Argumentative Essay on Andrew Johnson: The Worst President

Almost universally hated, Andrew Johnson was an awful president. He may have done some things right, but his entire presidency was off from the start. He took the presidency after Lincoln died, and was the first president to be impeached.

First, a quick introduction to Johnson’s life. He was born on December 29, 1808 in North Carolina. He grew up in a very poor family, and his father died when he was only 3. Due to financial difficulty, school wasn't an option, so he became a tailor. He learned for many years before starting his own tailoring business in Tennessee. He met his wife, Eliza McCradle, who started to teach him math and language. Still very interested in politics, he became the mayor of his town in 1834. Eventually, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, and served there for years. Since he already had experience in congress, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Johnson continued climbing in politics, leaving the House of Representatives and becoming the governor of Tennessee. Later, he returned to congress and joined the Senate. When the civil war began, he stayed in Washington, and was the only southern senator to stay with the Union. Abraham Lincoln recognized this act, and when he ran for his second term, Johnson was chosen as his running mate. Lincoln won the election, and thus Johnson was the Vice President. Not too long after Lincoln took office, he was assassinated, and Johnson took presidency. The civil war was just ending, so this was a massive change for the US. Many of the northerners were very mad that he was now president, and some accused him of organising Lincoln’s murder.

Now, his presidency. Johnson tried to rebuild some of the southern states’ governments after the war. This was good for the southerners, but the northerners still despised him. He began vetoing many bills passed by congress, which led to his nickname, “The Veto President”. Congress absolutely hated this guy, since they couldn’t work if he kept vetoing them! Congress decided the best plan was to impeach him, and the House of Representatives officially impeached him on February 24, 1868, on 11 articles of impeachment. He barely avoided conviction in the Senate, with a 35-19 vote, one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed. Seven of the eleven articles of impeachment approved in the house were violations of the Tenure of Office Act, a very controversial act that makes it a crime for a president to remove some officials that congress approves. 

Overall, president Johnson was not effective at leading this country. He restricted congress from doing anything, and as a result, was impeached. He was hated by the southerners and northerners alike, and despite past political experience, struggled when he actually became president.