Andrew Johnson Quotes

Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson became president as Abraham Lincoln's Vice President at the time of Lincoln's assassination. Johnson was born in poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina. Apprenticed as a tailor, he worked in several frontier towns before settling in Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as alderman and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. After brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became Governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857. In his congressional service, he sought passage of the Homestead Bill, which was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862.  In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as military governor of Tennessee after it had been retaken. Johnson was sworn in as vice president in March 1865, giving a rambling and possibly drunken speech, and he secluded himself to avoid public ridicule. Six weeks later, the assassination of Lincoln made him president.