Andrew Johnson

On December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Andrew Johnson was born into poverty and apprenticed as a tailor with little formal schooling. He made his career in Greeneville, Tennessee, where shopkeeping, self-education, and local office drew him into Democratic politics. By the 1850s he had become one of Tennessee's most prominent Unionist politicians.

Johnson remained loyal to the Union after secession, served as military governor of Tennessee, and joined Abraham Lincoln on the 1864 ticket as vice president. He became president after Lincoln's assassination in 1865 and immediately clashed with Congress over Reconstruction, the Freedmen's Bureau, and civil rights for the formerly enslaved. His violation of the Tenure of Office Act led to impeachment in 1868, and he survived removal by a single vote in the Senate.

Johnson's presidency shaped the passage of the Reconstruction Acts and the political conditions under which the Fourteenth Amendment took hold. His impeachment also established an enduring precedent for how Congress might confront executive obstruction during constitutional crisis.