The Impact of his Presidency on Reformation and Civil Rights - Research Paper Example

President Andrew Johnson: The Impact of his Presidency on Reformation and Civil Rights President Andrew Johnson is considered one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. President A. Johnson became president after the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. While he had a rare opportunity to take over and provide competent recovery for a nation that had just experienced a terrible, and destructive civil war, instead he failed to provide good leadership towards that recovery. Through legislation that defined African Americans as separate and unequal to Caucasians, Johnson alienated the Republican Party. There were two attempts made to impeach him from office during his term, although neither was successful. During a time when the nation was greatly wounded in the aftermath of the Civil War, President A. Johnson created a political leadership that did not help the nation towards its recovery. President Andrew Johnson had established a place within history with ill-advised behavior from the moment of his inauguration as Vice President to Abraham Lincoln. During the event, President Johnson had become intoxicated and his inauguration speech was a slurred mess that embarrassed those at the gathering. Later he would claim that he had been drinking because of the pain of suffering from typhoid fever, but whether this was true or not, his position in the administration was tainted by this rambled, incoherent speech. Because of this event, there were frequent accusations of his drunkenness, including on the day that he ascended to the Presidency when Abraham Lincoln was shot, but this accusation was put down by many witnesses to the event who claimed it was untrue. Still, this issue plagued his career, framing him as unreliable and creating a system that consistently second guessed his attempts at leadership.i Andrew Johnson received his leadership of the country through the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln who was shot and killed at a play by John Wilkes Booth at a play at Ford’s Theater. He should have been the perfect selection for the task of helping the country to recover, a Southern man who aligned his political beliefs with the North giving him an understanding of both cultures. One of the first acts that he committed after ascending to the Presidency was to create the First Amnesty Proclamation. This proclamation gave amnesty to thousands of southerners who had participated in the war. In order to be given a pardon, all that was needed was to swear an oath to the Union. However, fourteen classes of people were not allowed this general amnesty option. This included those who had graduated from military academies, those under indictment, and those who owned property worth more than 20,000.00.ii This last exclusion created economic problems. Those who had to go through the very lengthy process of applying individually for amnesty had their lives disrupted through the inability to participate in the privileges of legal status. This included not being able to marry, to get loans, or to easily conduct business. Johnson is quoted as having stated “you know perfectly well that it was the wealthy men of the South who dragooned the people into secession“.iii With those of means being affected, this meant that commerce was affected. However, the desired result that President Johnson was seeking was to allow for Caucasian Southerners of less means to climb into politics, leadership created by those of average means rather than an elitist class. However, this goal was very short lived as the power that was temporarily given to the average farmer was soon to be usurped once again by the elitist class. The acceptance of emancipation was not easily won and the retributions for the loss of the slavery against African Americans were harsh and violent. Southerners were reticent to accept the newly freed people and there were frequent reports of whippings, murders, and the burning of schools and churches. In addition, Black Codes being developed by that middle class leadership that President Johnson had supported were in violation to the civil rights that had been desired for the African Americans who were now free. As well, at the formal elections of 1865, the positions that had been intended for ordinary white farmers because of his exclusions for amnesty were soon filled with former generals and former public officials who had participated in the rise of the South against the North.iv The leniency that he had shown during his amnesty was considered too lenient when the old South emerged politically and as the emancipation of the African American slaves was seen to be stalled by the enactment of the Black Codes. At this point, the Republicans began to turn their favor away from President Johnson believing that he was not enforcing the will of the North on the rebellion of the South. With the old South political machine in place, emancipation could not be avoided, but civil rights could easily be oppressed by states rights that allowed for laws to be enacted to segregate and deny African Americans equal opportunities and rights. Black Codes, while allowing African Americans to have legal marriages and to own property, also limited them from many of the legal protections of a citizen. The codes denied them the right to sue or testify against a Caucasian and forbade marriage between Caucasians and African Americans. Some states allowed police to round up African Americans who did not have homes in order to hire them out to Caucasian land owners.v In neglecting to legally grant African Americans rights through federal law, Johnson created a divide between the African American and Caucasian communities that lasted for generations. The leniency of the proclamation of amnesty was considered a problem for many of the Republicans as the result of that amnesty was that many of the same ex-Confederates who had been opposed to emancipation were put back into office. This consequence meant that the old order had the power to affect the way in which reformation of the Union would be accomplished. In addition, new philosophies would not be as easily acted upon where civil liberties were concerned, thus setting back the goals of the abolitionists and those who supported civil liberty for the freedmen. With the re-establishment of power by those who had formerly been involved in separatist behaviors, the nation would not be able to heal quickly from the social imbalances that had caused the war. President Johnson did everything he could in order to impede the progress of Reconstruction. When the divide occurred between the Republican congress and the President, the congress became determined to control how the Southern States would be brought back to their seats in congress. In 1866 congress passed two laws, one to extend the power and authority of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the other to grant civil rights in the form of equal legal rights for African Americans with federal courts having the authority to enforce those rights.vi The elections of 1866 were run on the rhetoric of the Fourteenth Amendment and one of the controls that congress had put into place for Southern states to have their seats in congress once again was to vote for the passing of the Amendment. President Johnson was adamantly against the amendment and campaigned to prevent the Southern congressmen from voting for it in order to regain their seats. In 1867, congress enacted laws that divided the Southern states into five military districts, only granting a state full admission back into the Union with state laws that supported the Fourteenth Amendment and new congressmen which excluded anyone who had was an ex-Confederate. With these two stipulations followed, a state could be considered reconstructed.vii President Johnson was vehemently against the Fourteenth Amendment and was afraid that this would create an imbalance of power with Caucasian people in the south. When measured, there were 735,000 registered African American voters in the ten Southern states, with only 635,000 Caucasian registered voters, with one third of those being Republican.viii Johnson encouraged Caucasian voters to block registration and voting by African American voters in hopes that he could eventually turn the tide back in the direction of more control over the African American population and its influence on the nation. His fears were defined by his fears for the Caucasian farmer, his prejudice against the rich still in place, but his desires to keep the ‘white’ majority over the south impeding any productive civil rights efforts that he could have made. Because of the divide that was experienced within the government over the way in which emancipation would be experienced, the divide between African Americans and Caucasians deepened and rippled through the following generations. Race relations have yet to fully recover from the violence that was needed to overcome the indecisive way in which civil liberties were granted. Had citizenship not been so difficult to achieve and had legal equality been granted decisively in the aftermath of the war with the South not given the opportunity to limit the legitimacy of freedom for the African Americans, then race relations may not have been strained for another hundred years, with lingering prejudices still plaguing Americans. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, nullifying the Dred v. Scott decision that had denied the citizenship of African Americans. The Amendment allowed for anyone born in the United States, except for Native Americans born on reservations to be given full citizenship. In an interview with a Memphis Appeal correspondent published on August 22, 1871, President Johnson, then out of office, discussed the issues of states rights in reference to the Black Codes and the civil rights remedies that were attempted by congress in order to enact federal statutes and amendments to the constitution that would counteract the codes. Johnson stated that “No one proposes to interfere with the rights of the negro. The several states have conformed their codes and constitutions to this amendment, but the rest of this constitutional patchwork is revolutionary, destruction of popular and state’s rights and should be annulled”.ix The legacy that President Johnson left was tainted by the perception of his leadership as inadequate to meet the challenges of a nation that needed to be healed. From the first day of serving in the executive branch of government, he had presented himself as someone who could not hold his dignity. Whether rumors of his drinking were true or whether they were the result of that unfortunate incident, his credibility was tainted. He further tainted his credibility through decisions that were based upon ideals of states rights that had helped towards dividing the country in the civil war. Through the belief that the Southern states still had the right to dictate aspects of liberty that defied the general belief system within the constitution, President Johnson impeded the progress of developing a singular philosophy under which the divided races could find healing. President Andrew Johnson was impeached twice, his actions during his presidency so inciting the passions and anger of the congress that they worked to drive him from office. His belief systems about the government was defined by an old way of thinking, his aims at serving states rights over those of national beliefs supported by federal authority continuing the divide that had caused the war. The nation had been ripped in half and then had undergone a serious revolution in the way in which a group of inhabitants were considered. The release of slaves and the enactment of civil rights on the behalf of those who had lived through slavery was unprecedented and the opportunity that it presented for leadership could have left a legacy of greatness that eclipsed that of President Lincoln. However, his short term in the Presidency impacted the nature of race relations rather than nurturing healing. His impact on the social development of the integration of African Americans into society stalled and damaged race relations for generations. He is now remembered amongst the worst Presidents of United States history rather than one who had achieved true leadership. In the end, he did little to repair the problems of a nation that was experiencing an identity crisis. Read More