Editing Andrew Johnson (section)

== Post-presidency (1869–1875) ==
[[File:Andrew Johnson, 1875.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Senator Andrew Johnson in 1875 (age 66)]]

After leaving the presidency, Johnson remained for some weeks in Washington, then returned to Greeneville for the first time in eight years. He was honored with large public celebrations along the way, especially in Tennessee, where cities hostile to him during the war hung out welcome banners. He had arranged to purchase a large farm near Greeneville to live on after his presidency.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=348, 353–354}}

Some expected Johnson to run for Governor of Tennessee or for the Senate again, while others thought that he would become a railroad executive.{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=349}} Johnson found Greeneville boring, and his private life was embittered by the suicide of his son Robert in 1869.{{Sfn|Gordon-Reed|p=142}} Seeking vindication for himself, and revenge against his political enemies, he launched a Senate bid soon after returning home. Tennessee had gone Republican, but court rulings restoring the vote to some whites and [[Voter suppression in the United States|suppression of the African-American vote]] by the [[Ku Klux Klan]] led to a Democratic victory in the legislative elections in August 1869. Johnson was seen as a likely victor in the Senate election, although hated by Radical Republicans, and by some Democrats because of his wartime activities. Although he was at one point within a single vote of victory in the legislature's balloting, the Republicans eventually elected [[Henry Cooper (U.S. Senator)|Henry Cooper]] over Johnson, 54–51.{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=214–215}} In [[1872 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee|1872, there was a special election]] for an [[Tennessee's at-large congressional district#1873–1875: one at-large seat, among nine other districts|at-large congressional seat for Tennessee]]; Johnson initially sought the Democratic nomination, but when he saw that it would go to former Confederate general [[Benjamin F. Cheatham]], decided to run as an independent. The former president was defeated, finishing third, but the split in the Democratic Party defeated Cheatham in favor of an old Johnson Unionist ally, [[Horace Maynard]].{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=215}}

In 1873, Johnson contracted [[cholera]] during an epidemic but recovered; [[Panic of 1873|that year he lost]] about $73,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=73000|start_year=1873}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) when the First National Bank of Washington went under, though he was eventually repaid much of the sum.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=364–366}}

=== Return to the Senate ===
[[File:The Whirlgig of Time.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Nast]] covered Johnson extensively; here Nast personally welcomes Johnson back to public life, where he may again become target of Nast's work - ''The Whirlgig of Time'' "Here we are again!" (''Harper's Weekly'', February 20, 1875)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.andrewjohnson.com/listofcartoons/listofcartoons.htm|title=AndrewJohnson.com list of cartoons|access-date=July 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030616422&view=1up&seq=159 |magazine=Harper's Weekly |title=The Whirlgig of Time | date=February 20, 1875 |page=164}}</ref>]]
He began looking towards the next Senate election to take place in the legislature in early 1875. Johnson began to woo the farmers' [[National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|Grange movement]]; with his [[Jeffersonian democracy|Jeffersonian leanings]], he easily gained their support. He spoke throughout the state in his final campaign tour. Few African Americans outside the large towns were now able to vote as Reconstruction faded in Tennessee, setting a pattern that would be repeated in the other Southern states; the white domination would last almost a century. In the Tennessee legislative elections in August, the Democrats elected 92 legislators to the Republicans' eight, and Johnson went to Nashville for the legislative session. When the balloting for the Senate seat began on January 20, 1875, he led with 30 votes, but did not have the required majority as three former Confederate generals, one former colonel, and a former Democratic congressman split the vote with him. Johnson's opponents tried to agree on a single candidate who might gain majority support and defeat him, but failed, and he was elected on January 26 on the 54th ballot, with a margin of a single vote. Nashville erupted in rejoicing;{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=334, 370–371}}{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=216}} remarked Johnson, "Thank God for the vindication."{{Sfn|Gordon-Reed|p=142}}

Johnson's comeback garnered national attention, with the ''St. Louis Republican'' calling it "the most magnificent personal triumph which the history of American politics can show".{{Sfn|Castel|1979|p=216}} At his swearing-in in the Senate on March 5, 1875, he was greeted with flowers, and sworn in alongside Hamlin (his predecessor as vice president) by incumbent Vice President [[Henry Wilson]] (who as senator had voted for Johnson's ouster). Many Republicans ignored Senator Johnson, though some, such as Ohio's [[John Sherman]] (who had voted for conviction), shook his hand. Johnson remains the only former president to serve in the Senate. He spoke only once in the short session, on March 22 lambasting President Grant for his use of federal troops in support of Louisiana's Reconstruction government. The former president asked, "How far off is military [[despotism]]?" and concluded his speech, "may God bless this people and God save the Constitution".{{Sfn|Castel|1979|pp=216–217}}

=== Death ===
[[File:Stover farm residence, Carter County, Tennessee photographed circa 1935 Lincoln Memorial University collection TN Identifier li00193.jpg|thumb|The Stover farmhouse, where Johnson died,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Federal writers' project |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015066068928&view=1up&seq=347&q1=%22Daniel%20Stover%22 |title=Tennessee: a guide to the state, compiled and written by the Federal writers' project of the Work projects administration for the state of Tennessee |last2=Pappas |first2=Douglas |publisher=The Viking Press |year=1939 |series=American guide series |location=New York |pages=319 |language=en-us |via=[[HathiTrust]]}}</ref> as photographed {{circa|1935}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=[House where Andrew Johnson died] / [photographed by R. Gerald McMurtry]. |url=https://dla.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/Lincoln/id/86/rec/6 |access-date=2023-07-18 |website=dla.contentdm.oclc.org |language=en}}</ref> ]]
Johnson returned home after the special session concluded. In late July 1875, convinced some of his opponents were defaming him in the Ohio gubernatorial race, he decided to travel there to give speeches. He began the trip on July 28, and broke the journey at his daughter Mary's farm near [[Elizabethton, Tennessee|Elizabethton]], where his daughter Martha was also staying. That evening he had a stroke, but refused medical treatment until the next day, when he did not improve and two doctors were sent for from Elizabethton. He seemed to respond to their ministrations, but had another stroke on the evening of July 30, and died early the following morning at the age of 66. President Grant had the "painful duty" of announcing the death of the only surviving past president. Northern newspapers, in their obituaries, tended to focus on Johnson's loyalty during the war, while Southern ones paid tribute to his actions as president. Johnson's funeral was held on August 3 in Greeneville.{{Sfn|Trefousse|pp=375–377}}{{Sfn|Gordon-Reed|p=143}} He was buried with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution placed under his head, according to his wishes. The burial ground was dedicated as the [[Andrew Johnson National Cemetery]] in 1906, and with his home and tailor's shop, is part of the [[Andrew Johnson National Historic Site]].{{Sfn|Trefousse|p=377}}