Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/678

658 ANDREW JOHNSON a year at Greenville, during which time he married, and, after a vain search for a more desirable home further west, finally settled there. Thus far his education had been limited to reading ; but now, under his wife's instruc- tion, he learned to write and cipher. Taking an interest in local politics, he organized in 1828 a working men's party, to oppose the so- called aristocratic element which had always ruled the town. Considerable excitement en- sued, and Johnson was elected alderman by a large majority. He was reflected in each of the two following years, and in 1830 was chosen mayor, which office he held three years. During a portion of this time he was prominent in a debating society formed by some young men of the neighborhood and students of Greenville college. One of the students says : " On approaching the village, there stood on the hill by the highway a soli- tary little house, perhaps ten feet square. We invariably entered when passing. It contained a bed, two or three stools, and a tailor's plat- form. Here we delighted to stop, because one lived here whom we knew outside of school, and made us welcome ; one who would amuse us by his social good nature, taking more than ordinary interest in catering to our pleasure." In 1834 the county court elected Johnson a trustee of Rhea academy ; and in that year he was also active in securing the adoption of the new constitution of the state. In the summer of 1835 he offered himself as candidate for a seat in the lower house of the legislature, and announced that he was a democrat. Meet- ing with a cool reception from the leaders of that party, he entered the canvass personally, and in his first speech made such a vigorous and well sustained attack on the political ca- reer of his whig opponent that their opposi- tion soon ceased, and he was elected. The most important measure brought before that legislature was a bill which involved the state in a debt of $4,000,000, for a vast scheme of internal improvements, consisting chiefly of macadamized and turnpike roads. Johnson strenuously opposed it, on the ground that no such debt should be incurred until the question had been submitted to the people, and pre- dicted that the scheme would only result in a squandering of the money, without securing the benefits it promised. The bill became a law, and was so popular that in the election of 1837 Johnson failed to be returned to his seat. But before the expiration of the next two years the evils he predicted had developed themselves ; many of the works were abandon- ed, and some of the companies had defrauded the state. In 1839 he was again elected. In the presidential contest of 1840 he canvassed eastern Tennessee in favor of Mr. Van Buren, and was a candidate on the democratic ticket for elector at large. In 1841 he was elected to the state senate, into which he introduced a judicious measure for internal improvements in the eastern part of the state. He was elected to congress from the first district of Tennessee in 1843, took his seat in December of that year, and held it by successive reelections for ten years. During this time he advocated the bill refunding the tax imposed on Gen. Jackson at New Orleans, the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the tariff of 1846, and gen- eral retrenchment in the expenses of the gov- ernment. He sustained President Polk in his acceptance of the parallel of 49 as a settlement of the Oregon boundary question, and was conspicuous in urging the passage of a home- stead law. On Aug. 2, 1848, he delivered an elaborate speech in favor of the veto power. In 1853 he was elected governor of Tennessee, over Gustavus A. Henry, the whig candidate ; and in 1855 he was reflected, over Meredith P. Gentry, candidate of the whigs and the " know- nothings." The contest was exciting, and vio- lence and threats of murder were frequent. At one meeting Johnson appeared with a pistol in his hand, laid it on the desk, and said : " Fel- low citizens, I have been informed that part of the business to be transacted on the present oc- casion is the assassination of the individual who now has the honor of addressing you. I beg re- spectfully to propose that this be the first busi- ness in order. Therefore if any man has come here to-night for the purpose indicated, I do not say to him, let him speak, but let him shoot." After pausing for a moment, with his hand on his pistol, he said : " Gentlemen, it appears that I have been misinformed. I will now proceed to address you on the subject that has called us together." On Dec. 7, 1857, Mr. Johnson took his seat in the United States senate, to which he had been elected for a full term by the legislature of Tennessee. Here, as in the lower house, he persistently urged the passage of a bill giving 160 acres of the public land to any citizen who would settle upon it and cultivate it a certain number of years ; and he was soon recognized as the leading advocate of that measure. The bill was finally passed by more than a two-thirds vote in each house ; but President Buchanan vetoed it, and the veto was sustained. In 1858 Johnson was one of the foremost opponents of the bill introduced by Jefferson Davis to increase the standing army because of the troubles in Utah, and offered a substitute which authorized the rais- ing of 4,000 volunteers, to be dismissed when the trouble was over; which was modified so as to authorize two regiments of 18-months' men, and passed. In 1859 he was conspicuous in his efforts to secure the passage of a bill to retrench the government expenses, and in his opposition to the Pacific railroad. On the question of slavery, Johnson as a southern man and a democrat generally went with his party. He accepted slavery as an existing in- stitution, protected by the constitution, but be- lieved it would some day come to an end, and held that it must be kept subordinate to the Union at every hazard. He opposed the com- promise measures of 1850, but finally voted for