Andrew Johnson: The Anti-Reconstruction President

Andrew Johnson became president of the United States after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Johnson was Southern, anti-reconstruction, and a former slave owner. Although he remained in the Union during the Civil War, his real loyalty was to the South. During his presidency, Johnson passed policies that helped former rebels and attempted to override policies that helped former slaves transition from bondage to citizenship. Johnson’s reluctance to support African American interests and his willingness to help former Confederates made him the worst president in history for advancing the African American agenda.Growing up in the South, Johnson was surrounded by slavery which turned him into a “white supremacist and racist slave owner from Tennessee” (Walton & Smith 257). His environment socialized him to believe that owning slaves was morally acceptable. At the time, “one in four” people living in Tennessee were slaves, making slavery a part of “everyday life”(Tennessee 4 Me). Before the Civil War, Johnson’s view was that every family should have a slave “to take the drudgery and menial service off his family” (Bowen 45). Johnson’s former view of slavery conflicted the African American agenda because they wanted to abolish slavery while Johnson did not.

Although Johnson remained in the Union during the Civil War, he did not pledge allegiance to the Northerners’ cause to abolish slavery. He was convinced that the best way to uphold the institution of slavery was to combat Lincoln’s “radical” policies by holding onto “their seats in Congress” (Bowen 46-47). He believed that the South could not win in the Civil War because most of the volunteers for the Confederacy were poor whites. Since these poor whites did not profit from the industry of slavery, Johnson believed that when these soldiers saw the “cold and bloody reality” of war, they would “desert” the battlefield (Bowen 47). Although Johnson remained in the Union during the Civil War, he only did so for strategic reasons and his real loyalty was to the Confederates. Johnson’s opposition to Lincoln’s “radical” policies goes against the African American agenda because these are the same policies that freed them (Bowen 46-47).Johnson’s loyalty to the South is exemplified when he pardoned Confederate soldiers who would “take an oath of allegiance” to the Union (The White House). This allowed former rebels to enter back into the Union. Johnson also allowed “only White persons” in Southern states to create their own state constitutions and frame their own government (Constitutional Rights Foundation).

Allowing Southern states to draft their own constitution meant that they could determine who had the right to vote. Not surprisingly, zero of the states contemplated “extending the right to vote” to former slaves (Constitutional Rights Foundation). This empowered Southern states to pass the Black Codes, which restricted the freedom of African Americans. Former slaves were not allowed to “serve on juries, travel freely, or work in occupations of their choice” (Constitutional Rights Foundation). These codes conflicted with the African American agenda because these harsh and discriminatory laws put limits on African Americans’ rights and prevented them from gaining true freedom. Another example of Johnson’s true loyalty to the Confederates was when he vetoed Republican legislation that “refuse[d] [to] seat any Senator or Representative from the old Confederacy,” (The White House). Luckily, the African American agenda won when Congress “mustered enough votes” to “pass legislation over Johnson’s veto (The White House). However, Johnson’s attempt to allow advocates of slavery and white supremacy back into Congress conflicted with the African American agenda because these former Confederates would not abolish racial politics. Another piece of legislation that Johnson tried to veto was the Civil Rights Act of 1866, “which established Negroes as American citizens and forbade discrimination against them” (whitehouse.gov).

Johnson’s white supremacist views are conveyed in his objection to the bill, in which he stated that African Americans are “less informed as to the nature and character of our constitutions” (Johnson). In Johnson’s mind, this was enough to prevent African Americans from becoming citizens. Another part of the bill that Johnson objected to was the prohibition of discrimination. He claimed that it was “expedient” to discriminate between races to prevent the intermarriage of a white person and “a negro or mulatto” (Johnson). He believed that African Americans were unworthy of being in intimate relationships with Whites. Fortunately, Johnson’s racist ideology did not prevail and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed when Congress overturned Johnson’s veto.Johnson also tried to veto the Freedmen’s Bureau Acts of 1865 and 1866, which “establish[ed] a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees” (US Senate). One of the reasons Johnson tried to veto this bill is because a bill like this “had not been done for struggling whites” (NPS). However, this argument is illogical because Johnson failed to mention one critical component about “struggling whites,” which is that they were not former slaves who had been subject to hundreds of years of oppression and slavery. Luckily, Congress overrode his veto and the African American agenda prevailed against Johnson’s illogical objection. However, after Congress overruled Johnson’s veto he refused to “faithfully execute” the African American bills which left him one vote away from impeachment (Philpot). This shows that he really did not care about the rule of law but upholding the status quo of white supremacy. Johnson also opposed the “40 Acres and a Mule” policy in which land was to be “reserved and set apart for the settlement of” newly freed slaves (Louis Gates Jr.). This was a promise to help African Americans become self sufficient. However, the policy fell short of it’s promises when President Johnson overruled the policy and returned the land to the former Confederates and the “planters who had originally owned it” (Louis Gates Jr.). There is nothing that proves Johnson’s loyalty to the South more than the return of land to the same people that rebelled against the Union.

Johnson conflicted with the African American agenda by revoking the 40 Acres and a Mule policy because it killed the hopes of African Americans obtaining the land they deserved. Andrew Johnson prevented African Americans from gaining true freedom by opposing legislation that benefited former slaves. Johnson was anti-reconstruction and wanted to uphold the old Southern status quo of white supremacy. He advocated for policies that helped former Confederates and opposed policies that helped former slaves. Thus, Johnson’s true allegiance was to the Confederacy which made him the worst president for the advancement of the African American agenda.

Works Cited

1. Bowen, David Warren. Andrew Johnson and the Negro. Univ Of Tennessee Press, 2005.Constitutional Rights Foundation. The Southern “Black Codes” of 1865-66. 2018, www.crf-usa.org/brown-v-board-50th-anniversary/southern-black-codes.html.
2. Gates, Henry Louis. “The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 19 Sept. 2013, www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/the-truth-behind-40-acres-and-a-mule/.
3. Philpot, Tasha S. “Race and the Executive – Hail to the Chief.” Austin, University of Texas.Tennesse State Museum. “Slavery.” Tennessee 4 Me – Slavery, www.tn4me.org/minor_cat.cfm/minor_id/62/major_id/21/era_id/4.The
4. White House. “Andrew Johnson.” The White House, The United States Government, www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/andrew-johnson/.
5. Johnson, Andrew. “Veto of the Civil Rights Bill.” Teaching American History, teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/veto-of-the-civil-rights-bill/.
6. United States Senate. “Freedmen’s Bureau Acts of 1865 and 1866.” U.S. Senate: Freedmen’s Bureau Acts of 1865 and 1866, 12 Jan. 2017, www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/FreedmensBureau.htm.
7. U.S. Department of the Interior. “The Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 4 Apr. 2015, www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/freedmens-bureau.htm.
8. Walton, Hanes, et al. American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.