How Was Andrew Johnson Doomed From The Beginning Of His Political Career

American Reconstruction has been a hot topic of debate since it was considered finished. The post Civil War Reconstruction period was unsuccessful because of the lack of power held by the Radical Republicans, the shortage of northern influence in the south, and the closed minds of southern government officials. This was magnified after President Lincoln's death, when Andrew Johnson took presidency. Historian Eric Foner described Johnson as, "Once lionized as a heroic defender of the Constitution against Radical Republicans, Johnson today is viewed by historians as one of the worst presidents to occupy the White House. "

I have feel a bit better than before in the beginning of the History 7A from writing the essay. This time my focus was on the different of political parties on their successes and weakness. I have more on their successes than on their failures. I talk more on Andrew Jackson since he was an important candidate that started the Jacksonian Democrats. He created the Corrupt Bargain that say John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay made a deal among each other and made it impossible for Jackson to win the election.

So, in order to stop this, the Republicans came up with a plan of their own, which made it harder for the southern states to reincorporate into the union. With the help and support of the

The Presidential reconstruction was led by Andrew Johnson. Johnson had planned to go easy on the south and let each southern state decide their own plans for reentering the Union. Also, Johnson did not believe that African-Americans could manage their own lives and he let southern states pass black codes which restricted the African-American’s rights. With that being said he also did not believe African-Americans should have the right to vote, Johnson’s reconstruction plan allowed southern states to take away all rights for African-Americans.

The conduct of the governments he established turned many Northerners against the president's policies. Therefore, a clash between President Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction was unavoidable. By the end of 1865, Radical Republican views had gained a majority in Congress, and the critical year of 1866 saw a gradual weakening of President Johnson’s power. Johnson failed to provide the nation with enlightened leadership or deal effectively with Congress. Racism prevented him from responding to black demands for civil rights, and personal inflexibility rendered him unable to compromise with Congress.

The assassination of President Lincoln caused the nation to go into a political chaos, with Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan vetoed a new Plan which was overseen by former Vice President Andrew Johnson. Now President, Johnson took the essence of Lincoln plan with the pardoning of southerners who

The Reconstruction era of 1865 was an attempted unify the states of the United States of America after the Civil War. This proved to be terribly difficult and contentious process. The three main issues the federal government had to deal with included how to deal with states as they re-joined the Union, how Southern whites should be treated, and how to deal with the freed slaves. Furthermore, President Lincoln’s reconstruction plan included that states never truly seceded from the Union as this was not legally possible, and therefore they should not necessarily be punished. The plan had two major provisions: Pardons of Southerners who participated in the war if the took an oath of allegiance to the United States and Readmission of a state if 10% of white voters in that state took

Johnson did support a federal law on voting rights, but the final bill was so watered-down it had little efffect.

“I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me” (Meacham 1). Andrew Jackson was born on March 15,1767 to Andrew and Elisabeth Jackson. Andrew was the youngest child in the Jackson family with two older brothers named Hugh and Robert. Andrew grew up in a log cabin in Waxhaws, North Carolina. Later in life he moved to Nashville, Tennessee and lived out his final days on his cotton plantation in which he named “The Hermitage”.

Therefore, the party could easily implement its policies with little opposition. In 1868 President Andrew Johnson survived an impeachment attempt. This was after the senate failed to ratify the impeachment motion passed by the House of Representatives. The rationale behind the impeachment attempt was attributable to the fact that he acted in contravention of the Tenure of Office Act (Baggett, 2004). His role in influencing reconstruction policies was curtailed by Congress.

Impeachment of President Johnson and Failure of Reconstruction After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson became president on April 15, 1865. The end of Civil War had given freedom to many slaves. However, the progression of reforming the South during the Reconstruction period brought completely new challenges. On May 29, 1865, Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction which was a huge disappointment for the Radical Republicans. When it came to Johnson, it was clear for Radical Republicans that he clearly favored for the former slaveholders rather than the former slaves.

Johnson is working hard to push this bill, but if he pushes too fast it is likely to mess up all the work he's put into passing

During Andrew Jackson’s presidency, he was not the best president. Some might consider him the worst. Most of Jackson’s actions during his presidency were deemed unconstitutional and illegal but were allowed due to the people’s support for Jackson. His plans for America didn’t include women, blacks or Indians. Jackson replaced all the Cabinet members with his selection friends, also known as the “Kitchen Cabinet”.

Johnson, a Democrat, disliked the southern planter elite and was certain they had been the leading cause of the Civil war, but his behavior suggested otherwise. Johnson announced his own strategy for Reconstruction, which included a oath of devotion to the Nation, and the end of slavery that Southern states were obligated to take before they could be entered into the Nation. April 9 1866, The Civil Rights Act became law, overriding President Johnson's veto. The Act was to provide guaranteed citizenship to all Americans regardless of race and secured former slaves rights. Radical Republicans managed to obtain enough votes to override President

Abraham Lincoln’s vs Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Lincoln shared the uncommon belief that the confederate states could still be part of the union and that the cause of the rebellion was only a few within the states which lead him to begin the reconstruction in December of 1863. This resulted in plans with lenient guidelines and although they were challenged by Wade-Davis Bill, Lincoln still rejected his ideas and kept his policies in place. Lincoln also allowed land to be given the newly freed slave or homeless white by distributing the land that had been confiscated from former land owners however this fell through once Johnson took office. After Lincoln’s death when Johnson was elected many things started to turn away from giving blacks equal rights and resulted in many things such a black codes which kept newly freed slaves from having the same rights as whites. When Lincoln first acted after the civil war, he offered policies that would allow the confederate slaves to become part of the union again and would allow a pardon for those states.