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News Updates
UT Professor: Johnson Confronted Dangers
Dr. PAUL BERGERON UT History Professor
Source: The Greeneville Sun
by Amy Rose
Date: 2008-09-19
President Andrew Johnson's life was in danger throughout much of the nation's conflicted periods before and during the Civil War, according to Dr. Paul Bergeron.
Bergeron, a history professor and director of The Papers of Andrew Johnson at the University of Tennessee, was one of four speakers at a day-long symposium Thursday at Tusculum College.
Dr. Bergeron described Johnson as the "Southern Unionist par excellence."
He spoke of Johnson's anti-secession speeches in December 1860 and February 1861 on the floor of the Senate chamber.
In the 1860 speech, given on the eve of South Carolina's secession from the union, Johnson said, "I believe it is the imperative duty of Congress to make some efforts to save the country from the impending dissolution,"Bergeron said, adding that Johnson also called secession "treason."
In the 1861 speech, Dr. Bergeron said, Johnson pleaded with all those who wanted to preserve the Union "to come forward, and like gallant knights, let's lock our shields and make common cause."
Johnson's speeches were met with negative reaction in Southern newspapers and with positive reaction from throughout the rest of the country, he said.
East Tennessee Speeches
After these speeches, Johnson returned home from Washington to Tennessee where he was met with "a rowdy group of rebels" on a train, but he brandished a pistol to resolve the situation.
He campaigned against secession throughout East Tennessee and, along with his colleague Thomas Nelson, decided to speak in Blountville in Sullivan County.
The citizens of Blountville passed a resolution against the speech, Bergeron said, and as they approached Blountville, a minister warned Johnson and Nelson that the crowd was equipped with shotguns and "a good deal of whiskey."
So, Johnson and Nelson decided instead to go to Kingsport to speak, Bergeron said.
Tennessee voted 69 percent in favor of secession, but East Tennessee voted 69 percent against secession, Dr. Bergeron said.
Johnson, fearing for his personal safety, decided to leave East Tennessee for Washington. He did not return to Greeneville again until eight years later, after his presidency, in 1869, Dr. Bergeron said.
Return To Washington
On his way to Washington, Johnson made speeches in Kentucky and Ohio, where he described secession as an "odious, diabolical, nefarious, hell-born, hell-bound doctrine."
Back in Washington, Johnson presented a bill to the Senate that provided for $2 million for arms and munitions to go to citizens still loyal to the United States who were residing in rebellious Southern states.
Bergeron said this action was a departure from Johnson's fiscally conservative beliefs.
Johnson also supported broad interpretation of presidential war powers, Bergeron said, and declared, "Let the Union be preserved, let the law be reinforced, let the Constitution be supreme."
East Tennessee remained under Confederate domination until the end of 1863, Bergeron noted.
Military Governor
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of Tennessee, and Johnson was sent to a "lion's den" in Nashville.
It took Johnson three years as military governor, during a period of "instability and strife" to establish civil government in Tennessee, Bergeron said.
Bergeron also spoke about Johnson's role in post-Civil War elections and in the emancipation of slaves.
Bergeron asked the crowd to put themselves in Johnson's position of being threatened and having his life placed in peril while making all the accomplishments he made during the Civil War era.
Bergeron's teaching career spans more than 35 years at UT, prior to which he taught at Vanderbilt University.
He was editor and director of The Papers of Andrew Johnson, volumes 8-16.
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