Andrew Johnson's Civil War and Reconstruction

Epilogue

Epilogue As the new year 1869 dawned, a tentative mood pervaded Washington, a recognition that the current president was about to exit and the new one was soon to enter. Perhaps Andrew Johnson, as well as congressional leaders, engaged in a daily ritual of marking another day off the calendar in anticipation of March 4.After the grueling and debilitating experiences of 1868, he had little fight left in him for the final months of his presidency. But he would not go “gentle into that good night.” In the waning days of his administration, Johnson turned to a consideration of his political future—a brazen notion, given that few persons thought he had a political future. But various people did, in fact, urge him to seek office again and thereby pushed him to contemplate this new challenge.The earliest communications came shortly after the November presidential election. A Tennessee lawyer raised this tantalizing question: “Could you not come home and be our Governor in the coming canvas?” Moreover, the writer boasted that after Johnson served as governor and “redeemed the State,”he could easily be elected to a U.S.Senate seat.Longtime friend and sometime aide Edward East promised Johnson that he would soon visit Washington, to “have a conversation with you relative to our future. . . .”1 More such tempting messages landed on Johnson’s desk in early 1869, most from Tennesseans. In January an East Tennessean assured the president that the conservative (anti-Brownlow) “sentiment” in East Tennessee “is in favor of your running for Govr. in Aug. next.” A Middle Tennessean offered this confident prediction: “We believe we can make you Governor of this State next August, by an overwhelming vote. . . .”In addition, claimed the writer, a conservative-dominated Epilogue 218 legislature would later “send you to the U S Senate, where you can still defend the constitution. . . .”2 After the editors of a Franklin, Tennessee, newspaper notified Johnson that they had posted his name as a gubernatorial candidate,the president responded: “ . . . I have not expressed, nor have I authorized any one to express for me any wish or opinion, negative or affirmative” regarding a possible candidacy for governor. Shortly thereafter, in an interview with a New York World reporter, he waltzed around questions about running for governor or senator.3 Likely at this point Johnson truly did not have any conclusive statements to offer. Nevertheless, he did not completely ignore the pleas for him to enter the Tennessee political arena. Although Johnson occasionally indulged in reveries about his future, he also had to handle the business of serving as president a little longer. And there was nothing quite like the prospect of a veto or two to galvanize him. In February, Congress enacted a bill that would transfer control of black schools in the District of Columbia from a board appointed by the secretary of the interior to one chosen by local authorities . Johnson promptly vetoed it on the grounds that the black residents of the district preferred the current arrangement. Congress did not override.4 About a week later,Congress approved a bill to impose certain tariffs on imported copper and copper ores. In his veto message, the president explained that higher tariffs would discourage copper importation and thereby reduce federal revenues.He categorically rejected the argument that the new tariffs were necessary for the benefit of depressed mining interests in the Lake Superior region. A tax for the “exclusive benefit of a single class,”argued Johnson, must be resisted. Congress overrode his veto.5 In February, Johnson paid scant attention to the passage by Congress of the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave black men the vote. This amendment (despite some differences among Republican congressmen over its phrasing) fulfilled their long-held dream of federal protection for black voting rights. Initially, Johnson made no public response to the amendment, unlike in 1866, when he issued a message to Congress opposing the Fourteenth Amendment. Yet, he did finally Epilogue 219 consider the Fifteenth Amendment in his “Farewell Address”of March 4. Once again he defended the states’right to set suffrage requirements. Moreover, he characterized the amendment as “directly in conflict with the original designs of the Constitution.” Within a year, however, the required number of states ratified the amendment and it became a part of the Constitution.6 Two weeks before inauguration day, in a conversation with the president, Secretary Welles broached the subject of protocol for the swearing-in ceremonies and advised Johnson to remain...