Andrew Johnson

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Recommended: The reconstruction after the American civil war

Andrew Johnson was not elected to fill Lincoln he was just elected to be his Vice President. After the assassination he was put in a very hard position. Reconstructing the United States after the Civil war was going to be a heavy load for him. He planned to get some compliance from the seceded states and to unify the whole country back to as it was before the Civil War. He was put into situations where he wasn’t comfortably and was not prepared for them during his presidency. He was honestly only elected to try to keep balance between the north and the south and to win support of the pro-war democrats. Johnson did not really have much of an education Throughout the reconstruction era after the horrific civil war, Andrew Johnson was eager to create a more stable and strong nation.
Andrew Johnson never went to school, he just taught himself how to read. This showed his desire to work but still it provided nearly no education. As seen in Hans L. Trefousse’s biography of Andrew Johnson, Andrew Johnson was deprived of schooling or any general for of teaching. Johnson came from poverty so education wasn’t much of an option. When he was young he taught himself how to read. Andrew Johnson was deprived of schooling or any general for of teaching. Trefousse says,” Andrew Johnson stands out as unique- unique in having been the only one to be impeached, and unique in not having attended school for a single day.” He was apprenticed at Selby’s tailor where he came to listen to the citizens read to the tailors. Johnson was not the most prepared for his job considering he never went to school. Self-taught learning is great but it wasn’t good enough for presidency yet alone vice presidency. The United States wasn’t looking for a vice president wit...

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...ly expecting having to reconstruct the United States as the President while he was running for Vice President. Andrew Johnson should never have been elected as Vice President of the United States. Having almost no education isn’t really much of a start for a vice president. He was put into situations where he was extremely unprepared and didn’t make smart decision. Andrew Johnson’s unpreparedness and Johnson wasn’t prepared to take on the task of reconstruction and trying to get the United States back to its original peace.

Works Cited

"Andrew Johnson." Andrew Johnson N.p. Web. 20 Oct 2013.
"Andrew Johnson." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013
Trefousse, Hans L. Andrew Johnson: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1989. Print.
"35a. Presidential Reconstruction." Presidential Reconstruction [ushistory.org]. US History, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

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