An-drew John-son's life as a boy was quite as hard as that of lit-tle
"Abe" Lin-coln. He was born in Ra-leigh, North Car-o-li-na, on
De-cem-ber 29th, 1808, in a small log cab-in; and near his home were
the big farms of the rich men of the South, on which lived in more
ease than he the slaves, who looked down on his fa-ther and mo-ther
as "poor white trash."
His fa-ther died when An-drew was but four years old; he must have been
a brave man, for he lost his life try-ing to save a man from drown-ing.
Lit-tle An-drew was too poor to go to school; he had to try and earn
mon-ey, when he was but ten years old; so he was sent to a tail-or to
learn to make clothes; here, for five years he worked hard; and then he
heard a man read; and for the first time it came to his mind that he
could learn to do this; he got the men in the shop to teach him his
"A, B, C;" and he was so quick to learn that soon he could read a
lit-tle; but it was not till he was wed to a bright young girl that he
learned a great deal of books; this was when he was eight-een, and he
had gone to Green-ville, Ten-nes-see, to set up in life for him-self.
These young folks were both poor, but both bright; and the wife was a
great help to John-son all through his life. He rose fast in his new
home; we see him, from the first, take the part of the poor; and he
was soon put in high of-fice in the town; it was not long ere he rose
to a high place in the state, and, in 1843, we see the poor lit-tle
tail-or boy of 1826 in the halls of Con-gress, stand-ing up for the
rights of the class in which he was born. In 1846 he took the seat of
John Quin-cy Ad-ams, who was too sick to hold it; does it not seem
strange that two men who had lived as boys so un-like should rise to
just the same place? For ten years he was in Wash-ing-ton, where he
helped make the laws of the land; then in 1853, he was made gov-ern-or
of Ten-nes-see. When the Civ-il War broke out, he took sides with
the North, though he was born in the South and lived there; and when
Lin-coln was made pres-i-dent he took the next place as vice-pres-i-dent.
[Illustration: ANDREW JOHNSON.]
On Lin-coln's death, he took the pres-i-dent's chair. The whole land was
now up-set; in the South the white men had no work; and the slaves did
not know how to care for them-selves. In the North there was strife as
to the terms on which the South should come back in-to the Un-ion; and
on ma-ny things John-son and his Con-gress did not think the same; so
there was strife be-tween them. It came to its height in 1868, when the
Sen-ate tried John-son for "high crimes and mis-de-mean-ors;" this means
that Con-gress thought the pres-i-dent did not act for the good of the
land, and should be put out of of-fice; but the men who tried him did
not all think the same; and most of them said he should keep his place.
So he was in the chair for four years, and then went home to
E-liz-a-beth-town, Ten-nes-see, where he lived till his death on
Ju-ly 29th, 1875.