istory. He succeeded Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, only a few days after the Civil War ended. In addition to these trying times, Johnson also had trouble cooperating with other political leaders while proceeding to accomplish his goals. Johnson was born in 1808 to Jacob and Mary Mcdonough Johnson in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1827 ,Johnson opened a tailor shop in a small frame building. Soon after opening that shop Johnson married Eliza McCardle. She was intelligent and had some schooling. With the help of his wife Johnson improved his reading and learned writing and arithmetic. In 1829 Johnson ram successfully for alderman on a platform that appealed to Greenvilles working class. In 1834 he was elected mayor of Greenville. Johnson then served in the Tennessee House of Rep.from 1835 to 1837 and from 1839 to 1843, when he was elected to the state senate. In 1843, Johnson became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the lower chamber of congress where he served until 1853. In Congress he was a champion of the poor . He felt a kinship with the working people and small farmers, and disliked people of wealth or privilege.In June 1864 the Republicans met in Baltimore, Maryland, and renominated Lincoln. To reward the Southerners who had remained loyal to the Union, Johnson was nominated to be vice president, since Johnson was a War Democrat. In November the Lincoln -Johnson was elected. Lincoln was assasinated only six weeks after Johnson was sworn in as vice president. Angryat the assassination Johnson was at first inclined to be vindictive in his treatment of the Confederate leaders, who also represented the privileged class that he hated. His attitude towards the Confederacy won him the approval of the militant wing of the Republican Party (Radical Republicans). However , to the surprise of the Radicals, Johnson soon dropped these punitive activities for more constructive tasks. H...
