Lessons on American Presidents.
Ready-To-Print Handouts, MP3 & Online Quizzes - Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States. He came to following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808 and grew up in . He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran and opened a tailor shop in Tennessee. At the age of 18 he married Eliza McCardle, who taught him how to his reading and writing .

Johnson participated in in Tennessee and organized a workers’ party. He was mayor in 1833 and sat in the Tennessee House of Representatives two years later. He served five before becoming Governor of Tennessee in 1853. Johnson then in the United States Senate between 1857 and 1862. His political was almost complete when he became Vice President in 1865.

With the Assassination of Lincoln in April 1865, the Presidency upon Johnson. As President, he proceeded to reconstruct the southern Confederate States. By the time Congress in December 1865, most southern states were reconstructed and slavery was being abolished. However, "black codes" to the freed men were beginning to appear, which caused in his party.

In March 1867, laws were placing restrictions upon the President. When Johnson allegedly violated one of these, the House tried to him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted one vote. Johnson purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867. He left in 1869. In 1875, Tennessee returned Johnson to the Senate and he died months later, 66.