Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. To take the reins of power at this tumultuous moment required a man of compassion, discernment, and discipline. Was Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, that man? Allen Guelzo of Princeton University has the answer.
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Script:
It was April 1865. The Civil War was finally over. An exhausted, bloodied nation breathed a deep sigh of relief�
Then, suddenly, shockingly, President Abraham Lincoln was dead, felled by an assassin's bullet while watching a play.
To take the reins of power at this tumultuous moment required a great man, a man of compassion, discernment, and discipline. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's vice president, was not that man.
This is not to say he didn't have virtues. He did. He just didn't have the stuff it took to meet the moment.
Born into abject poverty on December 29, 1808, Johnson was apprenticed � 'sold' would be more accurate � to a tailor at the age of 10. Legally bound to serve until he was 21, he ran away after five years. He eventually settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he set up his own tailor's shop and prospered.
In 1834, he was elected mayor of Greeneville. From there, he climbed steadily up the political ladder; the state legislature in 1835, the US Congress in 1843, Governor in 1853, and the Senate in 1857. He was still serving as U.S. Senator for Tennessee in 1861 when the Civil War broke out.
Although Johnson was a Democrat and a slaveowner himself, when Tennessee left the Union to join the break-away Confederacy and defend legalized slavery, Johnson denounced his state's secession on the floor of the Senate.
'I will not give up this Government,' he thundered in December 1860. 'No; I intend to stand by it, and I entreat every man throughout the nation who is a patriot�to come forward, that the Constitution shall be saved, and the Union preserved.'
After Union military forces occupied large parts of Tennessee in 1862, Lincoln tagged Johnson as the state's provisional military governor. It was a shrewd move on the president's part: it demonstrated to Southerners and Democrats that they were welcomed as full partners with Lincoln's Republican party in restoring the Union.
Johnson himself joined hands with Lincoln's policies by freeing his own slaves in 1863.
View the full script here: https://l.prageru.com/3ZuWnp1
#president #history #educational
To think that the Republicans pushed through the amendments to free and welcome the blacks and later to vote in 1964 with a majority to grant them all that the democrats had taken from them only to have the blacks support democrats. The Stockholm Syndrome is well at work.
@revinhatol Says:
Andrew Johnson's next, he had some slight effects.
Congress each would impeach, and so the country now elects...
@gujackson1 Says:
The first RINO perhaps?
@ddduva4440 Says:
VPs have almost never been a great choice apparently!!
@IPwnNoobs Says:
Love you, Dr. Guelzo. I know that although you are conservative you didn't (and will not ever) vote for Dump. But still, you know better than to support a venue like this. Anyway: Keep crying, Dumpflakes. We owned you in 2020 (the first time an incumbent has lost re-election in what, nearly 30 years? Owned) and soon we finish the job. Owned, twice impeached, and now getting shafted up the behind by dozens and dozens of felony charges. We win. Owned! :)
@Dennis-nc3vw Says:
All the other Presidents besides Lincoln: Am I joke to you?
@schuberttim Says:
The one point he missed was that in the election of 1864 when Johnson was elected Vice President, Lincoln and Johnson ran on the National Union Party ticket, which is what the Republicans called their ticket in order to gain the votes of War Democrats.
@matsfreedom Says:
I grow tired of intllectuals who offer histoical details that have no revelance to America's very serious situation. The U.S. government has been thoroughly hijacked by criminal institutions outside of our 3 branches, and they OWN AND CONTROL everything of significance. Therefore, We the People have lost our country. Big changes are coming. They may be in our favor, but its more likely that we will continue to suffer the consequences of our ignorance as we pay our captors to lie, cheat, steal, and eliminate us at will. Wake up, people.
@valmid5069 Says:
In Shakespearean lens, Andrew Johnson is basically American Iago
“Do you mock me?”
“I mock you not, by heaven. Would you would bear your fortune like a man!”
—Thomas Nast‘s Othello Political Cartoon
@CanalPSG Says:
Well done!😊
@clarkelliott5389 Says:
I would almost bet that this is not taught in most schools. Very sad.
@jacobwiles547 Says:
I never liked President Johnson very much. He neglected to give the black community equal rights during the Reconstruction Era.
@TheManofthecross Says:
That one guy in the senate is kicking himself from his grave for not convicting the guy to kick him out of office.
@MrPensive Says:
Typical tunnel-vison mainstream history. Mr. Guelzo is right on some points, but he's a Lincoln worshipper, and his take on Johnson shows it. This president consistently vetoed vindictive legislation that was intended to PUNISH the South. Such punishment was NOT in accordance with Lincoln's own wishes, and Guelzo knows it. Overall, I'd rate Andrew Johnson an average president.
@Rahatlakhoom Says:
History runs like a wagon without wheels. Dragging to the end of the road.
@JConlon96 Says:
Andrew Johnson is one of our worst Presidents
@redblaze8700 Says:
Johnson was never meant to be president, only a symbol of re-unification. And by the end of his administration he was so unpopular that not even the Democrats wanted him as a nominee for the 1868 election.
@Pathological_Flyer Says:
When will you be featuring Obama & Biden in your WORST PRESIDENT in HISTORY series?
@brianarmstrong9438 Says:
Johnson was supposed to be assassinated too, along with the Speaker of the House and President pro Tempore of the Senate -- the full extent of the line of succession at the time. But the assassins of the those people got cold feet. Had they gone through with it it would have thrown the Union into complete chaos, likely resulting in a government run by a military committee. Who knows how things would have turned out after that. But the Union would have been greatly weakened, possibly giving the South an opening for greater aid from Queen Victoria's Britain and/or a truce with the Union.
@weirdnomad8868 Says:
Johnson was horrible president and a blatant racist he should've been removed from office
@walterpearson8876 Says:
Yet ANOTHER example showing the south, as democrats, wanting slavery over country. To this day, #TheDemocratPartyHatesAmerica.
@89Awww Says:
Andrew Johnson was egotistical and thin-skinned, which negatively impacted the relationship between the presidency and Congress. He was a staunch white supremacist who refused to compromise with the radical Republicans. He shattered Andrew Jackson's record of twelve vetoes with 29 vetoes, which led congress to override his vetoes. His opposition to the 14th and 15th ammendments and the Civil Rights Act held African Americans back for generations. I rank him as our third worst president after Woodrow Wilson and James Buchanan.
@FOTAP97 Says:
It would be interesting to hear your reflection upon how Andrew Johnson is portrayed in _The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth_, by Finis Bates, published in 1907.
@shanecabbage2187 Says:
Great history lesson. Thank you.
Let's remember our history so that we arent doomed to repeat it. God bless.
@mkultra21 Says:
Andrew Johnson was the worst president in American history.
@michaelleone9931 Says:
Johnson, the only president of his time to not have time to grow a beard before he got into office
@martist911wasits-not-real4 Says:
Happy chicken swinging day prager!
@ianblake815 Says:
Pretty much the Hoover of the 1800s
@JohnDoe-qw4gc Says:
It bears remembering to be careful of what dolt is on the ticket as VP.
@AmericaFirst-2024 Says:
Another joke video from cuckU
@DarthMalevolence66 Says:
Lincoln picking Johnson as a VP was definitely shrewd for his election, but tragic since Johnson was given the reigns after Lincoln's death. He did almost everything wrong to put the reunified nation back on track, even allowing the rise of the Klan. He will be forever remembered as one of our worst presidents.
@THE_Dodge_Morningstar Says:
😂😂I was worried about students in Florida and Oklahoma, but... I should have known better. I didn't immediately see the angle.
@TickedOffPriest Says:
Sounds like the sort of a person that makes a wonderful sergeant, but a poor general.
@kirmie44 Says:
I'm not going to lie. I'm pleasantly surprised to see this video on this channel. The party names might be the only reasoning I think it was greenlit, I think a lot of people here think that the end of the civil war was a movement forward, this showing the contrary.
To clarify, the innactiion of then pres to rebuild and give the black pop a chance was a dropped ball for america
@TheresaGraf Says:
Neither Lincoln nor Johnson were good presidents! Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and Johnson allowed the decimation of the carpetbaggers.
@ResortDog Says:
The coupcoup control of the unconstitutional actions of the current administration put showing up drunk to the inauguration and being a racist under a halo in comparison.
@merlinwizard1000 Says:
18th, 25 September 2023
@DaveSkylark111 Says:
Very cool.
@mballer Says:
3:00 What did you want him to be medicated with?
@paleofemme Says:
So…we could have allowed black people to vote right after the civil war…but one man stopped it. And he was a democrat. Shocking.
@Ooochild Says:
Dr. Guelzo?! Oh man, he was my western civ professor at Eastern College back in the day! Very cool! His class was haaaard and he reminded every one of Frasier Crane from tv lol!
@sidneybristow815 Says:
Makes me think of another VP who shouldn't take over.
@jungleforeva Says:
17 is my favorite number ⚔️🙏❤️🇺🇸
@MichaelJPartyka Says:
Best part of this video: The ejected cabinet member.
@incaseofelimination7804 Says:
Yeah! PragerU baby!
I wonder if this is also on Rumble?
@mgithaiga1 Says:
nice
@billiehicks1864 Says:
Zionist controlled opposition puppets of israels global new world order agenda is what prageru is. If ya don't know this it's time to do some research into zionism/israel/mossad and chabad and who's really behind communism/mass immigration/ and the transgender/transhumanist agenda!
@nancyj5490 Says:
Hi! Hoping this comment gets attention by PragerU. Please set up a task force to intercept the influx of immigrants to help educate them on how they are being used as pawns. Otherwise our country is doomed. The dems are going to turn them all into democrats. And this agenda will have no more roadblocks. These immigrants are naturally conservative. Please find a way to get boots on the ground to educate them. Please please please. We are desperate.
@adidabax6809 Says:
The cult of Lincoln. Is it any wonder this channel promotes Betsy DeVos - the "Republican" who gave Michigan to the left?
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