Editing Andrew Johnson (section)

==== Secession crisis ====
[[File:Andrew Johnson, seated, facing left 1860.jpg|thumb|Johnson in 1860]]

In October 1859, abolitionist [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and sympathizers [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry|raided the federal arsenal]] at [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harpers Ferry]], Virginia (today West Virginia). Tensions in Washington between pro- and anti-slavery forces increased greatly. Johnson gave a major speech in the Senate in December, decrying Northerners who would endanger the Union by seeking to outlaw slavery. The Tennessee senator stated that "all men are created equal" from the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] did not apply to African Americans, since the [[Constitution of Illinois]] contained that phrase—and that document barred voting by African Americans.{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=119}}{{Sfn|Gordon-Reed|p=59}} Johnson, by this time, was a wealthy man who owned 14 slaves.{{Sfn|Castel|2002|p=226}}<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedule for Nashville's 7th ward, Davidson County, Tennessee</ref>

Johnson hoped that he would be a compromise candidate for the presidential nomination as the Democratic Party tore itself apart over the slavery question. Busy with the Homestead Bill during the [[1860 Democratic National Convention]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], he sent two of his sons and his chief political adviser to represent his interests in the backroom deal-making. The convention deadlocked, with no candidate able to gain the required two-thirds vote, but the sides were too far apart to consider Johnson as a compromise. The party split, with Northerners backing Illinois Senator [[Stephen Douglas]] while Southerners, including Johnson, supported Vice President Breckinridge for president. With former Tennessee senator [[John Bell (Tennessee politician)|John Bell]] running a fourth-party candidacy and further dividing the vote, the Republican Party elected its first president, former Illinois representative [[Abraham Lincoln]]. [[1860 United States presidential election|The election of Lincoln]], known to be against the spread of slavery, was unacceptable to many in the South. Although secession from the Union had not been an issue in the campaign, talk of it began in the Southern states.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=123–127}}{{Sfn|Gordon-Reed|pp=60–63}}

Johnson took to the Senate floor after the election, giving a speech well received in the North, "I will not give up this government&nbsp;... No;<!-- punct as in original --> I intend to stand by it&nbsp;... and I invite every man who is a patriot to&nbsp;... rally around the altar of our common country&nbsp;... and swear by our God, and all that is sacred and holy, that the Constitution shall be saved, and the Union preserved."{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=131}}{{Sfn|Johnson|pp=172–173}} As Southern senators announced they would resign if their states seceded, he reminded Mississippi Senator [[Jefferson Davis]] that if Southerners would only hold to their seats, the Democrats would control the Senate, and could defend the South's interests against any infringement by Lincoln.{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=134}} Gordon-Reed points out that while Johnson's belief in an indissoluble Union was sincere, he had alienated Southern leaders, including Davis, who would soon be [[President of the Confederate States of America|the president]] of the [[Confederate States of America]], formed by the seceding states. If the Tennessean had backed the Confederacy, he would have had small influence in its government.{{Sfn|Gordon-Reed|p=64}}

Johnson returned home when his state took up the issue of secession. His successor as governor, [[Isham G. Harris]], and the legislature organized a referendum on whether to have a constitutional convention to authorize secession; when that failed, they put the question of leaving the Union to a popular vote. Despite threats on Johnson's life, and actual assaults, he campaigned against both questions, sometimes speaking with a gun on the lectern before him. Although Johnson's [[East Tennessee|eastern region of Tennessee]] was largely against secession, the second referendum passed, and in June 1861, Tennessee joined the Confederacy. Believing he would be killed if he stayed, Johnson fled through the [[Cumberland Gap]], where his party was in fact shot at. He left his wife and family in Greeneville.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=8}}{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=138–143}}

As the only member from a seceded state to remain in the Senate and the most prominent [[Southern Unionist]], Johnson had Lincoln's ear in the early months of the war.{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=143}} With most of Tennessee in Confederate hands, Johnson spent congressional recesses in Kentucky and Ohio, trying in vain to convince any Union commander who would listen to conduct an operation into East Tennessee.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=140–148}}