Existing comment:
Andrew Johnson, 1808-1875:
Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was the only senator from the South to remain loyal to the Union, and in 1864, in an effort to win the votes of southern unionists in the presidential election, he was picked to be Abraham Lincoln's new running mate. Yet Lincoln's tragic death in April 1865 thrust Johnson into a critical position of power; after a tumultuous four years of war in which Lincoln had expanded the powers of the presidency, Johnson became the victim of a Congress inclined to curtail his executive authority. His violation of the Tenure of Office Act (later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court) in the removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, led to his impeachment in 1868. Johnson's acquittal by a single vote was not just a personal victory but a national vindication of he office of the presidency. |