Editing Andrew Johnson (section)

=== Foreign policy ===
Soon after taking office as president, Johnson reached an accord with Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]] that there would be no change in foreign policy. In practice, this meant that Seward would continue to run things as he had under Lincoln. Seward and Lincoln had been rivals for the nomination in 1860; the victor hoped that Seward would succeed him as president in 1869. At the time of Johnson's accession, [[Second French intervention in Mexico|the French had intervened in Mexico]], sending troops there. While many politicians had indulged in saber rattling over the Mexican matter, Seward preferred quiet diplomacy, warning the French through diplomatic channels that their presence in Mexico was unacceptable. Although the President preferred a more aggressive approach, Seward persuaded him to follow his lead. In April 1866, the French government informed Seward that its troops would be brought home in stages, to conclude by November 1867.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=40–41}} On August 14, 1866, Johnson and his cabinet gave a reception for [[Queen Emma of Hawaii]] who was returning to Hawaii after her trip to Britain and Europe.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Apoliona |first=Haunani |author-link=S. Haunani Apoliona |date=January 2010 |title=Ke Kuini Emalani ko luna |volume=27 |page=[http://haunaniapoliona.net/cgi-bin/apo?e=d-010off-apoliona--00-1----0--010---4-------0-1l--11en-Zz-1---10-home---00-3-1-00-0-0-110utfZz-8-00&cl=CL3.7&d=D201001&x=1&hl=0 21] |work=Ka Wai Ola |issue=1 |location=Honolulu |url=https://iskh447eqhe3kks2q2rvzg06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/KA_WAI_OLA_201001.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://iskh447eqhe3kks2q2rvzg06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/KA_WAI_OLA_201001.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=December 25, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Byrd |first=Jodi A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_JNcXnUjZkC&pg=PA177 |title=The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4529-3317-7 |location=Minneapolis |pages=177–183 |oclc=719427962}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kanahele |first=George S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLtlBNRt_V4C |title=Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8248-2240-8 |location=Honolulu |pages=189–226 |oclc=40890919 |author-link=George Kanahele}}</ref>

Seward was an [[expansionist]], and sought opportunities to gain territory for the United States. After the loss of the [[Crimean War]] in the 1850s, the Russian government saw its [[Russian America|North American colony]] (today Alaska) as a financial liability, and feared losing control to Britain whose troops would easily swoop in and annex the territory from neighboring Canada in any future conflict. Negotiations between Russia and the U.S. over the [[Alaska Purchase|sale of Alaska]] were halted due to the outbreak of the Civil War, but after the U.S. victory in the war, talks resumed.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Claus-M Naske |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xhQl1WDWa0C&pg=PA330 |title=Alaska: A History of the 49th State |last2=Herman E. Slotnick |date=March 15, 1994 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2573-2 |page=330}}</ref> Russia instructed its minister in Washington, Baron [[Eduard de Stoeckl]], to negotiate a sale. De Stoeckl did so deftly, getting Seward to raise his offer from $5 million (coincidentally, the minimum that Russia had instructed de Stoeckl to accept) to $7 million, and then getting $200,000 added by raising various objections.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=120}} This sum of $7.2 million is equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|7200000|1867}}}} in present-day terms.{{Inflation/fn|US}} On March 30, 1867, de Stoeckl and Seward signed the treaty, working quickly as the Senate was about to adjourn. Johnson and Seward took the signed document to the President's Room in the Capitol, only to be told there was no time to deal with the matter before adjournment. The President summoned the Senate into session to meet on April 1; that body approved the treaty, 37–2.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=120–122}} Emboldened by his success in Alaska, Seward sought acquisitions elsewhere. His only success was staking an American claim to uninhabited [[Wake Island]] in the Pacific, which would be officially claimed by the U.S. [[William McKinley#Peace and territorial gain|in 1898]]. He came close with the [[Danish West Indies]] as Denmark agreed to sell and the local population approved the transfer in a plebiscite, but the Senate never voted on the treaty and it expired.<ref>{{Cite book |last=David M. Pletcher |url=https://archive.org/details/diplomacyoftrade00plet |title=The Diplomacy of Trade and Investment: American Economic Expansion in the Hemisphere, 1865–1900 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8262-1127-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/diplomacyoftrade00plet/page/160 160] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Another treaty that fared badly was the Johnson-Clarendon convention, negotiated in settlement of the [[Alabama Claims|''Alabama'' Claims]], for damages to American shipping from British-built Confederate raiders. Negotiated by the [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|United States Minister to Britain]], former Maryland senator [[Reverdy Johnson]], in late 1868, it was ignored by the Senate during the remainder of the President's term. The treaty was rejected after he left office, and the Grant administration later negotiated considerably better terms from Britain.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=204–205}}{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=349}}