36+ Andrew Johnson Quotes (Rebuild, Reconcile And Unify)

Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed office as the Vice President of the United States in 1865 and succeeded Abraham Lincoln after his assassination. Johnson was a Democrat who opposed the Reconstruction policies of the Republican Party and was eventually impeached by the House of Representatives, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Top 10 Andrew Johnson Quotes

1. When I die, I desire no better winding sheet than the Stars and Stripes, and no softer pillow than the Constitution of my country.
2. The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people.
3. Washington, DC is 12 square miles bordered by reality.
4. It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.
5. Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide.
6. Whenever you hear a man prating about the Constitution, spot him as a traitor.
7. Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests.
8. If the rabble were lopped off at one end and the aristocrats at the other, all would be well with the country.
9. It is our sacred duty to transmit unimpaired to our posterity the blessings of liberty which were bequeathed to us by the founders of the Republic.
10. My right side is paralyzed. I need no doctor. I can overcome my own troubles.

Andrew Johnson Short Quotes

• I have reached the summit of my ambition.
• I am sworn to uphold the Constitution as Andy Johnson understands it and interprets it.
• Duties have been mine; consequences are God's.
• Let them impeach and be damned.
• If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet.
• There are no good laws but such as repeal other laws.
• Slavery exists. It is black in the South, and white in the North.
• The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens.
• I never thought I would be impeached.
• If you always support the correct principles then you will never get the wrong results!

Andrew Johnson Famous Quotes And Sayings

If blacks were given the right to vote, that would place every splay-footed, bandy-shanked, hump-backed, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, woolly-headed, ebon-colored in the country upon an equality with the poor white man. — Andrew Johnson

Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies to all subjects. — Andrew Johnson

Let us look forward to the time when we can take the flag of our country and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribed for our motto: 'Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,' and exclaim, 'Christ first, our country next!' — Andrew Johnson

The homestead policy was established only after long and earnest resistance; experience proves its wisdom. The lands in the hands of industrious settlers, whose labor creates wealth and contributes to the public resources, are worth more to the United States than if they had been reserved as a solitude for future purchasers. — Andrew Johnson

For myself, I care not whether treason be committed North or South; he that is guilty of treason is entitled to a traitor's fate! — Andrew Johnson

I hold it the duty of the executive to insist upon frugality in the expenditure, and a sparing economy is itself a great national source. — Andrew Johnson

Notwithstanding a mendacious press; notwithstanding a subsidized gang of hirelings who have not ceased to traduce me, I have discharged all my official duties and fulfilled my pledges. And I say here tonight that if my predecessor had lived, the vials of wrath would have poured out upon him. — Andrew Johnson

The enactment of the Homestead Act would create the strongest tie between the citizen and the Government-he would with cheerfulness contribute his proportionable part of the taxes to defray the expenses of the political system under which he lived. — Andrew Johnson

I tell our sisters in the South that so far as Tennessee is concerned she will not be dragged into a Southern or any other confederacy until she has had time to consider; and then she will go when she believes it to be her interest, and not before. — Andrew Johnson

I realized, there are people out there who can beat me, want to beat me. And unless I continue to innovate and evolve, I am going to learn a painful lesson from someone who has. — Andrew Johnson

I have performed my duty to my God, my country, and my family. I have nothing to fear in approaching death. To me it is the mere shadow of God's protecting wing . . . Here I will rest in quiet and peace beyond the reach of calumny's poisoned shaft, the influence of envy and jealous enemies, where treason and traitors or State backsliders and hypocrites in church can have no peace. — Andrew Johnson

Who, then, will govern? The answer must be, Man - for we have no angels in the shape of men, as yet, who are willing to take charge of our political affairs. — Andrew Johnson

I have lived among negroes, all my life, and I am for this Government with slavery under the Constitution as it is. I am for the Government of my fathers with negroes. I am for it without negroes. Before I would see this Government destroyed I would send every negro back to Africa, disintegrated and blotted out of space — Andrew Johnson

I have been almost overwhelmed by the announcement of the sad event [Lincoln's assassination] which has so recently occurred. I feel incompetent to perform duties so important and responsible as those which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me. — Andrew Johnson

I feel incompetent to perform duties... which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me. — Andrew Johnson

Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigorously, more vigorously, and more severely, than by one. — Andrew Johnson

Life Lessons by Andrew Johnson

1. Andrew Johnson's presidency serves as a reminder of the importance of understanding the complexities of the political landscape and the need to be aware of the potential consequences of one's decisions.
2. Johnson's failure to recognize the importance of the Reconstruction Era serves as a cautionary tale for the need to be aware of the historical context of one's decisions.
3. Johnson's impeachment serves as a reminder of the importance of upholding the law and the need to be accountable for one's actions.