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party in 1828, to oppose the 'aristocrat element,' which had always ruled the
town. Considerable excitement ensued, and Johnson was elected an
alderman by a large majority. He rose to be mayor, member of the State
legislature, and a representative in Congress, holding the last office for ten
years.
In 1853 he was elected governor, and re-elected in 1855. The contest was
exciting, and violence and threats of murder were frequent. At one meeting
Johnson appeared with pistol in his hand, laid it on the desk, and said:
"Fellow-citizens, I have been informed that part of the business to be
transacted on the present occasion is the assassination of the individual who
now has the honor of addressing you. I beg respectfully to propose that this
be the first business in order: therefore if any man has come here to-night
for the purpose indicated, I do not say to him let him speak, but let him
shoot." After pausing for a moment, with his hand on his pistol, he said,
"Gentlemen, it appears that I have been misinformed. I will now proceed to
address you upon the subject that has brought us together."
Mr. Johnson's next office was as a member of the national Senate, where
he ably urged the passage of a bill granting to every settler 160 acres of
public land. When Tennessee passed the ordinance of secession he
remained steadfast for the Union. Although a Democrat, he had opposed
many of their measures in the interest of slavery, and now gravitated toward
the Republican party. In nearly every city of his native State he was burned
in effigy; at one time a mob entered a railroad train on which he was known
to be and attempted to take him, but he met them with a pistol in each hand,
and drove them steadily before him off the train. His loyal sentiments, his
efforts to aid Union refugees, and the persecution he received at home

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commended him to the North. In 1862 he was appointed military governor
of Tennessee, in which position he upheld the Federal cause with great
ability and zeal. In the winter of 1861-2 large numbers of Unionists were
driven from their homes in East Tennessee, who sought refuge in Kentucky.
Mr. Johnson met them there, relieved the immediate wants of many from
his own purse and used his influence with the national government for the
establishment of a camp where these refugees found shelter, food and
clothing, and were to a large extent organized into companies and mustered
into the national service. His own wife and child were turned out of their
home and his property confiscated. All through his duties as military
governor of Tennessee Johnson displayed great ability and discharged the
duties of his office fearlessly, amid eminent personal peril.
On June 7th, 1864, the Republican convention held at Baltimore, having
re-nominated Mr. Lincoln, chose Mr. Johnson for the second place on their
ticket. They were inaugurated March 4th, and April 14th the President was
assassinated, and within three hours after Lincoln expired Andrew Johnson
was president of the United States.
Soon after his inauguration as President of the United States, in the course
of a speech on the condition of the country he declared, "the people must
understand that treason is the blackest of crimes, and will surely be
punished." Now follows the strangest scenes imaginable, coming from such
a man as he had always, until now, proved himself to be. As this part of ex-
President Johnson's life has been given great prominence, we forbear to
speak further in relation to it. We are constrained, however, to say that it
was sad to see a man, thus late in life, destroying in a few months a good
character, as a citizen, and reputation as an able statesman, which he had
been so many years building, and in which he had so eminently succeeded.
In 1866 the University of North Carolina conferred upon him the degree of
LL.D.
On the 31st of July, 1875, this wonderful man, who had risen from the
tailor's bench, to the highest place within the gift of a great nation, then to
be disgraced and vanquished at his own bidding, died a disappointed man.

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