詹森

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Johnson, Andrew

美国第十七届总统(1865~1869)。生於北卡罗来纳州,但长於田纳西州。他自学成材,最初是一位裁缝师。他组织工人党,当选为市议员(1835~1843)时成为少数农民的代言人。後来他成为联邦众议员(1843~1853)和田纳西州州长(1853~1857)。1857~1862年担任参议员时,反对禁奴宣传的主张,但1860年他又反对南方脱离联邦,1861年6月田纳西州脱离联邦时,他是唯一留职并拒绝加入美利坚邦联的南部参议员。1862年被任命为田纳西州(当时已处於联邦控制下)军事长官。1864年参选副总统,与林肯搭档;林肯被暗杀後由他接任总统职务。在重建时期,采取温和政策,允许南方州可重新加入联邦而只附带有限改革或仅给予获得自由的奴隶以极少的公民权利。1867年激进派共和党在国会通过民权立法及建立被解放黑奴事务管理局。总统对同一天通过的「任职法」(规定总统未经参议院同意不得撤换某些联邦官员)也采取漠视态度,贸然将陆军部长斯坦顿(激进派的盟友)撤职。众议院决定弹劾他,这是美国史上第一为受到弹劾的总统。但在决定性投票时却以一票之差不足定罪所需2/3票数。然而,詹森从此失去作为政治领袖的作用。回到田纳西州後,重新当选为参议员,不久去世。

1808~1875年

Johnson, Andrew

17th president of the U.S. (1865-69). Born in Raleigh, N.C., and reared in Tennessee, he was self-educated and initially worked as a tailor. He organized a workingman's party and was elected to the state legislature (1835-43), where he became a spokesman for small farmers. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1843-53) and as governor of Tennessee (1853-57). Elected to the U.S. Senate (1857-62), he opposed antislavery agitation, but in 1860 he opposed Southern secession, even after Tennessee seceded in 1861, and during the Civil War he was the only Southern senator who refused to join the Confederacy. In 1862 he was appointed military governor of Tennessee, then under Union control. In 1864 he was selected to run for vice president with Pres. Abraham Lincoln; he assumed the presidency after Lincoln's assassination. During Reconstruction he favored a moderate policy that readmitted former Confederate states to the Union with few provisions for reform or civil rights for freedmen. In 1867 the Radical Republicans in Congress passed civil-rights legislation and established the Freedmen's Bureau. His veto angered Congress, which passed the Tenure of Office Act. In 1868 in defiance of the act, Johnson dismissed secretary of war Edwin M. Stanton, an ally of the Radicals. The House responded by impeaching the president for the first time in U.S. history. In the subsequent Senate trial, the charges proved weak and the necessary two-thirds vote needed for conviction failed by one vote. Johnson remained in office until 1869, but his effectiveness had ended. He returned to Tennessee, where he won reelection to the Senate shortly before he died.