Andrew Johnson

Self-educated; at the age of 13 was apprenticed to a tailor; moved to Tennessee in 1826; employed as a tailor; alderman of Greeneville, Tennessee, 1828-1830; mayor of Greeneville 1834-1838; member, State house of representatives 1835-1837, 1839-1841; elected to the State senate in 1841; elected as a Democrat to the 28th and to the four succeeding Congresses (4 Mar 1843 - 3 Mar 1853); chairman, Committee on Public Expenditures (31st and 32nd Congresses); did not seek renomination, having become a gubernatorial candidate; Governor of Tennessee (17 Oct 1853 - 3 Nov 1857); elected as a Democrat to the US Senate (8 Oct 1857 - 4 Mar 1862); chairman, Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (36th Congress); appointed by President Abraham Lincoln Military Governor of Tennessee (12 Mar 1862 - 4 Mar 1865); elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with Lincoln in 1864 and was inaugurated on 4 Mar 1865; became President on 15 Apr 1865, upon the death of Lincoln; during his presidency seceded states were readmitted to the Union; impeded the implementation of the Reconstruction Acts, providing for Negro suffrage and military administration of the Southern states; wide differences arising between the President and the Congress, a resolution for his impeachment passed the House of Representatives on 24 Feb 1868; eleven articles were set out in the resolution and the trial before the Senate lasted three months, at the conclusion of which he was acquitted (26 May 1868) by a vote of 35 for conviction to 19 for acquittal; retired to his home in Tennessee upon the expiration of the presidential term; unsuccessful candidate for election to the US Senate in 1869 and to the House of Representatives in 1872; elected as a Democrat to the US Senate (4 Mar 1875 - 31 Jul 1875). [1]