In what ways did Andrew Johnsons struggles as a young man influence his character?
Due to his father’s death at a young age, Andrew Johnson grew up in poverty. His mother worked as a spinner/weaver to make money. Because Johnson never went to school, he had to teach himself to become literate. This destitution would lead to his sympathy to lower classes; he showed this in his advocation for a “free farm for the poor” bill. Despite his concerns for the poor, Andrew Johnson wanted to retain slavery in America. He declared in a speech, “I have lived among negroes, all my life, and I am for this Government with slavery under the Constitution as it is. I am for the Government of my fathers with negroes, I am for it without negroes. Before I would see this Government destroyed, I would send every negro back to Africa, disintegrated and blotted out of space.” He vetoed the Civil Rights bill that would give equal rights to people of all colors, alienating himself from Radical Republicans.
Due to his father’s death at a young age, Andrew Johnson grew up in poverty. His mother worked as a spinner/weaver to make money. Because Johnson never went to school, he had to teach himself to become literate. This destitution would lead to his sympathy to lower classes; he showed this in his advocation for a “free farm for the poor” bill. Despite his concerns for the poor, Andrew Johnson wanted to retain slavery in America. He declared in a speech, “I have lived among negroes, all my life, and I am for this Government with slavery under the Constitution as it is. I am for the Government of my fathers with negroes, I am for it without negroes. Before I would see this Government destroyed, I would send every ***** back to Africa, disintegrated and blotted out of space.” He vetoed the Civil Rights bill that would give equal rights to people of all colors, alienating himself from Radical Republicans.
