Download or read book The Papers of Andrew Johnson September 1868 April 1869 written by Andrew Johnson and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Papers of Andrew Johnson written by Andrew Johnson and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1967 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume encompasses the last six months of Andrew Johnson's presidency (September 1868-February 1869) and March and April of 1869. During this time Johnson moved from being a considerably diminished president to becoming an ex-president. But by April he sought to rejuvenate his political career by undertaking a speaking tour across Tennessee. Despite being a "president in limbo" in the last months of his term, Johnson remained surprisingly active. Requests and nominations for presidential patronage did not slow down, but Johnson enjoyed only limited success in securing Senate confirmation of his appointments. Yet the patronage game continued to be played right up to the end of his term. Although Horace Greeley feared Johnson might "do something to make us all d----d mad before November," the President's involvement in the presidential campaign was limited to a plea with Horatio Seymour to become an active campaigner. But even a more engaged Democratic candidate could not have thwarted the Republican ticket headed by General Grant. One holdover problem from the summer months was the whiskey frauds investigation in New York City. It continued through the end of 1868 with various twists and turns. The Johnson administration had to defend its own investigators, who seemed as unscrupulous as those they investigated. The ultimate purpose of the inquiry was to replace Internal Revenue Commissioner Edward Rollins, but Rollins remained in office. In late 1868 several Southern states sent reports about unusual outbreaks of violence to Washington. A Tennessee delegation testified about Ku Klux Klan activities and requested federal troops to counteract them. North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas presented similar accounts to Johnson. But the President was unable to take any real action. In December, Johnson submitted his fourth and final Annual Message to Congress. Not surprisingly, he attacked the various Reconstruction acts. Yet he also focused on the national debt and urged a scheme that would enable bondholders to be paid off in less than seventeen years. Republican leaders in Congress, however, strongly opposed this proposal. That same month the president also issued his fourth and final Amnesty Proclamation. Its terms embraced everyone who had not already been accommodated by earlier proclamations. The Senate demanded an explanation from Johnson, who soon forwarded a defense of the new proclamation. The President left office on March 4, but not before delivering a "Farewell Address." He said that he had no regrets about his administration, a view not shared by most political leaders. Johnson spent two more weeks in Washington before returning home to Tennessee. Shortly after arriving in Greeneville he decided to rehabilitate his political standing. After all, friends had already encouraged him to run for governor or possibly a U.S. Senate seat. Only a brief, but serious, illness delayed his plans. In April, Johnson hit the campaign trail, making major speeches in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis. After a foray into north Alabama, Johnson was stunned by the tragic news of the suicide of his son Robert. He returned to Greeneville to grieve but also to contemplate his future political career. He would move forward in search of vindication at the hands of the voters. The Editor: Paul H. Bergeron is professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Excerpts from Volume 15 "The mass of the people should be aroused and warned against the encroachments of despotic power now ready to enter the very gates of the citadel of liberty." --To Horatio Seymour, Oct. 22, 1868 "They [Reconstruction acts] can be productive of no permanent benefit to the country, and should not be permitted to stand as so many monuments of the deficient wisdom which has characterized our recent legislation." --Fourth Annual Message, Dec. 9, 1868 "I think there ought to be a professor in every college in the land to teach its pupils a correct understanding and appreciation of the principles of the constitution, and to hold it next in reverence and importance to the Bible, for it is as much the groundwork of our government as the other is the foundation of our holy religion." --Speech to Georgetown College Cadets, Feb. 1, 1869 "Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests at least equally important and equally deserving the consideration of Congress." --Veto of the Copper Bill, Feb. 22, 1869 "Calmly reviewing my administration of the Government, I feel that, with a sense of accountability to God, having conscientiously endeavored to discharge my whole duty, I have nothing to regret." --Farewell Address, Mar. 4, 1869 "If the North and the South understood each other better there would be nothing in the way of our being united, prosperous and happy. That is the greatest desire I have--to see the people of all sections of our country living in harmony and peace." --Interview with Cincinnati Commercial Correspondent, Mar. 22, 1869 "Let us rally around the Constitution of our country; let us hold to it as the ark of our country, as the palladium of our civil and religious liberty; let us cling to it as the warrior clings to the last plank between him and the waves of destruction." --Speech in Nashville, Apr. 7, 1869
Download or read book Andrew Johnson written by Garry Boulard and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2021-04-05 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Governor s Hounds written by Barry A. Crouch and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2011-12-15 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tumultuous years following the Civil War, violence and lawlessness plagued the state of Texas, often overwhelming the ability of local law enforcement to maintain order. In response, Reconstruction-era governor Edmund J. Davis created a statewide police force that could be mobilized whenever and wherever local authorities were unable or unwilling to control lawlessness. During its three years (1870–1873) of existence, however, the Texas State Police was reviled as an arm of the Radical Republican party and widely condemned for being oppressive, arrogant, staffed with criminals and African Americans, and expensive to maintain, as well as for enforcing the new and unpopular laws that protected the rights of freed slaves. Drawing extensively on the wealth of previously untouched records in the Texas State Archives, as well as other contemporary sources, Barry A. Crouch and Donaly E. Brice here offer the first major objective assessment of the Texas State Police and its role in maintaining law and order in Reconstruction Texas. Examining the activities of the force throughout its tenure and across the state, the authors find that the Texas State Police actually did much to solve the problem of violence in a largely lawless state. While acknowledging that much of the criticism the agency received was merited, the authors make a convincing case that the state police performed many of the same duties that the Texas Rangers later assumed and fulfilled the same need for a mobile, statewide law enforcement agency.
Download or read book Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S Grant written by Garry Boulard and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 1865, after the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, two men bestrode the national government as giants: Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant. How these two men viewed what a post-war America should look like would determine policy and politics for generations to come, impacting the lives of millions of people, North and South, black and white. While both Johnson and Grant initially shared similar views regarding the necessity of bringing the South back into the Union fold as expeditiously as possible, their differences, particularly regarding the fate of millions of recently-freed African Americans, would soon reveal an unbridgeable chasm. Add to the mix that Johnson, having served at every level of government in a career spanning four decades, very much liked being President and wanted to be elected in his own right in 1868, at the same time that a massive move was underway to make Grant the next president during that same election, and conflict and resentment between the two men became inevitable. In fact, competition between Johnson and Grant would soon evolved into a battle of personal destruction, one lasting well beyond their White House years and representing one of the most all-consuming and obsessive struggles between two presidents in U.S. history.
Download or read book Mourning Lincoln written by Martha Hodes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historian examines how everyday people reacted to the president’s assassination in this “highly original, lucidly written book” (James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom). The news of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 15, 1865, just days after Confederate surrender, astounded a war-weary nation. Massive crowds turned out for services and ceremonies. Countless expressions of grief and dismay were printed in newspapers and preached in sermons. Public responses to the assassination have been well chronicled, but this book is the first to delve into the personal and intimate responses of everyday people—northerners and southerners, soldiers and civilians, black people and white, men and women, rich and poor. Exploring diaries, letters, and other personal writings penned during the spring and summer of 1865, historian Martha Hodes captures the full range of reactions to the president’s death—far more diverse than public expressions would suggest. She tells a story of shock, glee, sorrow, anger, blame, and fear. “’Tis the saddest day in our history,” wrote a mournful man. It was “an electric shock to my soul,” wrote a woman who had escaped from slavery. “Glorious News!” a Lincoln enemy exulted, while for the black soldiers of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, it was all “too overwhelming, too lamentable, too distressing” to absorb. Longlisted for the National Book Award, Mourning Lincoln brings to life a key moment of national uncertainty and confusion, when competing visions of America’s future proved irreconcilable and hopes for racial justice in the aftermath of the Civil War slipped from the nation’s grasp. Hodes masterfully explores the tragedy of Lincoln’s assassination in human terms—terms that continue to stagger and rivet us today.
Download or read book Ulysses S Grant written by Garry Boulard and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2024-06-10 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Tolling, slowly tolling, the alarm bells of all America sent to every heart this morning the news, long expected and long dreaded, that Ulysses S. Grant was dead,” announced the Boston Globe on July 23, 1885, just hours after the one-time Commanding General of the U.S. Army and former President of the United States had passed on. Taking note of the extraordinary tributes and declarations of love expressed by people in all regions of the country, black and white, as Grant endured a months-long struggle with throat cancer, the paper asserted that such praise had “sweetened the draught from Death’s chalice, till all the bitterness of the deadly poison had passed away, and it was but as drinking from the Holy Grail.” In this work, Ulysses S. Grant--The Story of a Hero, Garry Boulard chronicles the career of one of the most consequential figures in American history. Rightly regarded as a great military commander whose skills and strategic vision combined to bring about the end of the Civil War, thus also forever obliterating a slavery that had entrapped nearly 4 million people, Grant would serve two controversial terms as president, working assiduously to foster a regional and racial reconciliation of the country. At the time of his death, he had just completed his monumental two-volume Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, since praised by generations of historians and regarded as one of the most important works in all of American non-fiction literature.
Download or read book The Caribbean Policy of the Ulysses S Grant Administration written by Stephen McCullough Stephen McCullough and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1869 to 1877, the United States found itself deeply involved in the Caribbean as Washington sought to replace European influence and colonialism with an informal American empire. The Ulysses S. Grant administration primarily dealt with an uprising in Spanish Cuba known as the Ten Years’ War that threatened to draw in the United States. The Cuban rebels used the United States as a base of support, causing conflict between Washington and Madrid. Many Americans, including Grant, wanted to replace Spanish rule in Cuba with a U.S. protectorate, but Secretary of State Hamilton Fish opposed American colonial entanglements. President Grant looked to expand U.S. interests in the Caribbean. He looked to acquire colonies to provide naval bases to protect the trade routes to a potential American built and controlled canal in Central America. Fish preferred to expand U.S. commercial interests in the region rather than acquiring colonies. At no time was he prepared to obligate the United States to any long-term commitments. He wanted to end the war in Cuba because it hurt U.S. economic interests. He had no desire to acquire territory, but expected the Caribbean to fall into the U.S. economic sphere. Despite his personal opposition to territorial acquisition in Fish went along with Grant’s Dominican annexation project because he foresaw it as a chance to end European imperialism and to gain the president’s confidence. The Senate’s failure to approve the Dominican annexation only hardened his opposition to the creation of an American empire. He rejected Haitian offers of a naval base within that country, and he continually sought an end to the Cuban rebellion, lest it drag in the United States. Though the administration’s many peace initiatives failed, it forestalled Congressional intervention and kept the United States neutral in the conflict.
Download or read book Impeached written by David O. Stewart and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the presidency. It demolishes the myth that Johnson's impeachment was unjustified.
Download or read book Storm Over Key West written by Mike Pride and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A few weeks after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, James Montgomery sailed into Key West Harbor looking for black men to draft into the Union army. Eager to oblige him, the military commander in town ordered every black man from fifteen to fifty to report to the courthouse, “there to undergo a medical examination, preparatory to embarking for Hilton Head, S.C.” Montgomery swept away 126 men. Storm over Key West is a little-known story woven of many threads, but its main theme is the denial to black people of the equality central to the American ideal. After the island’s slaves flocked to freedom during the summer of 1862, the white majority began a century-long campaign to deny black residents civil rights, education, literacy, respect, and the vote. Key West’s harbor and two major federal forts were often referred to as “America’s Gibraltar.” This Gibraltar guarded the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba and thus access to the Gulf of Mexico. When Union forces seized it before the war, the southernmost point of the Confederacy slipped out of Confederate hands. This led to a naval blockade based in Key West that devastated commerce in Florida and beyond.This book is the widest-ranging narrative history to date of the military bastion in the Florida Keys.
Download or read book Brigadier General Robert L McCook and Colonel Daniel McCook Jr written by Wayne Fanebust and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-06-09 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic battlefield deaths of brother Union Army commanders Robert L. McCook and Daniel McCook, Jr.--members of a prominent Ohio family known as "the Fighting McCooks"--drew the full attention of the news media and a war-weary nation. A veteran of Shiloh and Chickamauga, Colonel Daniel McCook was mortally wounded while leading his brigade in a reckless assault up Kennesaw Mountain in June 1864, on the orders of his friend and former law partner General William Tecumseh Sherman. Brigadier General Robert L. McCook distinguished himself in the western Virginia campaign before he was shot by a Rebel while riding in an ambulance in the summer of 1862. His death, in what was an apparent ambush, set off a firestorm of outrage throughout the North.
Download or read book The First Tycoon written by T.J. Stiles and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-04-20 with total page 738 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD In this groundbreaking biography, T.J. Stiles tells the dramatic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American icon who, through his genius and force of will, did more than perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The First Tycoon describes an improbable life, from Vanderbilt’s humble birth during the presidency of George Washington to his death as one of the richest men in American history. In between we see how the Commodore helped to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation. Epic in its scope and success, the life of Vanderbilt is also the story of the rise of America itself.
Download or read book Seward written by Walter Stahr and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of our most acclaimed new biographers--the first full life of the leader of Lincoln's "Team of Rivals"--William Henry Seward, one of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century.
Download or read book America History and Life written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from over 2,000 journals published worldwide.
Download or read book 1861 1869 written by United States. President and published by . This book was released on 1897 with total page 776 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Scalawag In Alabama Politics 1865 1881 written by Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 1977-07-30 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who was this scalawag? Simply a native, white, Alabama Republican! Scorned by his fellow white Southerners, he suffered, in his desire for socioeconomic reform and political power, more than mere verbal abuse and social ostracism; he lived constantly under the threat of physical violence. When first published in 1977, Wiggin’s treatment of the scalawag was the first book-length study of scalawags in any state, and it remains the most thorough treatment. According to The Journal of American History, this is the “most effective challenge to the scalawag stereotype yet to appear.”
Download or read book Choice written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 808 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
