History Gallery

Antique Prints Autographs Rare Books Connecticut Law
Maps Miscellaneous Newspapers & Magazines Historical Memorabilia Political
  World War I Posters   World War II Posters  

HOME       About Us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Framed 1869 Autograph of President Andrew Johnson

Offered here is a nice framed dated autograph of President Andrew Johnson. Johnson is most famous for being elected Vice President with Abraham Lincoln in 1864, succeeding Lincoln after the assassination and then being the first President to be impeached in 1868, but exonerated by one vote in the Senate trial. At the start of the Civil War Johnson was the United States Senator from Tennessee and became a Union hero when his state seceded but he stayed in the Senate. He was subsequently named the War Governor of Tennessee when the Union forces took control of that state.  Below are close-ups of the engraving and Johnson's signature in pencil that is dated November 29, 1869.

The autograph is dated in the year Johnson left the office of President of the United States and at that time he was held in very low regard as a result of his impeachment by the House of Representatives and his near miss conviction by the Senate. The charge that was almost convicted of was violating the Tenure of Office Act by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without the approval of Congress.  Johnson claimed the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional, and he was right. 

In many ways Johnson was vindicated by history. Both Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and James Garfield complained strenuously about the Tenure of Office Act and the Act was repealed in 1887 at the urging of then President Grover Cleveland.  In 1926, in Myers vs. United States, the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Taft (formerly President Taft), a similar law was held unconstitutional which required the consent of the Senate for removal of certain non-Cabinet officials. Johnson was also politically vindicated when he was elected to the Senate again in 1875.

So here is the autograph of the man who was a hero of the North during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's handpicked Vice President and who suffered the slings and arrows of intense criticism while President for upholding the Constitution.

Price: SOLD