right to interfere in 1853 johnson was defeated in
his re-election bid in the house but returned to tennessee and was elected governor of the state
johnson served as governor of tennessee until 1857 when he was elected to the united states senate
soon after division began to tear the nation apart as the country headed toward civil war the issue
of secession from the union became the primary issue for southern states such as tennessee
johnson took a very pro-union stance and argued against any state leaving the united states
in the end tennessee did secede from the union and johnson had to flee the state fearing for his life
but johnson was the only senator from a seceding state that did not abandon his
seat in the u.s senate therefore he caught the attention of newly elected president
abraham lincoln early in the war lincoln appointed johnson to be the military governor of tennessee
then when lincoln was running for re-election in 1864 lincoln was looking for a running mate to
be his vice president that would give the message of reconciliation between the north and the south
therefore he chose southerner andrew johnson to be his running mate
mere days on april 14 1865 after lincoln was sworn in to his second term in office
lincoln was assassinated and in fact johnson had also been a target of the conspiracy
but the assassin lost his nerve and did not carry out his part of the mission on april 15 1865
andrew johnson was sworn in as the 17th president only hours after lincoln had died from his wound
johnson's presidency was full of turmoil and conflict as the nation entered into a period
of reconstruction attempting to piece itself back together after the civil war
furthermore radical republicans took control of congress and attained such a majority that they
could override any veto of a bill from johnson making him one of the weakest presidents in u.s
history johnson took a very lenient approach to reconstruction welcoming former rebelling states
into the union really without any punishment this very much irritated the radicals in congress
the republicans had such a majority in congress that they even sought to impeach johnson and
came within one single vote of fully impeaching him and removing him from office to learn more
about the impeachment of andrew johnson check out my other video devoted solely to that but
in 1868 johnson was unable to win the nomination of the democratic party to run for re-election and
in the general election republican and and war hero ulysses s grant easily won the presidency
johnson returned to tennessee and interestingly won re-election to the u.s senate in 1875 however
only a few months after being sworn back into the senate johnson suffered a stroke and died on july
31st 1875 at the age of 66. so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching