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Johnson (Andrew) Collection
mssJohnsona
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Andrew Johnson collection
Creator:
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875
Identifier/Call Number: mssJohnsona
Physical Description:
4.5 Linear Feet
(1 flat box, 1 oversize folder)
Date (inclusive): 1822-1870
Date (bulk): 1860s
Abstract: This collection consists of 14 letters from U.S. President Andrew Johnson, eight letters from others, two signed checks, and
a copy of Johnson's apprenticeship order, 1822 to 1870.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Andrew Johnson collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Anderson Galleries, George S. Hellman collection sale, November 1919.
Collection had been given by Johnson's daughter Martha Patterson to her friend Laura Carter Holloway Langford, author of The
Ladies of the White House; or, In the Home of the Presidents (1870). Langford apparently sold the material to New York collector
George S. Hellman.
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808-July 31, 1875), the seventeenth president of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North
Carolina, the son of a porter and a seamstress. He was apprenticed as a tailor and relocated to Tennessee, where he set up
a tailor shop in Greeneville. In 1827, he married Eliza McCardle (1810-1876); the couple had five children. In 1835 and 1839,
Johnson was elected as a Democrat to the Tennessee House of Representatives, and in 1841 to the state's Senate. He was elected
to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843, serving until 1853 when he became governor of Tennessee. In 1857, he was elected
to the U.S. Senate. During the Civil War, Johnson was appointed military governor of Tennessee following the recapture of
parts of the state by Union troops. In 1864, he was elected vice president on the National Union Party ticket with Republican
Abraham Lincoln and became president after Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865. In May, he offered amnesty to most former
Confederates who signed an oath of loyalty. An enslaver prior to the Civil War, Johnson did not endorse Black suffrage during
the post-war Reconstruction period, considering voting rights to be a state matter. He also opposed the Freedman's Bureau
Bill in 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868. The purchase of Alaska, negotiated by Secretary of State William
H. Seward, was completed during Johnson's presidency in 1867. In February 1868, he was impeached by the House of Representatives
over his violating the Tenure of Office Act by removing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; a Senate trial failed to remove
Johnson from office. The Democratic Party did not choose Johnson as their candidate in the 1868 presidential election. In
his remaining months in office, he issued amnesty to former Confederates and pardons to surviving Lincoln assassination conspirators.
In 1874, Johnson was again elected to the U.S. Senate, but served only five months before his death by stroke at age 66.
The collection consists of 14 letters from Andrew Johnson, eight letters from others, two signed checks, and a copy of Johnson's
apprenticeship order; material dates from 1822 to 1870. Johnson's letters are primarily to his son, Robert Johnson, and his
son-in-law, David Trotter Patterson. These letters discuss politics in Tennessee and nationally, including the Democratic
Party and presidential elections; events in Greeneville and Nashville, Tennessee; foreign relations; appointments; and personal
matters of Robert Johnson. Letters from others, most of which are to Johnson or family members, primarily concern Tennessee
and the Civil War.
This collection was reprocessed in 2021 by Melissa Haley as part of the American Presidential Papers Project. Previously assigned
item-level call numbers have been retained; material was rehoused during reprocessing. The number of pages for each item is
noted in parentheses in item-level Scope and Contents notes. Page count for letters includes enclosures but not envelopes
or addressed covers. Previously assigned legacy terminology regarding autograph status was retained; items marked
autograph indicate the item is in the handwriting of the author of the letter or document.
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssHM 8197-8215, 8217-8222.
Andrew Johnson signature on envelope addressed to him by Abraham Lincoln, 1863 (mssHM 8216) was removed from this collection
and transferred to the
Abraham Lincoln collection, mssLincoln.
The Huntington Library holds several individual items for Andrew Johnson including an account book that primarily details
his tailoring business in Greeneville, Tennessee from 1831 to 1841 (mssHM 633); see library catalog for details.
Collection is arranged chronologically.
All letters from and to Andrew Johnson are published in LeRoy P. Graf and Ralph W. Haskins, editors, The Papers of Andrew
Johnson (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1967-2000) with the exception of Andrew Johnson to Ambrose Burnside, 1863
June 5 (mssHM 8209) and New York citizens to Andrew Johnson, 1865 May 17 (mssHM 8213).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Greeneville (Tenn.)
Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Tennessee -- Politics and Government
Tennessee -- Politics and Government -- 1861-1865
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
United States -- Politics and Government -- 1849-1877
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Brownlow, William Gannaway, 1805-1877
Churchwell, Wm. M. (William Montgomery), 1826-1862
Dix, John A. (John Adams), 1798-1879
Harris, Isham G. (Isham Green), 1818-1897
Johnson, Eliza McCardle, 1810-1876
Leadbetter, Danville, 1811-1866
Patterson, David Trotter, 1818-1891
Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869
Democratic Party (Tenn.)
Democratic Party (U.S.)