IV.

President of the United States

Johnson was sworn in as president by the chief justice of the United States Salmon P. Chase, on April 15, 1865, a few hours after Lincoln died. The new president immediately announced that he would retain Lincoln’s Cabinet. Johnson faced many difficult issues upon becoming president. Although most of them concerned reuniting the country torn apart by war, several international situations also required attention.

A.

Foreign Affairs

In foreign affairs, Johnson allowed himself to be guided by his secretary of state, William H. Seward. Seward’s most farsighted act of diplomacy was the acquisition of Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. However, in 1867, when the purchase was made, it was ridiculed as “Seward’s folly.”

In 1863, by force of arms, France had set up a European prince as the so-called emperor of Mexico. This was a flagrant violation of the U.S. policy called the Monroe Doctrine, which forbade European intervention in the western hemisphere. During the war, Seward had been unable to do more than register the disapproval of the United States. By 1867, however, Seward’s firm pressure on France had resulted in the withdrawal of all French troops from Mexico.

Seward was not able to solve one vexatious international problem that was also connected with the Civil War. Supported by Johnson, Seward insisted that Britain pay for damages caused by the Alabama and other cruisers of the Confederate States of America that had been built and outfitted in British ports (see Alabama Claims). In January 1869, almost at the end of Johnson’s term, a settlement of the claims was submitted to the Senate for ratification. In April 1869 the Senate rejected the convention.

Another instance of international conflict during Johnson’s administration was the raiding of Canada by Irish revolutionaries based in the United States, known as the Fenians. In June 1866, 1500 Fenians crossed into Canada and were defeated by Canadian militia. When the Fenians retreated into New York, they were arrested. Although they were soon freed, the Fenians did not again invade Canada during Johnson’s term.

B.

Reconstruction

Embittered by Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson was at first inclined to be vindictive in his treatment of the defeated Confederate leaders, who also represented the privileged class that he hated. In the first month of his administration the president and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton hunted down and imprisoned officials of the Confederacy. “Treason must be made infamous and traitors must be impoverished,” President Johnson said. His attitude won him the approval of the militant wing of the Republican Party, called the Radical Republicans.

However, to the chagrin of the Radicals, Johnson soon dropped these punitive activities for more constructive tasks. Basing his program for Reconstruction of the Union on the policy of conciliation developed by Lincoln, Johnson started a process to restore the former Confederate states to full membership in the Union. First, the white residents were to take an oath to uphold the Union. When 10 percent of a state’s 1860 voting population had taken the oath, they could elect a state government. When that government wrote a constitution recognizing the end of slavery, it could apply to Congress for the power to once again elect senators and representatives to the U.S. Congress.

The job was simplified by the fact that Johnson, like Lincoln, denied that the states had ever broken away from the Union and by the fact that Congress was adjourned from April to December 1865.

On May 9, 1865, Johnson recognized a Reconstruction government in Virginia. On May 29 he issued two proclamations. One was a proclamation of amnesty, which restored full citizenship to many former Confederates if they would swear allegiance to the Union. The other proclamation dealt with the restoration of civil government in North Carolina. The “loyal” people of the state were to elect delegates to a convention, which was to make constitutional and other changes needed to restore the state to the Union. Johnson issued similar proclamations for other seceded states.

In compliance with Johnson’s wishes, the Southern state conventions repealed the ordinances of secession, abolished slavery, and, with the exception of Mississippi, ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits slavery in the United States. The conventions also repudiated state debts contracted during the war.

In line with a suggestion of Lincoln’s, Johnson’s Reconstruction program included a recommendation that a few highly qualified blacks be given the vote, but none of the Southern states followed his recommendation. Instead, new state laws, known as the Black Codes, limited the civil rights of blacks and placed many economic restrictions on them.

B.1.

Congressional Opposition

By the time Congress convened in December 1865, all the Southern states except Texas had established Reconstruction governments in accordance with Johnson’s program. However, Congress was not pleased. The Radical Republicans were angered by the Black Codes and by the reemergence into public life of former Confederate leaders. Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, the leader of the congressional Radicals, attacked the president’s policies. Stevens declared, “The punishment of traitors has been wholly ignored by a treacherous Executive ...” A long battle between the president and Congress began.

The Radicals in Congress set up a Joint Committee on Reconstruction. In February 1866, Congress passed a bill to enlarge the scope of the Freedmen’s Bureau, which Congress had established in March 1865 to help the freed slaves. Johnson vetoed the bill. However, in July 1866 a second bill was enacted over his veto. In April 1866 the first Civil Rights Act, which was designed to nullify the Black Codes by guaranteeing equal civil rights to blacks, was also passed over Johnson’s veto.

B.2.

The 14th Amendment

The conflict between the executive and legislative branches continued over the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The provisions of the amendment were similar to those of the Civil Rights Act, which Johnson had vetoed on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional invasion of states’ rights. When the president submitted the amendment to the states for ratification, he reiterated his opposition and advised the states to reject it. All the Southern states except Tennessee refused to ratify the amendment. The Radicals used the rejection to discredit Johnson’s Reconstruction program, claiming that the South could not be trusted with self-government.

B.3.

Radical Control of Congress

During the congressional elections of 1866, Johnson campaigned through the East and Midwest for his Reconstruction program and against the Radicals. His efforts hurt his cause more than they helped. Hecklers in his audiences exasperated him into heated and undignified arguments. Radical newspapers played up the incidents and revived the false accusation that Johnson was an alcoholic.

The elections were a great victory for the Radical Republicans, who were elected and reelected in such numbers that they dominated Congress. They made an all-out attack on Johnson's Reconstruction program, replacing it with a severe one of their own, embodied in the Reconstruction Act of 1867 and three supplemental acts passed later that year and in 1868. Under this program, civil governments already in place in the Southern states were to give way to military rule. To regain their civil governments and win representation in Congress, the states would have to enfranchise the blacks and ratify the 14th Amendment.

Other measures were passed in February 1867 to prevent the president from interfering with the congressional Reconstruction program. The Tenure of Office Act forbade him to remove federal office holders, including Cabinet members, without the consent of the Senate. The Army Appropriations Act included the “command of the army” provisions, which were designed to deprive the president of his constitutional right to command the army. This act was condemned by Johnson, but he signed it into law. The other acts were vetoed by Johnson, but were passed over his veto. Congress now seemed all-powerful.

B.4.

Dismissal of Stanton

Secretary of War Stanton had been working with the Radicals from the beginning of Johnson’s presidency. In August 1867, while Congress was adjourned, Johnson suspended Stanton and named General Ulysses S. Grant to the post. In January 1868 the Senate refused to accept Stanton’s suspension. When Grant stepped out in favor of Stanton, the president again dismissed Stanton and appointed General Lorenzo Thomas as secretary of war. Supported by the Radicals, Stanton barricaded himself in his War Department office and refused to let Thomas in.

Congress seized on the Stanton affair to attempt to oust Johnson from the presidency. According to Section 4 of Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the president or any other federal officer may be removed from office if he is impeached and convicted of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” In addition, according to the United States Constitution, the House of Representatives has the power to impeach, or accuse, while the Senate tries and judges in cases of impeachment.

C.

Impeachment

On February 24, 1868, a resolution of impeachment was passed by the House of Representatives, and a committee was appointed to “report articles of impeachment” against the president. The committee consisted of seven Radicals, including Thaddeus Stevens, all of whom had voted for the impeachment resolution. By March 4 the committee had prepared 11 articles of impeachment, and on March 5, Chief Justice Chase began presiding over the impeachment trial of President Johnson before the Senate.

Of the 11 articles of impeachment, 10 were related to Johnson’s violation of the Tenure of Office Act and the “command of the army” provisions of the Army Appropriations Act. The only other charge was a general accusation that Johnson had attempted to undermine Congress. An outrageous charge that Johnson had been involved in Lincoln’s assassination was withdrawn at the last minute.

The president did not personally participate in the trial. He left his defense to his lawyers, who easily proved that the president’s purpose in removing Stanton had been to test the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act. Furthermore, Johnson’s lawyers argued that the act did not pertain to Stanton, since he had been appointed by Lincoln, not by Johnson. The act applied to Cabinet officers, but only for the term of office of the president who had appointed them.

On May 16 and May 26, 1868, the Senate voted on three of the articles of impeachment. The Radicals had been pressing hard for a solid Republican vote, which would have given them more than the two-thirds majority required for conviction. However, 7 Republicans joined 12 Democrats in voting against conviction. The final count of 35 to 19 was one vote short of the two-thirds that were needed for conviction. Johnson had been acquitted.

D.

Last Year in Office

In May 1868, while the impeachment trial was still in progress, the Republicans nominated Grant as their presidential candidate. Johnson hoped to receive the Democratic nomination, but he did not actively seek votes or woo the Democrats by offering them government offices. At the Democratic convention in July 1868, Johnson needed 212 delegate votes to be nominated. He never got enough, and through several ballots his support dwindled away. Finally the convention chose Governor Horatio Seymour of New York as its candidate.

Johnson and Congress continued to battle each other to his last day in office. He vetoed Reconstruction bills, and Congress promptly overrode his vetoes. In his last annual message to Congress, Johnson criticized its Reconstruction program, and in his final address, made as he prepared to leave the White House, he bitterly attacked the Radical Republicans.