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Essay about Andrew Johnson

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Background
Andrew Johnson, the 17th president, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on December 29th, 1808. At the young age of three years old, Andrew’s father. Jacob Johnson passed away while drowning in an attempt to save the life of Editor Henderson from the Raleigh Gazette in 1812. Andrew’s mother, Mary Johnson, worked hard as a seamstress and washerwoman in order to support Andrew and his three brothers, and her; but she was unable to afford to send them to school. From the age of 14 until 16 he worked as an apprentice to a tailor but talked to his mother and stepfather about moving and starting a new life. He then opened a tailor shop in Greenville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle on May 17, 1827 and …show more content…

Congress passes the Tenure of the Office Act, which stripped the President of the power to remove federal officials without the Senate’s approval, and in 1867, established a military Reconstruction program to enforce political and social rights for southern blacks.
Vice President
Johnson took the oath of office for Vice President in March of 1865. Soon after, Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford theatre only a month after Johnson became Vice President. Johnson became president on April 15th, 1865. Lincoln didn’t speak a negative word about Johnson even when he arrived to the inauguration drunk while embarrassing himself, his family and friends, and most of all Lincoln. When people suggested to Lincoln about resigning Johnson as Vice President, Lincoln good-humoredly silenced them with the remark, “I’ve known Andy a great many years and he ain’t no drunkard.”
Cabinet Members
Secretary of State: William H. Seward
Secretary of War: Edwin Stanton, Ulysses Grant and John Schofield
Postmaster General: William Dennison and Alexander Randall
Secretary of the Interior: John Usher, James Harlan and Orville Browning
Secretary of the Treasury: High McCulloch
Attorney General: James Speed, Henry Stanbery and William Evarts
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles

Role and Presidential Power
After President Lincoln’s death, President

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