1 of 4

Write now Article Tools

The legacy of Andrew Johnson haunts American politics and society today because it is a legacy - perhaps a reflection - of America far more so than it is of the tailor from Tennessee who became the 17thPresident of the United States. It is a legacy both of the inability or unwillingness of America to grapple with the issue of race and justice, and of an inherent weakness in our system of government when the executive and legislative branches refuse to cooperate. If the legacy of Andrew Johnson is over-simplified as one of failure, then what of America?

To be fair - and History seldom is - Johnson grew up in a semi-frontier society in the mountains of East Tennessee not so far removed from both the realities and tall tales of Davy Crockett as it is from ours today. Johnson was born December 29, 1808 to a poor family in Raleigh, North Carolina. His father died when he was three years old and Johnson became an apprentice tailor by age 10. Much like the more celebrated Lincoln, Johnson never had a formal education and had to teach himself to read and write. Later married to Eliza McCardle, he would raise five children.

In 1833 Johnson was elected mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee. He served in the House of Representatives from 1835-1837, in the Tennessee state senate from 1839-1843, in the House from 1843-1853, and as governor of Tennessee from 1853-1857.

Born and raised in semi-poverty, Johnson displayed bitter hostility to the planter elite in Tennessee and elsewhere in the South. Politically, his was the voice representing the mountaineers and the yeoman farmers - and in its way foreshadowing a bitter racism potentially far more virulent than the casual racism of those born and bred in the midst of slavery.

Senator Andrew Johnson (1857-1862) was serving in Washington when the state seceeded. He alone of Southern senators would remain in Washington during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson Military Governor of Tennessee where he served from 1862 until his election as Vice-President of the United States. But just who and what was this man who would succeed Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency?

Historians have termed Andrew Johnson a "white supremacist". Fair? Hardly. His was a time and society where white supremacy - even in the North - was as commonly accepted as biscuit and gravy. Johnson was neither an abolitionist nor especially sympathetic to the slaves. Like many other mountaineers and non-slave-holding farmers, Johnson harbored a deep resentment of the planter class which extended to (perhaps may have been symbolized by) African-American slaves. Was he a racist? By today's standards, yes. By his - no.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The legacy of Andrew Johnson?
We want to hear your view. Write now!