Presidential Places: The Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
On July 31, 1875 (138 years ago today) Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, died at his home in Elizabethton, Tennessee at the age of 66. John served as president from 1865 to 1869. He had been Abraham Lincoln's vice president at the time of Lincoln's assassination. Johnson was a sothern Democrat who remained loyal to the Union even after the outbreak of the Civil War. He ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, and became president just as the Civil War ended. Johnson favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union. His vision of reconstruction did not give protection to the former slaves, and he came into conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives. Johnson was the first president to be impeached. At his impeachment trial in the senate he was acquitted by one vote.
Johnson was born into poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina. He apprenticed as a tailor and worked in several frontier towns before settling in Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as alderman and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. After brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became Governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857.
As Southern states, including Tennessee, seceded to form the Confederate States of America, Johnson remained committed to the Union. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as military governor of Tennessee after the state had been retaken. In 1864, as a War Democrat and Southern Unionist, Johnson was selected as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign. While things looked badly for Lincoln's reelection at first, a string of wartime victories led to Lincoln's reelection. Johnson was sworn in as vice president in March 1865, giving a rambling speech aided by alcohol, contributing to a reputation for being a drinker that was probably exaggerated.Six weeks later, the assassination of Lincoln made him president.
Johnson implemented his own form of reconstruction, almost certainly different from what Lincoln would have doen. He issued a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to re-form their civil governments. When Southern states returned many of their old leaders, and passed laws depriving the freedmen of many civil liberties, Congress refused to seat legislators from those states and advanced legislation to overrule the Southern actions. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congress overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency. Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave citizenship to African American males. As the conflict between the branches of government grew, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, restricting Johnson in firing Cabinet officials. When he persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate and removal from office.
Johnson returned to Tennessee after his presidency, where he was elected to the Senate again in 1875 (the only former president to serve there), just months before his death.
Our series on Presidential Places concludes with a look at Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, located in Greeneville, Tennessee, and maintained by the National Park Service. The site includes two of Johnson's homes, his tailor shop, and his grave site within the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. The cemetery also includes the interments of Johnson's wife, Eliza McCardle Johnson, and son Brigadier General Robert Johnson. The site was designated a U.S. National Monument in 1935 and redesignated a National Historic Site on December 11, 1963.
Today the site totals sixteen acres in area, and has three separate units. These units are the Andrew Johnson Visitor Complex, the Andrew Johnson Homestead, and the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. Visitors receive a copy of the admission ticket to Johnson's impeachment hearing. Every year on May 26, visitors vote on whether or not Johnson should have been removed from office.
The Andrew Johnson Visitor Complex consists of the visitor's center, the museum, and Andrew Johnson's tailor shop. The visitor center shows a 13.5 minute film about Johnson and his time in Greeneville. The one-story/one room tailor shop remains much as it was in Andrew Johnson's day. It is surrounded by a memorial building built by the state of Tennessee in 1923 to prevent wear and tear upon the tailor shop.
The Andrew Johnson Homestead is maintained to look as it did when Andrew Johnson and his wife lived there from 1869 to 1875. Johnson had purchased the home in 1851. During the war years, the house was occupied by soldiers. It required renovations when the family returned to the house after Johnson's leaving the presidency in 1869. It is a Greek Revival two-story brick house.
The Andrew Johnson National Cemetery was established in 1906. Andrew Johnson owned twenty-three acres outside Greeneville on Signal Hill. Upon his death in 1875, Johnson was buried on the property. On June 5, 1878, the city erected a 28-foot marble statue in his honor by Johnson's grave. The monument was considered so dominant that the hill's name was changed to "Monument Hill". Johnson's daughter Martha Johnson Patterson, who inherited the property, willed on September 2, 1898 that the land become a park. She further pushed in 1900 to make the site a national cemetery, so that instead of the Johnson family's maintaining it, the federal government would. The United States Congress chose to make the site a National Cemetery in 1906, and by 1908 the United States War Department took control of it. On May 23, 1942 control of the cemetery was shifted to the National Park Service.
Following is more information about this location:
Website: http://www.nps.gov/anjo/index.htm
Location: 101 North College Street, Greeneville, Tennessee
Hours of Operation: from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Johnson-National-Historic-Site/147060125313227
Johnson was born into poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina. He apprenticed as a tailor and worked in several frontier towns before settling in Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as alderman and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. After brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became Governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857.
As Southern states, including Tennessee, seceded to form the Confederate States of America, Johnson remained committed to the Union. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as military governor of Tennessee after the state had been retaken. In 1864, as a War Democrat and Southern Unionist, Johnson was selected as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign. While things looked badly for Lincoln's reelection at first, a string of wartime victories led to Lincoln's reelection. Johnson was sworn in as vice president in March 1865, giving a rambling speech aided by alcohol, contributing to a reputation for being a drinker that was probably exaggerated.Six weeks later, the assassination of Lincoln made him president.
Johnson implemented his own form of reconstruction, almost certainly different from what Lincoln would have doen. He issued a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to re-form their civil governments. When Southern states returned many of their old leaders, and passed laws depriving the freedmen of many civil liberties, Congress refused to seat legislators from those states and advanced legislation to overrule the Southern actions. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congress overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency. Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave citizenship to African American males. As the conflict between the branches of government grew, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, restricting Johnson in firing Cabinet officials. When he persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate and removal from office.
Johnson returned to Tennessee after his presidency, where he was elected to the Senate again in 1875 (the only former president to serve there), just months before his death.
Our series on Presidential Places concludes with a look at Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, located in Greeneville, Tennessee, and maintained by the National Park Service. The site includes two of Johnson's homes, his tailor shop, and his grave site within the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. The cemetery also includes the interments of Johnson's wife, Eliza McCardle Johnson, and son Brigadier General Robert Johnson. The site was designated a U.S. National Monument in 1935 and redesignated a National Historic Site on December 11, 1963.
Today the site totals sixteen acres in area, and has three separate units. These units are the Andrew Johnson Visitor Complex, the Andrew Johnson Homestead, and the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. Visitors receive a copy of the admission ticket to Johnson's impeachment hearing. Every year on May 26, visitors vote on whether or not Johnson should have been removed from office.
The Andrew Johnson Visitor Complex consists of the visitor's center, the museum, and Andrew Johnson's tailor shop. The visitor center shows a 13.5 minute film about Johnson and his time in Greeneville. The one-story/one room tailor shop remains much as it was in Andrew Johnson's day. It is surrounded by a memorial building built by the state of Tennessee in 1923 to prevent wear and tear upon the tailor shop.
The Andrew Johnson Homestead is maintained to look as it did when Andrew Johnson and his wife lived there from 1869 to 1875. Johnson had purchased the home in 1851. During the war years, the house was occupied by soldiers. It required renovations when the family returned to the house after Johnson's leaving the presidency in 1869. It is a Greek Revival two-story brick house.
The Andrew Johnson National Cemetery was established in 1906. Andrew Johnson owned twenty-three acres outside Greeneville on Signal Hill. Upon his death in 1875, Johnson was buried on the property. On June 5, 1878, the city erected a 28-foot marble statue in his honor by Johnson's grave. The monument was considered so dominant that the hill's name was changed to "Monument Hill". Johnson's daughter Martha Johnson Patterson, who inherited the property, willed on September 2, 1898 that the land become a park. She further pushed in 1900 to make the site a national cemetery, so that instead of the Johnson family's maintaining it, the federal government would. The United States Congress chose to make the site a National Cemetery in 1906, and by 1908 the United States War Department took control of it. On May 23, 1942 control of the cemetery was shifted to the National Park Service.
Following is more information about this location:
Website: http://www.nps.gov/anjo/index.htm
Location: 101 North College Street, Greeneville, Tennessee
Hours of Operation: from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Johnson-National-Historic-Site/147060125313227