The Legacy Of Lincoln And Andrew Johnson

The amendment granted the right to vote to all males twenty-one and older. Johnson opposed the amendment on the grounds it did not apply to Southerners who were without any representation in Congress. Tennessee was the only Southern state to ratify the amendment. The others, encouraged in part by Johnson, refused. Moderate voters in the North began leaning toward the Radicals. The Radicals swept the elections of November 1866, resulting in a two-thirds anti-Johnson majority in both the House and Senate. With this majority, three consecutive vetoes by Johnson were overridden by Congress in 1867, thus passing the Military Reconstruction Act, Command of the Army Act, and Tenure of Office Act against his wishes, (Les Benedict 18).

Johnson & Lincoln both supported the same thing but where different & served there purpose in office different

In addition to being divided on the issue on how to bring the Southern states back into the Union, the nation later became divided on the rights that should be bestowed upon the emancipated slaves. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Democratic Vice President Andrew Johnson took control of the executive branch and his background foreshadowed the “political drama” that would take place. President Johnson was a Senator from Tennessee before he entered the Vice Presidency and he had racist leanings and he opposed political rights for the freedmen. Additionally, Johnson was open about his sympathy for the South and he was determined to control the path of Reconstruction. The first example of conflict between Johnson and the Republican

Congress comes in to play in December 1865. The Congress was made up mostly of Republicans and they refused to let past Confederates to take their seats in Congress at this time. This marked the beginning of Radical Reconstruction or sometimes known as Congressional Reconstruction. The president and the congress did not agree on many issues. Congress overrode President Johnson on the Civil Rights Act of 1866, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. The Fourteenth Amendment spelled out rights of both black and white citizens as equal. It prolonged Federal powers for the enforcement of civil rights. States that approved the Fourteenth Amendment were considered reconstructed, and Tennessee did so. President Johnson advised other southern states to oppose doing this. Congress passed many laws to limit President Johnson’s powers. They passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which set new

Disagreements over Reconstruction lead to conflict in government and in the South. Andrew Johnson was the vice president of Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson became President and was in control of how Reconstruction would go. Johnson was originally from the South, he was pro-slavery, and he wanted a lenient plan for Reconstruction. While Congress was out of session, Johnson created and put into effect a Reconstruction plan. The opposite party to Johnson was the Radical Republicans. Radical Republicans were mostly from the North, they were anti-slavery, and they wanted a strict plan for Reconstruction. They had strong support from scalawags, carpetbaggers, and freedmen. Their main goal of Reconstruction was to be a total reconstruction of society to guarentee black people true equality. Another party in this battle was the Klu Klux Klan. The Klu Klux Klan used terror to stop African Americans from gaining any power. They would whip, torture, shoot, hang, and sometimes burn people alive. There were hundreds of lives lost during the 1868 election. This cause voting from African Americans to decline. After all of the disagreements about Reconstruction, the end of Reconstruction still failed to give African Americans rights.

Andrew Johnson, who was in office from 1865, shared similar views to Woodrow Wilson. They favoured the Southern Democratic elite, however took a different approach and attempted to pass more legislation. Johnson was in office at the point of when the civil war had ended, and the Southern states had been defeated, although refusing to admit defeat. Johnson was left with the question of what to do with these states, and unusually for a democrat, believed they needed to join the union. The motive behind these beliefs are unknown, however the likelihood is that he believed this due to the laws on slavery in union

Reconstruction produced enormous tensions among the political parties, and between the president and Congress. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became the following president after the Civil War. Andrew Johnson wanted the South back to full pledged membership in the union as rapidly as possible. Johnson quickly set his plans in motion while congress was not in session which then became known as the Presidential Reconstruction. It seemed that he wanted a rapid lenient restoration of the union. His aim was to bring the white south and white north back together. African Americans do not play a role in Johnson's vision of the postwar South other than to go back to work, be landless, and rightless plantation

April 15, 1865 was a highly anticipated evening at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. President Abraham Lincoln, along with Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward were scheduled to attend a showing of Our American Cousin. This enjoyable gathering soon turned to tragedy for the American leaders. In the middle of the performance, shots were fired and blood was shed while the unassuming audience sat oblivious to the events unfolding. John Wilkes Booth executed his scheme to assassinate President Lincoln, one of the most important and influential men in American history, who inspired the masses with his unexpected rise to power.

Congress passes the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which divided the South into districts and required Southern states to approve the 14th Amendment to grant blacks citizenship, before rejoining the Union. Later, congress gives African Americans the right to vote by ratifying the 15th Amendment. The Reconstruction established the South’s first state-funded public school systems, created a just taxation legislation, and passed laws against discrimination and economic development programs. The approach of Congress was different than Johnson’s plan, because they worked to improve the lives of African Americans by passing laws in their favor, and expanding their rights. Congress did not care what the South wanted, and expected the South to abide by their rules. On the other hand, Johnson wanted to preserve the nation, and did not want to do anything to anger the South. Moreover, he was a strong believer in states rights, and the idea that the federal government had no right to enforce restrictive laws on the entire country.

After the tragedy of Lincoln's death, Vice President Andrew Johnson stepped up into the presidential position and started his own plans for reconstruction; his too, would turn out to be a failure. He supported hardcore Democratic principles and restoring Southern power. He brought in the remaining states back into the constitution. He divided the power of planters and restricted there voting He created the idea of "blanket pardons" which allowed Southern states that had abolished slavery and repealed their articles of secession to re-assume their powers of government and elect representatives to the Congress. This all backfired because while the south was happy and the Blacks weren't voting under Johnson, the Radical Republicans were angered and more conflict was started. The whole idea of everyone being happy wasn't working at all with anyone. Johnson was the second to go, being the first impeached president ever.

help freedmen,which are African Americans who were freed after the Civil War. After a year of Reconstruction,the election of 1867 was between Hayes and Tilden. Hayes won because he promised the South to remove federal soldiers and to guarantee to reclaim an all-white

After Lincoln was assassinated, vise president Andrew Johnson stepped into office with a goal to change some of the things he believed in. In the article Andrew Johnson it states, “Next they passed measures dealing with the former slaves. Johnson vetoed the legislation. The Radicals mustered enough votes in Congress to pass legislation over his veto--the first time that

The Union armies led by Ulysses S. Grant able to cut Lee’s final supply line into Petersburg. Grant also decided to cut Lee off, surround him, and force surrender. On April 9, Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant. The surrender of Lee has signalled the beginning of the end of the American Civil War. Although the duration of the civil war was only five years, the war could be seen as America’s bloodiest clash. The war also resulted in the death of more than 620,000, with millions more

The victory of the Civil War in 1865 may have given slaves their freedom, but the progression of rebuilding the South brought about a new set of substantial challenges for America. The death of President Abraham Lincoln took American by surprise. President Lincoln was not clear of his plan of Reconstruction; however, Lincoln did state that he had a simple plan for rebuilding. After the death of Abraham Lincoln everyone was confused on how to merge two pieces of the country back together. When Andrew Johnson took over presidency he made the decision to follow through with the simple plans that Abraham Lincoln had stated. However, the Congress had a different plan for Reconstruction; the Congress wanted to make the south pay for what they had done. The Congress and President Johnson had several similarities and differences in the reconstruction plan, the Republicans had strong determination to control the South and prior to 1877 the Republicans had

Before the war had even ended, Lincoln had begun this Reconstruction, with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which freed the slaves of rebellious states and authorizing their enlistment of black troops (source 3). With Lincoln still in office, he delivered a speech known as his Last Public Address. This address proposed that some blacks such as free