author
Andrew Johnson
1808–1875
Born into poverty and largely self-educated, he rose from tailor to senator, vice president, and then the 17th president of the United States after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. His turbulent presidency is remembered most for the fierce battles over Reconstruction and for making history as the first U.S. president to be impeached.
1 Audiobook
State of the Union Addresses
by Andrew Johnson
About the author
Raised in North Carolina and apprenticed as a tailor while still a boy, he later settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he opened a shop and entered local politics. Contemporary accounts note that his wife, Eliza McCardle Johnson, helped him strengthen the reading and writing skills that supported his rise in public life.
He went on to serve as mayor, governor of Tennessee, a U.S. representative, and a U.S. senator. During the Civil War, he was the only senator from a seceded Southern state to remain loyal to the Union, a choice that lifted his national profile and led to his selection as Abraham Lincoln’s running mate in 1864.
After Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, he became president at one of the most difficult moments in American history. His clashes with Congress over how the former Confederate states should be brought back into the Union led to his impeachment in 1868; he avoided removal from office by a single Senate vote. After leaving the White House, he eventually returned to the U.S. Senate, the only former president to do so.