Andrew Johnson's Life

Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina. His father died when Andrew was three, so his mother and big brother worked to support themselves. He did not attend a day of school and at age seventeen he was sent to apprentice with a tailor where he learned to read. In 1826 his family moved to Greenville, Tennessee. The next year Andrew Johnson married Eliza McCardle; she taught him how to write. He opened his own tailor shop where young men in the town frequently stopped by to debate politics and public affairs. He was elected mayor of Greenville in 1830 and served three years. Johnson was elected to the Tennessee legislature for two nonconsecutive two terms: from 1835-1837 and from 1839-1843. He served in the House of Representatives for ten years until he was elected Governor of Tennessee in 1853. After serving one term he was voted into office as a U.S. senator until he was elected Military Governor of Tennessee during the Civil War. In 1864 Johnson was elected Vice President under President Abraham Lincoln. He took the oath of office as President on April 15, 1865 after Lincoln was assassinated. In 1868 he was impeached by the United States House of Representatives, accused of breaking the law by dismissing the Secretary of Law, Edwin Stanton. He was acquitted in the impeachment trial in 1869. He finished his term as President and returned to Tennessee. He was elected to the Senate in 1874 and died of a stroke a year later on July 31, 1875. Note: Andrew Johnson was President from 1865 through 1869 and since he was completing Lincoln's term, there was no Vice President.