Andrew Johnson served as the 17th President of the United States following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. After being sworn into office within a hotel, Johnson quickly started to make decisions that infuriated the North. For one, Johnson wanted to gut the Lincoln cabinet and replace it with pro-slavery southerners. This move would effectively reverse the Civil War and the thousands of deaths that came with it. Congress, in an attempt to stall this, passed the Tenure of Office Act which would force Johnson to get approval from Congress before he could hire or fire any cabinet members. Johnson in turn deemed this to be unconstitutional and proceeded with his layoffs. Congress then impeached Johnson in the House and only saved him by one vote in the Senate to send a clear message. Congress was running things now and Johnson would have to bite his lip or lose his office completely.
Despite this power play, Johnson continued to cause trouble by impeding the efforts of the Freedman's Bureau. The Bureau was led by Oliver Howard and its main pursuit was an anti-poverty movement in the South. In fact, the Bureau could arguably be the first form of welfare in United States History. Howard began offering medical care and legal consultation to former slaves in the South. He also set up hundreds of schools for blacks to promote education, which would ultimately lift them out of poverty.
Johnson was unhappy with this arrangement and stalled the efforts of the Bureau by underfunding and understaffing the program. To make matters worse, Johnson decided to give plantation lands back to former slave-owners by handing out personal pardons. Handing out personal pardons was not only morally wrong but it was also politically cumbersome. Hundreds of former slaveowners would line up outside the White House and Johnson would spend all day writing pardons. Johnson pursued this effort because he enjoyed the power dynamic of former slaveowners begging him for salvation. To him, handing out absolutions was a way of stroking his own ego. In the end, Johnson became the poster boy for the South. Rather than slaves receiving the land they had toiled over for decades, it was returned to the people who kept them in bondage. As you can imagine, these actions were highly unpopular with Northerners and Johnson suffered a crushing defeat when he ran for a second term. Andrew Johnson cemented his place in history as one of the worst American presidents.
To read more about the blunders of Andrew Johnson consider the links below:
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hPAJzoYsUm_dELarAeLBoETqxdB1YdhcRp5-CeheVqk/edit?usp=sharing
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