1-649-563 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States of America, 19th century. Johnson (1808-1875) was Abraham Lincoln's vice-president and succeeded Lincoln as president after his assassination. His policies of conciliation towards the South after the Civil War and his vetoing of civil rights bills led to bitter confrontation with the Radical Republicans in Congress. They made two attemts to have Johnson impeached, the second of which only failed by one vote in the Senate. He was defeated by Ulysses S Grant in the 1868 presidential election and one of his last acts in office was to grant an unconditional amnesty to all Confederates on Christmas Day 1868.