President Andrew Johnson Tell His Story of Taking the Office After Abraham Lincoln

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My name is Andrew Johnson, and I was the 17th President of the United States. I took office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, at one of the most difficult times in American history—just as the Civil War had ended. My story is one of rising from poverty, fighting for what I believed in, and becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached. Let me tell you how it all happened.

I was born on December 29, 1808, in a small log cabin in Raleigh, North Carolina. My family was extremely poor, and my father died when I was young. I never had the chance to go to school, and I didn’t learn to read or write until I was a teenager. I became a tailor’s apprentice, and eventually, I opened my own shop. As I worked, I listened to political debates and read every book I could get my hands on. I may not have had formal education, but I taught myself how to speak, how to argue, and how to lead.

I entered politics in Tennessee, where I was elected to local office, then served in the state legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Senate. Even though I was from the South and supported slavery earlier in my life, I was a Unionist—I believed the Southern states should not break away from the United States. When the Civil War broke out, I was the only Southern senator who stayed loyal to the Union. President Lincoln noticed my loyalty and made me military governor of Tennessee, and later, he chose me as his vice president during his second term.

When President Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, just days after the war ended, I suddenly found myself President of the United States. My job was to lead the nation through Reconstruction—the period when we tried to bring the Southern states back into the Union and rebuild the country. I wanted to reunite the country quickly, but I clashed with Congress, especially the Radical Republicans, who wanted to punish the South and guarantee full rights for freed slaves.

I believed in a limited federal government and gave former Confederate leaders a lot of freedom to return to power. I vetoed civil rights bills and opposed the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to formerly enslaved people. Congress overrode my vetoes and eventually impeached me in 1868, accusing me of violating the Tenure of Office Act by trying to fire a cabinet member without Senate approval. I was not removed from office, but only by one vote in the Senate. It was a close and bitter fight.

After my presidency, I returned to Tennessee and, believe it or not, got elected to the U.S. Senate again in 1875—making me the only former president to serve in the Senate after leaving the White House. I died the following year, in 1875, leaving behind a complicated legacy.

If there’s one lesson I want you to take from my story, it’s this: leadership isn’t just about holding power—it’s about how you use it. I stood by my principles, but I also made decisions that divided the country further and failed to protect the rights of millions of people. History remembers the impact of those choices. Thank you for listening.

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