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Johnson presided over Abraham Lincoln's funeral ceremonies in Washington, before Lincoln's body was sent home to Springfield, Illinois, for burial. Shortly after Lincoln's death, Union General William T. Sherman reported that he had reached an armistice agreement with Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston for the surrender of Confederate forces in North Carolina. The terms of the armistice were not acceptable to Johnson or to the Cabinet becayse they did not acknowledge the freedom of any slaves. Word was quickly sent to Sherman to obtain the surrender without making political deals, which he did.
Johnson placed a $100,000 bounty on Confederate President Davis, who was then at large. He declined to pardon Mary Surratt for her part in Lincoln's assassination. Surratt was executed with three others on July 7, 1865.
Upon taking office, Johnson was confronted with the issue of reconstruction of the south. Lincoln had authorized loyalist governments in Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee as the Union came to control large parts of those states. He had also called for a ten percent plan that would allow state elections after ten percent of the voters in any state took an oath of loyalty to the Union. But the Radical Republicans in Congress considered this too lenient. They wanted a majority of voters to take the loyalty oath. They had passed a law to that effect in 1864, but Lincoln pocket vetoed it.
Johnson set three goals in his plan for Reconstruction: (1) He wanted a speedy restoration of the states, arguing that they had never truly left the Union; (2) He saw African-American suffrage as a state responsibility to decide; (3) He wanted political power in the Southern states to pass from the planter class to the common man.
Johnson hoped to be elected President in his own right in 1868. To that point in history, no one who had succeeded a deceased president had accomplished this. The Republicans were divided into a number of factions. The Radical Republicans sought voting and other civil rights for African-Americans. They believed that the freedmen would vote Republican in gratitude for emancipation for generations to come. They also believed that Confederate leaders should be punished. The Moderate Republicans were not as enthusiastic about the idea of African-American suffrage as their Radical colleagues. As for Northern Democrats, they favored the unconditional restoration of the Southern states and they did not support African-American suffrage
Congress was not scheduled to meet again until December 1865. Radical Republicans urged Johnson to insist on rights for freedmen as a condition of restoration to the Union, but Johnson believed that this was a state, not a federal matter. The Cabinet was divided on the issue. On May 29, Johnson issued two proclamations, with the unanimous backing of his Cabinet. One recognized the Virginia government led by provisional Governor Francis Pierpont. The second provided amnesty for all ex-rebels except those holding property valued at $20,000 or more. It also appointed a temporary governor for North Carolina and authorized elections. Neither of these proclamations addressed the subjects of African-American suffrage or freedmen's rights. Johnson called for constitutional conventions in other former rebel states.
Southern states began the process of forming governments. Johnson's policies received public support in the North and from the white South. But many in the north saw this as meaning the war had been fought for nothing. Northern public opinion required that the South acknowledge its defeat, that slavery be ended, and that the lot of African-Americans be improved. Only a handful of Northern states (mostly in New England) gave African-American men the right to vote on the same basis as whites, and in late 1865, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Minnesota voted down African-American suffrage proposals by large margins.
A number of Southern states passed laws known as "Black Codes" which bound African-American laborers to farms on annual contracts that they could not quit. These laws allowed law enforcement to arrest them for vagrancy and rent out their labor. Most Southerners elected to Congress were former Confederates, with the most prominent being Georgia Senator-designate and former Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens. When Congress assembled in early December 1865, the northern congressmen refused to seat the Southern legislators. They established a committee to recommend appropriate Reconstruction legislation. Northerners were outraged at the idea of unrepentant Confederate leaders, such as Stephens, rejoining the federal government, and they viewed the Black Codes as slavery by another name.
In January of 1866, Johnson decided that he needed to prevail over the Radical Republicans in order to win re-election in 1868. Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull, leader of the Moderate Republicans and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, was willing to work with Johnson. He sponsored a bill extending the Freedmen's Bureau beyond its scheduled abolition in 1867, and the first Civil Rights Bill, to grant citizenship to the freedmen. Trumbull met with Johnson, and believed that Johnson would sign the bills, but Johnson vetoed the Freedman's Bureau bill on February 18, 1866. He was pleased when a move to override his veto failed in the Senate the following day.
On February 22, 1866, Washington's Birthday, Johnson gave a speech in which he criticized Radical Republicans, calling them "men still opposed to the Union". When asked by the crowd to name these men, Johnson named Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner and abolitionist Wendell Phillips, and accused them of plotting his assassination.
Although strongly urged by Moderates to sign the Civil Rights Bill, Johnson vetoed it on March 27. In his veto message, he objected to the measure because it conferred citizenship on the freedmen at a time when 11 out of 36 states were unrepresented in the Congress. He said that the bill discriminated in favor of African-Americans and against whites. Congress overrode his veto.
Congress also proposed the Fourteenth Amendment. It was sent for ratification by state legislatures even though Johnson opposed it. The amendment was designed to put the key provisions of the Civil Rights Act into the Constitution. It extended citizenship to every person born in the United States (except Indians on reservations) and it penalized states that did not give the vote to freedmen. It also created new federal civil rights that could be protected by federal courts. It also forbade repayment of Confederate war debts and it disqualified many former Confederates from office. Both houses passed the Freedmen's Bureau Act a second time, and again Johnson vetoed it, but this time, the veto was overridden. Johnson's home state of Tennessee ratified the Fourteenth Amendment despite the President's opposition. When Tennessee did so, Congress immediately seated its proposed delegation, embarrassing Johnson.
Efforts at compromise failed, and a political war ensued between the Republicans (who united against a common enemy) and Johnson and his allies in the Democratic Party. Johnson called a convention of the National Union Party. Johnson hoped to use the discarded party to unite his supporters and win election to a full-term in 1868. In the mid-term election of 1866; Southern states were not allowed to vote. Johnson campaigned vigorously, undertaking a public speaking tour, known as the "Swing Around the Circle". The trip, including speeches in Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Columbus. It was a political disaster. Johnson gave rambling speeches in which he compared himself to Christ, and in which he engaged in arguments with hecklers. Republicans won the mid-terms in a landslide, increasing their large majority in Congress. Johnson blamed the Democrats for failing to support his National Union movement.
Despite the Republican victory in November 1866, Johnson still considered himself in a strong position to win the presidency in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment had been rejected in Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland. The amendment required ratification by three-quarters of the states to become part of the Constitution. Johnson saw its defeat as the key to his victory in 1868. But when congress reconvened in December 1866, it admitted Nebraska to the Union over a veto, and the Republicans gained two senators, and a state that promptly ratified the amendment. Johnson's veto of a bill for statehood for Colorado Territory was sustained because enough senators agreed that a district with a population of 30,000 did not deserve statehood.
In January 1867, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens introduced legislation to dissolve the Southern state governments and reconstitute them into five military districts, under martial law. The states would be required to hold constitutional conventions at which African-Americans could vote or become delegates but former Confederates could not. Johnson and the Southerners attempted a compromise, without the disqualification of former Confederates, and for limited black suffrage, but the deal fell through. Johnson vetoed the bill on March 2, 1867 and Congress overruled him the same day.
Also on March 2, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over the President's veto. During the "Swing Around the Circle" tour, Johnson had said that he planned to fire Cabinet secretaries who did not agree with his policies. This bill required Senate approval for the firing of Cabinet members during the tenure of the president who appointed them and for one month afterwards. Some senators doubted that this was constitutional or that applied to Johnson, whose Cabinet officers were Lincoln holdovers.
Johnson had difficulty working with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who, in combination with General Ulysses Grant, worked to undermine Johnson's Southern policy. Congress met in March 1867, and the House Committee on the Judiciary considered whether there were grounds for Johnson to be impeached. This committee examined Johnson's bank accounts, and summoned members of the Cabinet to testify. It also investigated whether the President had impeded the prosecution of Jefferson Davis. In fact Johnson was eager to have Davis tried. A bipartisan majority of the committee voted down impeachment charges and the committee adjourned on June 3.
In June, Johnson and Stanton battled over the question of whether the military officers placed in command of the South could override the civil authorities. The President had Attorney General Henry Stanbery issue an opinion backing his position that they could not. Stanton would not commit to follow this opinion. When Congress reconvened in July, it passed a Reconstruction Act against Johnson's position, waited for his veto, and then overruled it. In addition to clarifying the powers of the generals, the legislation also deprived the President of control over the Army in the South.
With Congress in recess until November, Johnson decided to fire Stanton and relieve one of the military commanders, General Philip Sheridan of his command. On August 5, the President demanded Stanton's resignation, but the secretary refused to quit. Johnson then suspended him pending the next meeting of Congress as permitted under the Tenure of Office Act. Ulysses Grant agreed to serve as temporary replacement while continuing to lead the Army. Grant followed Johnson's order transferring Sheridan and Daniel Sickles, but he did so under protest.
The 1867 elections generally went Democratic and the Democrats took control of the Ohio General Assembly, allowing them to defeat for re-election one of Johnson's strongest opponents, Senator Benjamin Wade. Voters in Ohio, Connecticut, and Minnesota turned down propositions to grant African-Americans the vote. Despite this, Congress met in November, and the Judiciary Committee passed a resolution of impeachment against Johnson. After debate about whether anything the President had done was a high crime or misdemeanor, the standard under the Constitution, the resolution was defeated by the House of Representatives on December 7, 1867, by a vote of 57 in favor to 108 opposed.
Johnson notified Congress of Stanton's suspension and Grant's interim appointment. In January 1868, the Senate voted to reinstate Stanton, contending that Johnson had violated the Tenure of Office Act. Grant stepped aside over Johnson's objection. Johnson then dismissed Stanton and appointed Lorenzo Thomas to replace him. But Stanton refused to leave his office, and on February 24, 1868, the House impeached the President for intentionally violating the Tenure of Office Act, by a vote of 128 to 47. The House subsequently adopted eleven articles of impeachment, for the most part alleging that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act, and had questioned the legitimacy of Congress.
On March 5, 1868, Johnson's impeachment trial began in the Senate and lasted almost three months. Congressmen George S. Boutwell, Benjamin Butler and Thaddeus Stevens acted as managers for the House, or prosecutors, and William M. Evarts, Benjamin R. Curtis and former Attorney General Stanbery were Johnson's counsel. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase served as presiding judge. The defense relied on the provision of the Tenure of Office Act that made it applicable only to appointees of the current administration. Since Lincoln had appointed Stanton, the defense maintained Johnson had not violated the act, and also argued that Johnson had the right to test the constitutionality of the act. Johnson's counsel advised their client not to make an appearance at the trial, nor publicly comment about the proceedings.
Johnson worked behind the scenes to gain an acquittal. He promised Iowa Senator James W. Grimes that he would not interfere with Congress's Reconstruction efforts. Johnson also promised to appoint John Schofield as War Secretary, an acceptable substitute for Stanton. Many senators were reluctant to remove the President was that his successor would have been Ohio Senator Wade, the president pro tempore of the Senate. Wade, a lame duck Senator, was seen as being too radical for his colleagues.
On May 16, the Senate voted on the 11th article of impeachment, accusing Johnson of firing Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office of Act once the Senate had overturned his suspension. Thirty-five senators voted "guilty" and 19 "not guilty", thus falling short by a single vote of the two-thirds majority required for conviction under the Constitution. Seven Republicans voted to acquit the President. The senate then adjourned for the Republican National Convention at which Ulysses Grant was nominated for president. The Senate returned on May 26 and voted on the second and third articles, with identical 35–19 results. In view of these results, Johnson's opponents gave up and dismissed proceedings. Stanton left his position on May 26, and the Senate subsequently confirmed Schofield.
Allegations were made that bribery was involved in the outcome of the trial. Even when it was in progress, Representative Butler began an investigation, held hearings, and issued a report, unendorsed by any other congressman. Butler failed to prove and bribery.
Aside from his fights with Radical Republicans, Johnson had some accomplishments as president. He allowed Secretary of State William H. Seward to continue to run things at the State Department as he had under Lincoln. At the time that Johnson became president, the French had intervened in Mexico, sending troops there. Seward warned the French through diplomatic channels that their presence in Mexico was not acceptable. In April 1866, the French government agreed to bring their troops home in stages, to conclude by November 1867.
In 1867, the Russian government saw its North American colony in Alaska to be a financial liability, and it instructed its minister in Washington, Baron Eduard de Stoeckl, to negotiate a sale. De Stoeckl negotiated with Seward to sell the territory for $7.2 million. On March 30, 1867, de Stoeckl and Seward signed the treaty, working quickly as the Senate was about to adjourn. Johnson summoned the Senate into session to meet on April 1 and they approved the treaty, 37–2. Seward sought to acquire other territories, but he was unsuccessful, claiming uninhabited Wake Island in the Pacific, but failing to acquire the Danish West Indies.
Johnson sought the nomination at the Democratic National Convention held in New York in July 1868. On the first ballot, Johnson he finished second to former Ohio representative George H. Pendleton, but his support fell away as the ballots passed. On the 22nd ballot, former New York governor Horatio Seymour won the nomination. Seymour sought Johnson's support, but Johnson remained silent during the campaign. Ulysses Grant was elected president. In his annual message to Congress in December, Johnson urged the repeal of the Tenure of Office Act and told legislators that if they had admitted their Southern colleagues in 1865, all would have been well. Johnson celebrated his 60th birthday in late December with a party for several hundred children.
On Christmas Day 1868, Johnson issued a pardon to all confederate soldiers and leaders, including Jefferson Davis. He also issued a pardon for Dr. Samuel Mudd, convicted of involvement in the Lincoln assassination (he had set Booth's broken leg). Mudd had been imprisoned in Fort Jefferson on Florida's Dry Tortugas. On March 3, the President hosted a large public reception at the White House on his final full day in office. Grant unwilling to ride in the same carriage as Johnson, as was customary, and Johnson refused to attend Grant's inauguration. Despite an effort by Seward to prompt a change of mind, Johnson spent the morning of March 4 finishing last-minute business, and then shortly after noon rode from the White House to the home of a friend.
Tomorrow: Part 3: Post Presidency