Editing Andrew Johnson (section)

==== 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}}