The Rise and Fall of Andrew Johnson Research Paper

The Rise and Fall of Andrew Johnson - Research Paper Example He was also the only southern senator who remained loyal to the movement during the US civil war. He was inaugurated as the Vice president of united stated in 1865 and six weeks later, the president was murdered. His first obligation as the president was to ensure that the south was drawn back to the union as he clashed with Radical republicans. The Congress impeached him in 1868, but he survived and remained in power. It is said that this was the key reason why he opted not to run for the second term in office. Early Life Andrew Johnson was born in a log cabin in Raleigh on 29 December 1808 in North Carolina (Venezia, 23). His mother was Mary â€Å"Polly† McDonough Johnson and was married to a porter at an inn by the name of Jacob Johnson who is the father of Johnson. He died while Johnson was 3years old. This situation made him grow up in an impoverished situation which made him not to attend school, but in his early teen, he was an apprentice to a tailor (Venezia, 23). He m oved to Greenville Tennessee in 1826 where he managed to be an established tailor. He got married in 1827 to Eliza McCardle who was a daughter to a shoemaker. The two had a family, which comprised of five children. His wife managed to tutor him in learning writing skills and rudimentary reading at the same time learning some math. In time, he was able to prosper in life, and he bought properties including several slaves who worked in his home. Political Life Johnson’s political journey started in 1829 after he became an alderman in Greenville through an election. It was in this year that fellow Democrat and Tennessean, Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh president of the United States. The two of them considered themselves as champions of the common people. He was angry with the rich planters and he always favored the policies and rights of the populists (Gordon-Reed, 45). Since he was a skilled orator, he was given the position of the Greenville’s mayor in 1834 and the following year marked his election to the Tennessee state legislature. He served for in the 1830s and early 1840s and in 1843, he was elevated again and joined the U.S. House of Representatives (Gordon-Reed, 45). He championed the introduction and passing of the Homestead Act, which granted the settlers the mandate of acquiring undeveloped public land. This act was passed in 1862. During his time in the congress, the slavery issue was a crucial issue and majority of the Americans were divided on this issue. There are individuals who were interested in giving an extension to the peculiar institution, which was seen to be on newly acquired territories in the west while others were gravely against it. Since Johnson was a strong supporter of the constitution, he believed that people had the right of owning slaves. He became the Governor of Tennessee in 1853 after he had left the congress (Stewart, 27). In 1857, he vacated the seat of governorship to join the US Senate. He continued to push for the slave ownership in 1850s even as the country was divided between the South and the North. This struggle led to the Southern leaders to call for secession, but he still remained remorseful and wanted them to retain and preserve the union. Johnson and the Civil War The whole ideology is traced back to 1860 after the Abraham Lincoln was elected the president, and was believed to be a strong anti-slavery advocate together with his party members. The same year, the