Andrew+Johnson

=Natalie Melo= = Andrew Johnson =


 * Years of Presidency:** 1865 to 1869
 * Political Party:** Democrat until Civil War broke out, where he was faced with the decision to turn Republican as a result of joining the Union as its Vice President


 * Key Personal Details:**
 * Vice President during Lincoln's second term
 * did not have a Vice President during his term since he took over the Presidential seat after Lincoln was assassinated (so he was never elected as president)
 * openly hostile to freed slaves
 * 1862: appointed Military Governor of Tennessee -> traitor to Confederates, hero to Union
 * 1st president to be impeached


 * Major Events, Changes, Issues, and Decisions:**
 * **Reconstruction** -- northern radicals were hesitant about letting Confederate states back in
 * attempted to veto (but overrode by Congress) radical reconstruction bills such as extending life of **Freedmen's Bureau and the Civil Rights Act** -> the radicals in Congress seemed to be taking over most of the federal power at the time
 * **Tenure of Office Act** - protected members of Johnson administration from being fired -> used to impeach Johnson after he violated it, but Johnson still had enough votes in Senate to not be convicted
 * 1867: his Secretary of State bought Alaska from Russia


 * Legacies:**
 * **Reconstruction** (he called it "Restoration")
 * **14th Amendment** - protected black rights as citizens w/ penalties to states that denied black male suffrage
 * the **1st Civil RIghts Act**
 * ** Alaska ** was added to the US


 * Most Important President Argument:**
 * finally was able to restore the Confederate states back into the Union and provide the Union with the 14th Amendment that legally protected blacks as a result of the Civil War
 * Sources:**
 * 1) Alan Brinkley "American History" textbook
 * 2) []