50 Fun Facts About Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was which number president of the United States?

He served from 1865 to 1869 after succeeding Abraham Lincoln, whose number he followed in office as well as in the vice presidency.

In which city was Andrew Johnson born?

He was born in a two-room shack in 1808 and reminded voters of his humble origins throughout his career.

To which trade was Johnson apprenticed as a boy?

He later bragged that "my work never ripped or gave way", and was known for impeccably tailored clothes.

What reward did James Selby offer for the return of his runaway apprentices?

Selby's ad offered the full sum "for Andrew Johnson alone"; the brothers fled to Carthage, North Carolina.

Johnson settled and opened his shop in which Tennessee town?

He fell in love with the town on sight and later bought the land where he first camped, planting a tree there.

Johnson's wife Eliza taught him which skills?

He married the 16-year-old shoemaker's daughter in 1827; the justice of the peace was a cousin of Lincoln's father.

Who officiated at Johnson's 1827 wedding?

The justice of the peace was first cousin to Thomas Lincoln, whose son Abraham would later pick Johnson as running mate.

How old was Johnson when he married Eliza McCardle?

Eliza was 16; the couple stayed married almost 50 years and had five children.

How many enslaved people did Johnson own at most, by the account of his biographers?

He bought his first, Dolly, in 1843, and freed his slaves on August 8, 1863; they stayed on as paid servants.

On what date in 1863 did Johnson free his own slaves?

Freed Tennesseans later gave him a watch inscribed "for his Untiring Energy in the Cause of Freedom".

Which measure to grant 160 acres to settlers did Johnson champion for years in Congress?

It finally passed in 1862 after Southern legislators had left; he had first introduced it in the 1840s.

What did a Nashville newspaper call the Whig redrawing of Johnson's district in 1852?

Named for Whig leader Gustavus Henry, it led Johnson to lament "I have no political future" — then run for governor.

As governor, Johnson helped found Tennessee's first what?

Reforms also included the state public library and regular state fairs for craftsmen and farmers.

In 1857 a train derailment seriously damaged which part of Johnson's body?

The injury, suffered returning from Washington, troubled him for years afterward.

Johnson was the only senator from a seceding state to do what?

He fled Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap, where his party was shot at, leaving his family in Greeneville.

What did Johnson sometimes place on the lectern while campaigning against secession?

He faced threats and actual assaults; his eastern region of Tennessee was largely against leaving the Union.

In 1862 Lincoln appointed Johnson to which post?

The Senate confirmed him with the rank of brigadier general; the Confederates turned his home into a military hospital.

Under what banner did Lincoln and Johnson run in 1864?

The name was meant to sound a theme of unity; Johnson was nominated on the second ballot with 491 votes.

Whom did Johnson replace as Lincoln's running mate in 1864?

Hamlin was healthy, competent and willing to run again; in 1875 he was sworn into the Senate beside Johnson.

What did Johnson ask Hamlin for just before his 1865 inaugural speech?

Hung over from a party the night before, he took two stiff drinks and delivered a rambling, near-incoherent address.

How did Lincoln defend Johnson after the inaugural debacle?

Lincoln said he had known Johnson for years and that he had simply "made a bad slip the other day".

Why did Johnson survive the night of Lincoln's assassination?

George Atzerodt was meant to kill him at the Kirkwood House but lost his nerve in a bar; he was hanged that July.

Who swore Johnson in as president on April 15, 1865?

The chief justice presided between 10 and 11 a.m., hours after Lincoln died at 7:22.

Who left a calling card for Johnson at the Kirkwood House on the day Lincoln was shot?

The card read "Don't wish to disturb you. Are you at home?" and has fueled conspiracy theories ever since.

Johnson's 1865 amnesty excluded ex-rebels holding property worth at least how much?

The proclamation came with unanimous Cabinet backing but said nothing about black suffrage or freedmen's rights.

Southern states passed which laws to bind freedmen to farms and arrest them for vagrancy?

Northerners saw them as placing African Americans barely above slavery and turned against Johnson's leniency.

In his Washington's Birthday speech of 1866, how often did Johnson refer to himself?

He also accused Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips of plotting to assassinate him.

Which 1866 veto by Johnson was the first on a major bill ever overridden by Congress?

Eric Foner calls it "the most disastrous miscalculation of his political career"; moderates gave up on him.

Which constitutional amendment, granting citizenship to former slaves, did Johnson oppose?

Tennessee ratified it anyway, and Congress promptly seated its delegation, embarrassing the president.

What was the nickname of Johnson's disastrous 1866 speaking tour?

He compared himself to Jesus, argued with hecklers, and watched Republicans win a landslide that fall.

Which 1867 law restricted the president's power to fire Cabinet members?

It passed over his veto on March 2, 1867, the same day Congress overrode his veto of the First Reconstruction Act.

Johnson's attempt to dismiss which Secretary of War triggered his impeachment?

Stanton barricaded himself in his office; the House impeached Johnson on February 24, 1868, by 128 to 47.

How many articles of impeachment did the House adopt against Johnson?

Most alleged violations of the Tenure of Office Act; one accused him of questioning Congress's legitimacy.

By how many votes did Johnson escape conviction at his impeachment trial?

The tally was 35 guilty to 19 not guilty, short of the two-thirds needed; ten Republicans voted to acquit.

How many Republican senators voted to acquit Johnson?

Among them were Grimes, Trumbull, Fessenden and Edmund G. Ross of Kansas.

Who would have become president had Johnson been removed from office?

The Ohio senator was president pro tempore, a Radical who backed women's suffrage, which alarmed many moderates.

Which general agreed to serve as interim War Secretary when Johnson suspended Stanton?

Grant stepped aside when the Senate reinstated Stanton, causing a complete break between the two men.

Which territory did Secretary of State Seward buy from Russia during Johnson's term?

The $7.2 million treaty was signed March 30, 1867, and the Senate approved it 37–2 in a special session.

What uninhabited Pacific territory did Seward claim for the U.S. under Johnson?

It was Seward's only other acquisition after Alaska, despite his hunt for more territory.

Which Hawaiian royal did Johnson host at a reception in 1866?

She was on her way home from a trip to Britain and Europe.

How many Supreme Court justices did Johnson appoint?

Congress eliminated a vacant seat to block his nominee, Henry Stanbery, and shrank the court to stop the next one too.

On Christmas Day 1868, Johnson issued a final amnesty covering whom?

He also pardoned Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who had set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg.

Whom did Johnson pardon for involvement in Lincoln's assassination in his final months?

Mudd had set Booth's broken leg and was imprisoned at Fort Jefferson in Florida's Dry Tortugas.

What did Johnson refuse to do on March 4, 1869, the day Grant was inaugurated?

Grant had said he would not share a carriage with him; Johnson finished paperwork and rode to a friend's house.

Johnson is the only former president to later serve in which body?

Tennessee's legislature elected him in 1875 on the 54th ballot, by a single vote; he said "Thank God for the vindication."

On which ballot did the Tennessee legislature finally elect Johnson senator in 1875?

Three ex-Confederate generals and others split the vote against him for days; Nashville erupted in rejoicing.

What was placed under Johnson's head when he was buried, according to his wishes?

He was wrapped in an American flag; the site became the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in 1906.

Johnson died in 1875 after suffering what?

He was visiting his daughter's farm near Elizabethton, Tennessee, planning a speaking trip to Ohio, and died at 66.

Which actor played Johnson in the 1942 film Tennessee Johnson?

The film portrayed him as a fighter for democracy, reflecting the pro-Johnson historiography of the time.

Johnson's son Robert died in 1869 by what means?

The loss embittered Johnson's private life in Greeneville, which he found boring after the White House.