JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 1865-1869. AS VICE-PRESIDENT, HE SUCCEEDS MR. LINCOLN FOR REMAINDER OF TERM. CABINET. PRESIDENT: ANDREW JOHNSON, Tennessee. SECRETARY OF STATE: SECRETARIES OF WAR: EDWIN M. STANTON, Pennsylvania. 1865. 1867. EDWIN M. STANTON, Pennsylvania. 1868. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: JAMES SPEED, 1865. 1866. HENRY STANBERRY, Ohio. WILLIAM M. EVARTS, New York. 1868. ANDREW JOHNSON. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth President of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the 29th of December, 1808. At an early age he was apprenticed to learn the business of a tailor, and continued at the trade for several years. Unlike most of the young men of this country, he grew up in utter ignorance of the most common branches of an English education, and was not able either to read or write until he was twenty years of age, after removing to Greenville in East Tennessee. He subsequently became an Alderman of that place, and in 1836, was elected Mayor, which office he filled for three years. In 1835, he was chosen to the State Legislature, and in 1843, he was elected to Congress, and represented his State therein for several years. In 1853, he was chosen Governor of Tennessee, and was re-elected to that office. In 1857, he was elected United States Senator, and was subsequently, in 1862, appointed by President Lincoln, Military Governor of Tennessee. He had previously been a Democrat in politics, and in the election of 1860, had used his influence to elect Mr. Breckenridge to the Presidency. He professed, however, to have changed his views materially, condemued the course of the South in the rebellion, and supported the measures of President Lincoln. The Union National Convention, held at Baltimore, in June, 1864, nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency, and Mr. Johnson for the Vice-Presidency, and in November, they were elected by a large majority. On the 15th of April, 1865, a few hours after the death of Mr. Lincoln, he took the oath of office as President of the United States. Disagreements soon arose between Congress and the President, respecting the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion, and it soon became evident that he was more friendly to the late enemies of the country, than he was to her true, and tried friends. He issued an order to Mr. Stanton, removing him from his office of Secretary of War, and performed many acts, considered by the majority of the people, as highly improper in a Chief Magistrate. On the 22nd of February, 1868, by a vote of 126 to 47, it was resolved by the House of Representatives, that Andrew Johnson, President, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors. Articles of impeachment were prepared and presented, and on the 5th of March, 1868, the Senate of the United States, for the first time, was organized as a court for the trial of the President. Chief-Justice Salmon P. Chase presided. The trial continued from the 30th of March, to the 6th of May, 1868, when the case was submitted to the Senate. Its decision was given on the 26th of May. Thirty-five found him guilty, and nineteen voted "Not guilty." In order to convict, it was necessary that two thirds should vote in the affirmative; one vote of the required number being wanted, he was acquitted. |