The Papers Of Andrew Johnson 1858 1860

The Papers of Andrew Johnson Project began in the mid-1950s as part of a larger trend toward projects for the collection and publication of presidential papers. The project was headed by University of Tennessee historians LeRoy Graf and Ralph Haskins and led to its conclusion by Paul Bergeron. The project became part of the Tennessee Presidents Center in 1987, joining the papers projects of the two other Tennessee presidents, Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk. The first volume of The Papers of Andrew Johnson was published in 1967 and the project was completed on July 31, 2000, with the publication of the sixteenth and final volume. The entire project covers Johnson's correspondence from 1858 to 1875.

Few presidents have been as eviscerated in history as Andrew Johnson, who suddenly on a rainy morning in April of 1865 became the nation’s new chief executive upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. A man who rose from dire poverty through a sheer primal force of will, Johnson was elected to every level of government—always taking his case to the people—in a remarkable, if often chaotic career that included service as a state legislator, member of Congress, Governor of Tennessee, U.S. Senator, vice-president, and finally the presidency itself. During the Civil War, Johnson bravely stood up to Confederates, his life repeatedly threatened serving at Lincoln’s pleasure as the Military Governor of Tennessee and pushing for an end to slavery. Yet he is the same man who, upon succeeding Lincoln, could not see his way clear to securing the full Constitutional rights for ex-slaves. Because of his endless fights and many confrontations, Johnson’s presidency has since been roundly condemned as one of the most disastrous in U.S. history. Johnson, notes Page Smith in his seminal People’s History series, put on full display “a reckless and demonic spirit that drove him to excess, to violence, harsh words and actions.” “He was thrust into a role that required tact, flexibility, and sensitivity to the nuance of public opinion—qualities that Lincoln possessed in abundance, but that Johnson lacked,” asserts historian Eric Foner, “He was an angry man,” notes David Stewart, a chronicler of Johnson’s impeachment trial, “and he was rigid, and these were qualities that served him terribly as president.” Yet, for all of the scholarly indictments of the 17th President, indictments supported by a recent Siena College Research Institute historians’survey placing him at the bottom in overall performance, Andrew Johnson challenges us as a singularly American story of triumph, defeat, and renewal, a man who overcame the challenges of poverty, class, and alienation to reach the highest peaks of power in the country. That drive was ironically most tellingly on display after Johnson left the White House, denied even the opportunity of a party nomination for another term in office. From the ashes of that loss, Johnson methodically rose again, winning election to the U.S. Senate and improbably returning to national prominence. Andrew Johnson’s renaissance, coming 6 years after an unprecedented effort to impeach and remove him from the presidency, represents one of the greatest comebacks in American political history and serves as a testament to a man who could never be totally defeated.

In this thought-provoking study, Jonathan M. Atkins provides a fresh look at the partisan ideological battles that marked the political culture of antebellum Tennessee. He argues that the legacy of party politics was a key factor in shaping Tennessee's hesitant course during the crisis of Union in 1860-61. No previous book has so clearly detailed the role of party politics and ideology in Tennessee's early history. As Atkins shows, the ideological debate helps to explain not only the character and survival of Tennessee's party system but also the persistent strength of unionism in a state that ultimately joined the Southern cause.

A Companion to Reconstruction Presidents presents a series of original essays that explore a variety of important issues, themes, and debates associated with the presidencies of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Represents the first comprehensive look at the presidencies of Johnson, Grant, and Hayes in one volume Features contributions from top historians and presidential scholars Approaches the study of these presidents from a historiographical perspective Key topics include each president’s political career; foreign policy; domestic policy; military history; and social context of their terms in office

ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASCENDANTTHE STORY OF THE ELECTION OF 1860 Rightly regarded by scholars as perhaps the most important political contest in American history, the election of 1860 is remembered today for making Abraham Lincoln president and by so doing sparking the drive for secession that led to the Civil War. In this compelling and fast-paced account, author Garry Boulard explores the events of a transformative year in America: the vibrancy of the young Republicans, the improbable rise of Lincoln, the multi-layered complexities of the Democratic party, the ongoing Southern diaspora and the alarming specter of a nation on the verge of dissolution. Interwoven into this narrative are the stories of the leaders of 1860: the aging James Buchanan, the man who would someday be regarded as the worst president in U.S. history; William Seward, the savvy New Yorker bested by Lincoln for the Republican nomination; Franklin Pierce, the thoughtful former president still an influence in the Democratic party; Jefferson Davis, soon to be called from his Mississippi plantation to lead the new Confederate nation; and the pugnacious Stephen Douglas, Lincolns long-time and loyal foe, in his finest hour forsaking politics for country. Drawing on the papers of Lincoln, Buchanan, Pierce and Seward, as well as former Presidents John Tyler and Martin Van Buren, Tennessee Democrat Andrew Johnson and the Republican powerhouses Thaddeus Stevens, Schuyler Colfax and Zachariah Chandler, Boulard provides a riveting day-to-day narrative of the dramatic campaign that made Abraham Lincoln president. Undo

In the months after Appomattox, the South was plunged into a chaos that surpassed even the disorder of the last hard months of the war itself. Peace brought, if anything, an increased level of violence to the region as local authorities of the former Confederacy were stripped of their power and the returning foot soldiers of the defeated army, hungry and without hope, raided the already impoverished countryside for food and clothing. In the wake of the devastation that followed surrender, even some of the most virulent Yankee-haters found themselves relieved as the Union army began to bring a small level of order to the lawless southern terrain. Dan T. Carter's When the War Was Over is a social and political history of the two years following the surrender of the Confederacy -- the co-called period of Presidential Reconstruction when the South, under the watchful gaze of Congress and the Union army, attempted to rebuild its shattered society and economic structure. Working primarily from rich manuscript sources, Carter draws a vivid portrait of the political leaders who emerged after the war, a diverse group of men -- former loyalists as well as a few mildly repentant fire-eaters -- who in some cases genuinely sought to find a place in southern society for the newly emancipated slaves, but who in many other cases merely sought to redesign the boundaries of black servitude. Carter finds that as a group the politicians who emerged in the postwar South failed critically in the test of their leadership. Not only were they unable to construct a realistic program for the region's recovery -- a failure rooted in their stubborn refusal to accept the full consequences of emancipation -- but their actions also served to exacerbate rather than allay the fears and apprehensions of the victorious North. Even so, Carter reveals, these leaders were not the monsters that many scholars have suggested they were, and it is misleading to dismiss them as racists and political incompetents. In important ways, they represented the most constructive, creative, and imaginative response that the white South, overwhelmed with defeat and social chaos, had to offer in 1865 and 1866. Out of their efforts would come the New South movement and, with it, the final downfall of the plantation system and the beginnings of social justice for the freed slaves.