Editing Andrew Johnson (section)

=== Reconstruction ===
{{Main|Reconstruction Era}}

==== Background ====

[[File:Andrew Johnson portrait.jpg|thumb|Official portrait of President Johnson, {{circa|1880}}]]

Upon taking office, Johnson faced the question of what to do with the former Confederacy. President Lincoln had authorized loyalist governments in Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee as the Union came to control large parts of those states and advocated a [[ten percent plan]] that would allow elections after ten percent of the voters in any state took an oath of future loyalty to the Union. Congress considered this too lenient; [[Wade–Davis Bill|its own plan]], requiring a majority of voters to take the loyalty oath, passed both houses in 1864, but Lincoln [[pocket veto]]ed it.{{Sfn|Fitzgerald|p=26}}

Johnson had three goals in Reconstruction. He sought a speedy restoration of the states, on the grounds that they had never truly left the Union, and thus should again be recognized once loyal citizens formed a government. To Johnson, African-American suffrage was a delay and a distraction; it had always been a state responsibility to decide who should vote. Second, political power in the Southern states should pass from the planter class to his beloved "plebeians". Johnson feared that the freedmen, many of whom were still economically bound to their former masters, might vote at their direction. Johnson's third priority was election in his own right in 1868, a feat no one who had succeeded a deceased president had managed to accomplish, attempting to secure a Democratic anti-Congressional Reconstruction coalition in the South.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=28–29}}

The Republicans had formed a number of factions. The [[Radical Republican]]s sought voting and other civil rights for African Americans. They believed that the freedmen could be induced to vote Republican in gratitude for emancipation, and that black votes could keep the Republicans in power and Southern Democrats, including former rebels, out of influence. They believed that top Confederates should be punished. The Moderate Republicans sought to keep the Democrats out of power at a national level, and prevent former rebels from resuming power. They were not as enthusiastic about the idea of African-American suffrage as their Radical colleagues, either because of their own local political concerns, or because they believed that the freedman would be likely to cast his vote badly. Northern Democrats favored the unconditional restoration of the Southern states. They did not support African-American suffrage, which might threaten Democratic control in the South.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=18–21}}

==== Presidential Reconstruction ====
Johnson was initially left to devise a Reconstruction policy without legislative intervention, as Congress was not due to meet again until December 1865.{{Sfn|Fitzgerald|p=28}} Radical Republicans told the President that the Southern states were economically in a state of chaos and urged him to use his leverage to insist on rights for freedmen as a condition of restoration to the Union. But Johnson, with the support of other officials including Seward, insisted that the franchise was a state, not a federal matter. The Cabinet was divided on the issue.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=215–216, 234–235}}

Johnson's first Reconstruction actions were two proclamations, with the unanimous backing of his Cabinet, on May 29. One recognized the Virginia government led by provisional Governor [[Francis Pierpont]]. The second provided amnesty for all ex-rebels except those holding property valued at $20,000 or more; it also appointed a temporary governor for North Carolina and authorized elections. Neither of these proclamations included provisions regarding [[black suffrage]] or freedmen's rights. The President ordered constitutional conventions in other former rebel states.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=216–217}}

As Southern states began the process of forming governments, Johnson's policies received considerable public support in the North, which he took as unconditional backing for quick reinstatement of the South. While he received such support from the white South, he underestimated the determination of Northerners to ensure that the war had not been fought for nothing. It was important, in Northern public opinion, that the South acknowledge its defeat, that slavery be ended, and that the lot of African Americans be improved. Voting rights were less important at the time—only a handful of Northern states (mostly in New England) gave African-American men the right to vote on the same basis as whites, and in late 1865, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Minnesota voted down African-American suffrage proposals by large margins. Northern public opinion tolerated Johnson's inaction on black suffrage as an experiment, to be allowed if it quickened Southern acceptance of defeat. Instead, white Southerners felt emboldened. A number of Southern states passed [[Black Codes (United States)|Black Codes]], binding African-American laborers to farms on annual contracts they could not quit, and allowing law enforcement at whim to arrest them for vagrancy and rent out their labor. Most Southerners elected to Congress were former Confederates, with the most prominent being Georgia Senator-designate and former Confederate vice president [[Alexander Stephens]]. Congress assembled in early December 1865; Johnson's conciliatory [[State of the Union|annual message]] to them was well received. Nevertheless, Congress refused to seat the Southern legislators and established a committee to recommend appropriate Reconstruction legislation.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=50–59}}

Northerners were outraged at the idea of unrepentant Confederate leaders, such as Stephens, rejoining the federal government at a time when emotional wounds from the war remained raw. They saw the Black Codes placing African Americans in a position barely above slavery. Republicans also feared that restoration of the Southern states would return the Democrats to power.{{Sfn|Fitzgerald|p=35}}{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=58–59}} In addition, according to [[David O. Stewart]] in his book on Johnson's impeachment, "the violence and poverty that oppressed the South would galvanize the opposition to Johnson".{{Sfn|Stewart|p=26}}

==== Break with the Republicans: 1866 ====
Congress was reluctant to confront the President, and initially only sought to fine-tune Johnson's policies towards the South.{{Sfn|Fitzgerald|p=36}} According to Trefousse, "If there was a time when Johnson could have come to an agreement with the moderates of the Republican Party, it was the period following the return of Congress."{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=240}} The President was unhappy about the provocative actions of the Southern states, and about the continued control by the antebellum elite there, but made no statement publicly, believing that Southerners had a right to act as they did, even if it was unwise to do so. By late January 1866, he was convinced that winning a showdown with the Radical Republicans was necessary to his political plans – both for the success of Reconstruction and for reelection in 1868. He would have preferred that the conflict arise over the legislative efforts to enfranchise African Americans in the District of Columbia, a proposal that had been defeated overwhelmingly in an all-white referendum. A bill to accomplish this passed the House of Representatives, but to Johnson's disappointment, stalled in the Senate before he could veto it.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=62–68}}

[[File:Nast on Andrew Johnson.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Nast]] cartoon of Johnson disposing of the [[Freedmen's Bureau]] as African Americans go flying]]
Illinois Senator [[Lyman Trumbull]], leader of the Moderate Republicans and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, was anxious to reach an understanding with the President. He ushered through Congress a bill extending the [[Freedmen's Bureau]] beyond its scheduled abolition in 1867, and the first Civil Rights Bill, to grant citizenship to the freedmen. Trumbull met several times with Johnson and was convinced the President would sign the measures (Johnson rarely contradicted visitors, often fooling those who met with him into thinking he was in accord). In fact, the President opposed both bills as infringements on state sovereignty. Additionally, both of Trumbull's bills were unpopular among white Southerners, whom Johnson hoped to include in his new party. Johnson vetoed the Freedman's Bureau bill on February 18, 1866, to the delight of white Southerners and the puzzled anger of Republican legislators. He considered himself vindicated when a move to override his veto failed in the Senate the following day.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=62–68}} Johnson believed that the Radicals would now be isolated and defeated and that the moderate Republicans would form behind him; he did not understand that Moderates also wanted to see African Americans treated fairly.{{Sfn|Foner|pp=248–249}}

On February 22, 1866, [[Washington's Birthday]], Johnson gave an impromptu speech to supporters who had marched to the [[White House]] and called for an address in honor of [[George Washington|the first president]]. In his hour-long speech, he instead referred to himself over 200 times. More damagingly, he also spoke of "men&nbsp;... still opposed to the Union" to whom he could not extend the hand of friendship he gave to the South.{{Sfn|Stewart|pp=51–52}}{{Sfn|Foner|p=249}} When called upon by the crowd to say who they were, Johnson named Pennsylvania Congressman [[Thaddeus Stevens]], Massachusetts Senator [[Charles Sumner]], and abolitionist [[Wendell Phillips]], and accused them of plotting his assassination. Republicans viewed the address as a declaration of war, while one Democratic ally estimated Johnson's speech cost the party 200,000 votes in the 1866 congressional midterm elections.{{Sfn|Stewart|pp=51–53}}

Although strongly urged by moderates to sign the [[Civil Rights Act of 1866]], Johnson broke decisively with them by vetoing it on March 27. In his veto message, he objected to the measure because it conferred citizenship on the freedmen at a time when 11 out of 36 states were unrepresented in the Congress, and that it "discriminated" in favor of African Americans and against whites.{{Sfn|Foner|pp=250–251}}{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=70}} Within three weeks, Congress had overridden his veto, the first time that had been done on a major bill in American history.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=71}} The veto, often seen as a key mistake of Johnson's presidency, convinced moderates there was no hope of working with him. Historian [[Eric Foner]], in his volume on Reconstruction, views it as "the most disastrous miscalculation of his political career". According to Stewart, the veto was "for many his defining blunder, setting a tone of perpetual confrontation with Congress that prevailed for the rest of his presidency".{{Sfn|Stewart|p=53}}

Congress also proposed the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] to the states. Written by Trumbull and others, it was sent for ratification by state legislatures in a process in which the president plays no part, though Johnson opposed it. The amendment was designed to put the key provisions of the Civil Rights Act into the Constitution, but also went further. The amendment extended citizenship to every person born in the United States (except Indians on reservations), penalized states that did not give the vote to freedmen, and most importantly, created new federal civil rights that could be protected by federal courts. It also guaranteed that the federal debt would be paid and forbade repayment of Confederate war debts. Further, it disqualified many former Confederates from office, although the disability could be removed — by Congress, not the president.{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=252}} Both houses passed the Freedmen's Bureau Act a second time, and again the President vetoed it; this time, the veto was overridden. By the summer of 1866, when Congress finally adjourned, Johnson's method of restoring states to the Union by executive fiat, without safeguards for the freedmen, was in deep trouble. His home state of Tennessee ratified the Fourteenth Amendment despite the President's opposition.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=253–254}} When Tennessee did so, Congress immediately seated its proposed delegation, embarrassing Johnson.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=75–76}}

Efforts to compromise failed,{{Sfn|Stewart|pp=57–58}} and a political war ensued between the united Republicans on one side, and on the other, Johnson and his Northern and Southern allies in the Democratic Party. He called a convention of the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]]. Republicans had returned to using their previous identifier; Johnson intended to use the discarded name to unite his supporters and gain election to a full term, in 1868.{{Sfn|Stewart|pp=60–62}} The battleground was the [[1866 United States House of Representatives elections|election of 1866]]; Southern states were not allowed to vote. Johnson campaigned vigorously, undertaking a public speaking tour, known as the "[[Swing Around the Circle]]". The trip, including speeches in Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Columbus, proved politically disastrous, with the President making controversial comparisons between himself and [[Jesus]], and engaging in arguments with hecklers. These exchanges were attacked as beneath the dignity of the presidency. The Republicans won by a landslide, increasing their two-thirds majority in Congress, and made plans to control Reconstruction.{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=271}} Johnson blamed the Democrats for giving only lukewarm support to the National Union movement.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=88–89}}

==== Radical Reconstruction ====
Even with the Republican victory in November 1866, Johnson considered himself in a strong position. The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] had not yet been ratified by enough states to go into force, with Tennessee alone among the Southern or [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]] in voting for it. As the amendment required ratification by three-quarters of the states to become part of the Constitution, he believed the deadlock would be broken in his favor, leading to his election in 1868. Once it reconvened in December 1866, an energized Congress began passing legislation, often over a presidential veto; this included the District of Columbia voting bill. Congress admitted Nebraska to the Union over a veto, and the Republicans gained two senators and a state that promptly ratified the amendment. Johnson's veto of a bill for statehood for [[Colorado Territory]] was sustained; enough senators agreed that a district with a population of 30,000 was not yet worthy of statehood to win the day.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=107–109}}

In January 1867, Congressman Stevens introduced legislation to dissolve the Southern state governments and reconstitute them into five military districts, under [[martial law]]. The states would begin again by holding constitutional conventions. African Americans could vote for or become delegates; former Confederates could not. In the legislative process, Congress added to the bill that restoration to the Union would follow the state's ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, and completion of the process of adding it to the Constitution. Johnson and the Southerners attempted a compromise, whereby the South would agree to a modified version of the amendment without the disqualification of former Confederates, and for limited black suffrage. The Republicans insisted on the full language of the amendment, and the deal fell through. Although Johnson could have pocket vetoed the [[Reconstruction Acts|First Reconstruction Act]] as it was presented to him less than ten days before the end of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, he chose to veto it directly on March 2, 1867; Congress overruled him the same day. Also on March 2, Congress passed the [[Tenure of Office Act (1867)|Tenure of Office Act]] over the President's veto, in response to statements during the Swing Around the Circle that he planned to fire Cabinet secretaries who did not agree with him. This bill, requiring Senate approval for the firing of Cabinet members during the tenure of the president who appointed them and for one month afterwards, was immediately controversial, with some senators doubting that it was constitutional or that its terms applied to Johnson, whose key Cabinet officers were Lincoln holdovers.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=107–109}}