Andrew Johnson: A lucky-unlucky president

Harper's Weekly of Thaddeus Stevens making his final argument
to the house during Johnson's impeachment hearing.

When Andrew Johnson was selected to be Senator from Tennessee in 1857 he did not have ambitions of becoming president.  Yet circumstances would unravel as to set up a situation whereby he would luck into the Vice Presidency and, six months later, the Presidency. However, his time in that office was tenuous at best, or quite unlucky despite his honorable intentions.

He lived in a part of Tennessee where there were no large plantations and no wealthy land owners. So he had no ambitions to pass laws that benefited large businesses and merchants.  This was the job of the Whig party, which grew a large following in Tennessee.

Johnson, on the other hand, was sort of what we would now refer to as a libertarian.  However, back in his day they were referred to as Jacksonian Democrats. They supported farmers and small businesses, or what many refer to as commoners.  He was opposed to regulations and taxes, believing commoners could manage their affairs better than the government.

So he had a nice job as U.S. Senator from Tennessee when the Civil War Started.  He had succeeded in talking legislators in his state from seceding from the nation until the Battle of fort Sumpter between April 12-14, 1861.  It was at this point that tensions grew to a point that, despite his pleas to stay in the Union, Tennessee seceded.

Despite this, Johnson became the only Senator from a Confederate State to stay loyal to the Union and stay at his post.  This must have been the hardest decision he ever had to make.  He was lambasted and ridiculed by other legislators from Tennessee, many of whom had been his friends.  But it also proved to be a brilliant decision at the same time, as he was loved by members of the Union.

One person who was well aware of Johnson's heroics was Abraham Lincoln.  During his first term as President, Lincoln appointed Johnson Military Governor to Tennessee. Johnson was honored to take the job, although he would soon discover that it was an arduous task mainly because he had little authority over Union soldiers, and because there remained many Confederate supporters in the state.

It must be understood that at this time their were two factions of the republican party: Moderate Republicans and Radical Republicans.  Moderate Republicans were lead by Abraham Lincoln, and this consisted of the majority when Lincoln was elected in 1860 and 1864.

During reconstruction, Radical Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the seceded states should be admitted back into the Union, although on Congress's terms,not the presidents. Radical Republicans believed the seceded states should be punished, and their social structure uprooted. In the meantime, they wanted newly emancipated blacks to be protected by Federal powers.

In 1864, Moderate Republicans contented that their party was for all Union supporters.  So, for one election only, they became the Union Party.  Hannibal Hamlin had been Lincoln's Vice President, but moderate republicans, concerned about Lincoln's re-election chances due to the war, thought Andrew Johnson would
appeal to voters in border states.  So Johnson became the logical choice as Lincoln's running mate -- even though he was a slave owning southern democrat (he owned a few slaves).

This decision didn't sit so well with Radical Republicans in the North, one of whom was Thaddeus Stevens, who believed the republicans should have found a candidate "without going down into one of those damned rebel provinces," Steven's said.

George B. McClellen was the best logical choice of the democrats.  He had gained fame as General of Union Troops at the start of the war, although he had lost the faith of the President, who replaced him with General Ulysses S. Grant.  The problem with McClellan is he did not support the Democrat position that the war should come to a swift end.

It didn't really matter that the republicans chose Johnson to be the VP, or that the democrats chose McClellan as their presidential nominee, because just prior to the election word was spread of General Sherman's triumphant victory in Atlanta.  This seemed to be all that was needed to carry Lincoln into a landslide victory in the general election, earning him 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21.

However, six months after the election, on April 15, 1865, Lincoln was dead and Johnson was sworn in as President. This was an unlucky moment for Lincoln, Johnson, and the nation.  However, this was how Johnson, a democrat and slave owner from the south, became president when republicans controlled Washington.

Initially every thing seemed to work out just fine for Johnson, as he intended to push forth the plans already set in place by Lincoln.

Just prior to his death, Lincoln authorized a ten percent plan, whereby he would allow elections after ten percent of voters made an oath of allegiance to the United States.  Radical Republicans in Congress hated this plan claiming it was too lenient, and so they passed a bill requiring a majority vote before voting could take place.  Lincoln pocket vetoed this bill.

Like Lincoln, Johnson, likewise wanting to quickly restore southern states to the Union.  He believed that they did not win the war, and therefore never truly left the Union.  Based on this idea, he believed former Confederate states should be recognized by the Union as soon as they formed a government.  At the very least, Lincoln and Johnson believed a speedy resolution of the messes made by the Civil war would ease tensions within the Union.

Let us say that Johnson was very supportive of the idea of a quick period of reconstruction.  He believed any efforts to resolve any civil rights issues, such as suffrage, of the newly freed slaves (referred to as freedmen) would only act as distractions.  He figured these issues would be resolved over time by each individual state.

So, even with Congress out of office until December, Johnson set in place his plan at reconstruction.  He figured that, if everything went his way, that he could have most of the work done before Congress was back in session.

Among Johnson's first actions as president was to grant pardons to all former radicals who took an oath of office.  He made Confederate leaders, and all wealthy men (those who made over $20,000), obtain a special pardon from the President. Either way, Johnson believed this would quickly mend scars.

Initially his plan went well and was supported by the greater portion of the American populace.  All they wanted was for the Confederacy to be abolished, for those in power to admit defeat, that slavery be ended, and that living conditions for African Americans be improved.

Like Johnson, civil rights for blacks, such as the right to vote, were not on top of the agenda.  In fact, this made sense considering many northern states at the time still didn't recognize freedmen as citizens.  This issue didn't come to the forefront until Congress was back in session in December of 1895.

Until then, Johnson's plan was allowed to continue as an experiment. But even while it seemed on the surface to be working, it wasn't.  Because it was so lenient, many southern leaders allowed back into their old positions of power were making laws that made it difficult for blacks.  For instance, some laws required former slaves to work on farms on an annual contract they could not quit.  These became known as Black Codes.

When Congress reconvened in December of 1865, Radical Republicans, lead by Charles Sumner and Stevens, decided Johnson's plan was too lenient. They decided harsher punishments were needed to assure the old Confederacy was abolished, and more guarantees were needed to guarantee the rights of the newly freed slaves.

Members of both the House and Senate refused to seat any former member of the Confederacy. While many southern states had already submitted new constitutions, these were set aside and relatively ignored. The House and Senate then got together and created the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and decided all plans for reconstruction must be approved by this committee.

Congress passed a bill enlarging the Freemen's Bureau that was created during the Lincoln Administration to help newly freed black men and women.  It consisted of northern teachers, ministers and former government officials.  They provided food, shelter and an education to help freedmen adjust to life outside of plantations.

President Johnson vetoed the bill claiming it was a violation of state's rights.

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that guaranteed the basic rights of freedmen.  It said that all persons born in the United States would be classified as U.S. citizens, including African Americans.  It also established the rights of blacks to own land, make contracts, and to "enjoy the full and equal benefit of all laws."

President Johnson vetoed the bill claiming it was a violation of state's rights.

Making matters worse for Johnson was the midterm election.  It was at this time that voters turned out in groves in support of the radical republican agenda, giving radical republicans a majority in both the House and Senate.  This gave them enough votes to override any of the president's vetoes.  They then proceeded to:

• Override Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act, thus establishing the Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Override Johnson's veto of the Freedman's Bureau
• In the fall of 1867 they created their own plan for reconstruction that began by placing  southern states under military rule
• They passed the Civil Rights Amendment, or the 14th Amendment, and required that southern states must ratify it before being allowed back into the Union. Despite Johnson's opposition, it was ratified by each state in July 1868.
• They passed a bill requiring all of Johnson's Military orders be approved by Grant.  They wanted to make sure he didn't hire military generals who were sympathetic to the south. 
• They passed the unconstitutional Tenure of Office Act that restricted the president's ability to dismiss or appoint members to his own cabinet.  This was an ardent violation of separation of powers.

Of course it didn't take long for Johnson to violate the Tenure of Office Act.  Secretary of War Edward R. Stanton openly supported the Radical Republican agenda, and he even reported to Congress on secret White House matters.  Johnson had no choice but to dismiss him from office.  In his place he hired General Grant.  He did this while Congress was not in session, so they could not object.

When Congress reconvened, Radical Republicans ordered the president to re-hire Stanton, and Johnson reluctantly agreed. Still, on February 21 he again defied Congress and fired Stanton.  This time he chose General Lorenzo Thomas for the position.  Stanton refused to leave his office, even to the point of barricading his door.

Radical Republicans saw this as an opportunity to get Johnson out of office, so three days later the House voted to impeach him, making this the first impeachment of a sitting president.  He was tried in the Senate in the Spring of 1868, and was acquitted by one vote.

Later, as part of his farewell speech, Johnson said, "It will be recorded as one of the marvels of the times that a party claiming for itself a monopoly of... patriotism... endeavored, by a costly and deliberate trail, to impeach one who defended the Constitution and the Union... during his whole term of office."

So Johnson vetoed bills because he wanted to protect state's rights.  For this we have to give him a little credit. Still, he is generally deemed a failure, at least on the domestic front, because he failed to recognize that white southerners were probably not going to respect the civil rights of African Americans without being forced to do so.  In fact, the same was probably true of some northerners as well.

While his domestic policy was a failure, his foreign policy was sort of a success.  Secretary of State Edward H. Seward, with Johnson's encouragement, brokered a deal whereby the Russian Empire would allow the U.S. to purchase Alaska.  He did this to counter Canada, figuring that it would eventually force Canada into American hands.  Johnson approved the deal. This would turn out to be a significant foreign policy of Johnson's.

This purchase would prove beneficial to the national security of the nation during the Cold War.  It would also prove beneficial about 13 years after the purchase (and five years after Johnson's death) when gold was discovered in Alaska.  Many years later, in 1968, oil was discovered there.

Seward believed that the U.S. would liberate Canada from Britain.  However, in the same year Britain gave Canada Home Rule, meaning if the U.S. invaded Canada they would be invading a sovereign nation.  While Seward's plan of Canada becoming part of America never came to fruition, the purchase of Alaska would eventually pay for itself 100 times over.  Likewise, while this was unknown at the time, it would also mean the end of American expansionism.

So, chances are, if not for the encouragement of Johnson on this issue, Alaska may have ultimately ended up in the hands of the British or Canada.

Understanding the republicans would go in another direction, Johnson petitioned to be the democratic presidential nominee in 1968.  They would strongly consider him before deciding to go with the governor of New York, Horatio Seymour.  The republicans went with a still very popular Civil War General by the name of Ulysses S. Grant.

So Johnson can be considered a horrible president mainly because he had little control over a Radical Republican Congress.  Radical Republicans supported Ulysses S. Grant for President in 1868, and so this would limit Johnson to one term.

Indeed, fear has created Trump

One of my socialist friends said that Trump plays on fear. I actually denied this during our discussion, although in retrospect I have decided that she was right: Trump does play on fear.

Trump caters to Americans who no longer recognize their country, and who fear losing it. He caters to Americans who fear terrorism, and feel our leaders are doing nothing about it.

You have immigrants coming into this country left and right.  Actually, immigrant refers to those who come into our country legally.  Those who come in illegally are not immigrants, they are invaders. We have no idea who these people are. They have nothing to offer. They are coming here for free stuff. They have no intention of learning English or assimilating.

Most immigrants who have been allowed to come into our country legally over the years are people who have something to offer.  They are lawyers and doctors and scientists.  They are engineers and journalists. They were inventors. They came here and they wanted to become Americans. They were glad to learn English and American history and were more than eager to hang American flags on their front porches.

Invaders have no intention of learning English.  They have no desire to learn American history. They do not care how America was formed.  They have no interest in learning about American Exceptionalism. In fact, some of them hate America, and believe their country is better than America. They are only here to take advantage of our generosity.

And, of course, once they come in, they know our leaders will not enforce immigration laws, and will not kick them out. In fact, there are some leaders in both parties who want to grant amnesty to invaders, even giving them pathways to citizenship.

Democrats want them to become citizens to they will vote for them, and most polls show they would. Democrats need victims, a permanent underclas sincapable of taking care of themselves, incapable of providing for themselves who will always be counted on to vote Democrat to be taken care of by programs created by democrats.  A majority of democrats across the board, both among the voting class and the establishment, support some sort of amnesty for illegal aliens. They feel this is the compassionate thing to do. Or at least that's what they say, because the real reason is that they want their votes.

A majority of republican voters do not support amnesty. To them this is the compassionate thing to do for the majority of Americans who want to preserve the culture that was formed after this country was established. They believe illegal aliens are here illegally, they are destroying our economy, and they are destroying our culture. Yes, it's sad that some people might have their feelings hurt, but they broke the law and they have to go.

The only republicans who support amnesty are among the establishment. They think that in order to continue winning elections they need the Hispanic vote, and the only way to get them is to be seen as the nice guys who supported amnesty. They somehow think that if they support amnesty, by some magical means Hispanics will start voting republican, which is not going to happen.

This is why you have people like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush supporting amnesty. Bush has been pro amnesty all along, along with his older brother George W. Bush. Rubio was a member of the gang of eight who got an amnesty bill through Congress. Other republicans said they would support the Gang of Eight Bill so long as their was an adjunct to the Bill promising that any illegal allowed granted amnesty was not allowed to become a citizen for 10,15,20, or 30 years. The idea was that they would not be allowed to vote for many years down the road, making this Bill not about voting. But nobody in the establishment of either party was interested.

And then you have people like Chuck Schumer saying, "This is not about voting; this is not about citizenship; we are granting amnesty, not citizenship." But they as soon as the bill passes, they are going to start saying things like, "We are allowing them to live here, work here, join our military, and so now that compassionate thing to do is to allow them to become citizens and to allow them to vote." You know that's what's going to happen, because that's how democrats operate.  They lie.

If you don't believe me, look at how Obamacare got passed. They said it was going to lower healthcare costs. They said you can keep your current healthcare program if you liked it. They said healthcare premiums would go down. They said it was going to help the economy. They said it was not a tax. And then as soon as it was passed, the Supreme Court declared that it was a tax. And then healthcare costs went up. And then healthcare premiums went up. And then businesses stopped hiring full time workers and the number of part time jobs skyrocketed. You see, they tell you what you want to hear to get their bills passed, and then when they pass they change their minds. And no one ever calls them on it, but that's a story for another day.

Making matters worse is some people believe the 14th Amendment gives anyone born within our borders automatic citizenship. For this reason pregnant women come into our country to have their children, for free in American hospitals (and these hospitals can't afford it, and some have closed because of it), so their children will gain citizenship. Then they become anchor babies and democrats and republicans alike won't send them nor law breaking families home.

So democrats support amnesty because they need a permanent underclass to create programs for so these people continue to vote democrat, and most republican voters don't understand why the republican establishment would by into this. Voters cannot fathom why any republican would sign onto this, and then you have Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio doing exactly that.

Amnesty would do nothing more than give democrats a permanent voting class, and it would destroy the republican party and it would therefore destroy any culture that's left over from our founding. It would destroy America. Voter hate this idea, and the establishment is saying, "Screw You!" And that is what has created Donald Trump. The republican establishment keeps pushing Amnesty, the voters keep saying they don't want it, and the establishment continues supporting amnesty. Voters are fed up with it, they are angry, and they are supporting an outsider in Trump who says he will, once and for all, remedy the immigration/invasion problem.

They are coming here to take advantage of our country. Yes, we have every reason to be ticked off about this. We have every reason to fear this, and fear that our leaders don't care. And that is why Donald Trump has 42% of the republican vote, because he says he will build a way, and he will deport illegals, and he will do it; people believe he will do it. And so that is why he is so popular. That is the essence of the Trump movement.

And, coming in among them, are people who want to destroy our nation. They are people who establish themselves into our country in order to destroy us, to terrorize us, from within. And despite this fact, our leaders, both republicans and democrats, have done nothing to stop it.  In fact, the invasion has been put on steroids during the Obama administration.

Democrats have created rules that allow illegal immigrants invaders access to many of the programs offered by government, and they surely cannot be turned down by hospitals.  Most of them have no ability to pay their medical bills, and this is a problem because it is illegal for hospitals to turn them down. So our hospitals, or our government, gets stuck paying their medical bills. Some of them have closed their doors, leaving American citizens with no local hospitals.

And the influx of invaders, who are not doctors and lawyers and journalists, who are people who would have something to offer. They are poor people, people who our government allows to have access to food stamps and welfare. This is a huge economic burden, costing us millions of dollars each year.

Added to that is the fact that they are taking jobs Americans would do. But Americans can't take these jobs because the supply of workers is to great that the wages for these jobs have declined so much they are not worth taking. Economics 101 suggests that as the demand for jobs increases and the supply of jobs stays the same, wages decrease.

I think it was Ted Cruz who said that journalists would care if it were journalists coming across the border driving down their wages.  Lawyers would care if it were lawyers coming over driving down the wages for lawyers.

Yes, there is fear here. And making matters worse, you have countries walking all over America. You have our leaders making bad deals with nations like Iran, setting them on a track to obtaining nuclear weapons. Could you imagine if ISIS gets access to such weapons? It's possible.  And our leaders are doing nothing about it.

We also have a national debt that is spiralling out of control, and this problem is only exacerbated by a president who just proposed adding another $4.3 trillion to this debt. And then you have one candidate in Bernie Sanders who proposes for the government to increase taxes by $500 a month so he can hand out more "free stuff" and this only adds to the burden and the fear. It solves nothing. We are already spending money at a faster clip than we can afford, and adding more entitlements only gives more power to those in power, and this does more harm than good.

Adding to this is you have member of the Obama administration making bad deals with climate change activists in Paris to set more global regulations that make it even harder for corporations to make profits. You have so many regulations that it's almost not even worth opening up a new factory in the U.S., because there is so much overhead just to start. This is one reason why corporations like Ford open new factories in Mexico instead of the U.S. Add to this the rising minimum wages and rising costs of healthcare, and it only gets worse.

It seems there is no bottom line any more. There are no limits to immigration, there are no limits to how far taxes can go. There are no limits to social programs. There are no limits to how many regulations can be created. No limit to how many women you can seduce. No limit to who you can marry. No limit on socal values.

There are no rules. There are no limits.

And that is why religion was so important to our nation. That is why immigration and immigration laws were so important, because they assured that, if you come here, you will become one of us and make us better as a nation.  You had something to offer.  Now we just let anyone in, regardless of who you are, regardless of what you have to offer.

There are no limits to social decline. For instance, there are not leaders who say, "Hey, you cannot say that! You cannot do that!"

Even parents are no longer setting limits.  Dads used to set the rules.  Dad's would say things like, "You will not have sex until you are married.  You will go to college.  You will work. You will not lip off.  You will not support communism in this house. You will be a good person. You will say nice things. If you don't, you will get a licking."

The same thing with mothers. My grandma used to click me on the head when I was naughty. She took me to church, and when she was unable she expected I would go myself. If she found out I didn't go, I was in trouble. I might have been yelled at. She made me feel uncomfortable. I always felt uncomfortable when I broke rules, because there was that underlying guilty feeling they created in the back of my mind."

Now there is not guilt. This is because there has been an all out onslaught of Christianity. There has been an onslaught on religion. There has been an onslaught on rules of civilization. There has been an onslaught on institutions.  There has been an onslaught on American Exceptionalism. Examples of this is when Obama appologizes to our enemies, and breaks apart our mighty military, and has our enemies bail out stalled Navy ships and has soldiers bow to our enemies in embarrassment.

There just seems to be no common sense in government anymore. There doesn't seem to be anyone who says, "Woah, let's put on the brakes. We cannot afford this.  We cannot do this. We cannot continue to artificially raise the minimum wage. We cannot continue to increase regulations and burdens on businesses. We cannot continue to raise taxes on the middle or working class.  We cannot continue to allow people to invade our nation. We are in a state of moral and social decline. We need to STOP!"

We need adults, mature people, in positions of power to stop the attack on institutions, and to stop the attacks on people who succeed. We need people to stop the attacks on capitalism.  We need people to stop the attacks on liberty. We need people to stop the attacks on Christianity.  We need people to recognize and stop the moral decline of our nation.

There's no "there" there anymore. There's no basis, there's no foundation, there's no bottom line. It seems like we're in a free-for-all when it comes to any kind of values you want to talk about: Cultural, political, pop culture, you name it.

Look, for most of history America has been about getting away from too much government. We don't want government telling us what to do and how to live our lives. Now we have people in government who make it bigger and bigger. They make it so we must obey government. We Were once told to questions authority, and now we are told to obey the government or we are racist.

Enough!

We need some mature people in positions of power.  We need some adults. We do not need someone we like. We need someone who will say, "Enough! Stop! We cannot afford this. We don't have money for this. We cannot solve everyone's problems. We cannot afford to be everything for everyone. We are going to bankrupt if we don't stop. Our country is going to fail if we don't stop. If we stop, we can make America great again, just you wait and see."

This is how Trump came about.  He's the only one speaking out against all this.  He's the one who says we need to stop; we need to put the breaks on; we need to follow the rule of law; we need to set limits; we cannot afford this.  Trump, in essence, is the dad or the mom. Surely you don't want to be told no, but sometimes it's for your own good.

So, in this way, liberalism created Trump.  Obama created Trump.  The establishment republicans established Trump. I say this because, in the last two midterm elections, they were voted into office under the promise that they would stop Obama. They have not. They have allowed Obama to accomplish all his goals. They have done nothing to stop him. That has people mad. That has created Trump.

I think that there's a sizable percentage of people in this country that are frightened, scared at the lack of values, the lack of anything solid to depend on. When a downward spiral happens, there's nothing to put the brakes on it. There's nothing to stop it. Everything just keeps descending with very little end in sight. And nobody in the political culture is talking about it -- except Trump.

They have reason to be scared. You have legislators in New York trying to pass a bill that would allow illegal, undocumented aliens to vote in New York City elections. You also have 60% of democrats who think socialism would be great for America. Most Americans do not want either of these to ever happen, because they would destroy America. This fear has created Trump.

I don't want to compare the current democratic party to Hitler's Nazi party, but it was socialist ideas of Hitler that mesmerized Germany. He said he was going to assure everyone a job with fair wages, and he was going to give everyone free healthcare and free college. He offered to take care of the sick. He offered to take care of the elderly. He offered to take care of everyone. He offered everything to everyone.

And so the scary thing is he won an election, and then once he was in office he took away Bibles and he took away any freedom of choice among the populace, and he forced people to join the military, and he started to kill Jews, and he started wars to take over the world. You see, democrats aren't that bad, but they like to mesmerize people by saying they will give them free stuff. And when they are elected they will pass laws, and every new law takes away another freedom. Every new law, every new regulation, takes us closer and closer to socialism, which is exactly what we fought against in WWII, and Vietnam, and etc.

So Bernie Sanders is not on the cook fringe of the democratic party anymore, he is in the mainstream. He is a typical democrat now. And what he has to say is very seductive. Socialism is always seductive. But socialism never works. Eventually you will run out of money. Socialism says everyone will be equal, but what happened in Russia? You had the middle class, the entire middle class, lined up in food lines. They had plenty of food, but no one willing to get it into homes.

Since everyone was taken care of, there was no incentive to do anything. Heck, why would I become a respiratory therapist when I could work at a front desk at a hotel and make the same money. Why become a doctor? Why become a nurse? Why become a teacher and put up with pesky kids when I can do a less stressful job, an easier job, and make the same money. Socialism is very seductive, but it never works. It will not work in America either, but our leaders don't care. They say, Screw You.  And that created Trump.

The destruction of the American economy by those we entrusted with running our government, created Trump. The destruction of our healthcare system, the attack on our culture, and the decline of culture, decency and morality created Trump. The out of control spending created Trump. I mean, people have fears that our country as we know it may not exist if Hilary or Sanders gets elected. Truly, the fears are justified.

You have people like me who can't get ahead. You have people like me who are living pay check to pay check and who worry about their bills going up; their taxes going up. There are legitimate fears that our kids won't even live in the same country we grew up in. There's the fear they will some day get the bill for our out of control spending.

So, yes, fear has created Trump. When he comes in with the slogan (the same one used by Ronald Reagan, by the way) of "Make America Great Again!" people hear it. People want their country back. Americans feel America is no longer great.  One poll even showed that 58% of Americans say they no longer recognize their country.  They are afraid it might not be around much longer. They want it back.

We, as Americans, do not live in fear. Yet it we have been taught from the beginning, since the days of our founding, that freedom is fragile.  If we want to continue living in the American dream, then we must fear the worst and prepare for it.