n 1865, Andrew Johnson ascended to the presidency in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and embarked on a perverse campaign to roll back the Union's achievements during the Civil War. Racist mobs marauded unchecked through the South, killing African-Americans. Factions debated the terms of readmission for states that had seceded. Basic issues about citizenship, the right to vote and the direction of the country were up for grabs. Amid this turmoil, Johnson articulated a crabbed and unworkable vision for the future: “This is a country for white men,” he declared, “and, by God, as long as I am president it shall be a government for white men.”
Most fatefully Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat who had run on the National Union ticket with the Republican Lincoln, would veto important pieces of Reconstruction legislation passed by the Republican Congress. When Congress overrode his vetoes, he refused to execute the laws. Eventually congressional Republicans sought—and failed—to remove the president from office.
Read Full Article »
