Andrew Johnson had a history of politics and came from the slave state of Tennessee, but refused to resign as United States senator when the state seceded. When Reconstruction began in1865, he worked to preserve the Union and won the office of vice president in March 1865. When President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated only 6 weeks after his inauguration, democrat Andrew Johnson became the 17th President of the United States during the nation's greatest crisis, the Civil War. In February, 1868, Johnson notified Congress that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War and replaced him with General Lorenzo Thomas. Stanton refused to abandon his office and had Thomas arrested for attempting to exercise the duties of the Secretary of War. The House of Representatives charged Johnson with violating the Tenure of Office acts which forbids the President to dismiss any federal officeholders without approval by the Senate. On Feb. 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted 126 to 47 to impeach Johnson. Johnson's trial in the Senate, which he did not attend, began on March 23. There were eleven articles of impeachment originally against him, the Senate voted on the eleventh article, which included many of the charges contained in the other articles. Andrew Johnson needed 36 votes for a conviction (two-thirds majority) of the Senate votes. Evidence against him became unclear and Johnson was acquitted by one vote; the 35-19 count was just short of the necessary two-thirds majority. After Andrew Johnson's acquittal on May 16, 1868, he served as President until General Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated on March 4, 1869. He also no longer interfered with the military implementation of Reconstruction. Johnson ran for Senator from Tennessee in November 1869 but was beaten. He ran again in 1874 and was elected. He reappeared in the Senate briefly in March 1875, however, he died less than five months later on July 31, 1875.
