Andrew Johnson
Born: December 29, 1808
Died: July 31, 1875
Slaves Owned: 4+
Known For: Being the 17th president. Becoming president after Lincoln's assassination. Dealing with Reconstruction. Being the first impeached president.
Johnson was born into a poor family, and came to be a slave owner over time, when his finances improved. He freed his slaves August 9, 1863 and they stayed on as paid employees. He also possibly fathered children with at least one of his slaves.
He opposed giving citizenship to freed slaves. Johnson's big issue to deal with was Reconstruction. It was a big back and forth between Northern and Southern states, compromises, etc. Neither side really seemed to care about the freed slaves, except how to make sure they never got ahead, or would ever be considered equal in the eyes of the law.
Johnson's presidency was mired in controversy, not getting a whole lot accomplished, and ultimately being impeached, but not voted out of office. He was not one of our nation's best...
Sources:
The official White House page.
More about Johnson and slavery.
No comments:
Post a Comment