In what ways did Andrew Johnson's struggles as a young man influence his character?

Question

What was Andrew Johnson's position on slavery?

Answer 1

Due to his father's death at a young age, Andrew Johnson grew up in poverty.  His mother worked as a spinner/weaver to make money.  Because Johnson never went to school, he had to teach himself to become literate.  This destitution would lead to his sympathy to lower classes; he showed this in his advocation for a "free farm for the poor" bill.

Despite his concerns for the poor, Andrew Johnson wanted to retain slavery in America.  He declared in a speech, "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 ***** back to Africa, disintegrated and blotted out of space."  He vetoed the Civil Rights bill that would give equal rights to people of all colors, alienating himself from Radical Republicans.

Answer 2

They made him hard headed, stubborn, and ambitious. Johnson could not read until his wife taught him. He resented the planter autocracy in middle Tennessee more than he resented slavery. There were quite a few slights in his life and those built up resentments. Johnson was very intelligent or he would never have learned as he did or risen so far.  At the same time, he was tactless in many ways. But Johnson never believed Negroes to be equal to whites. He has to be viewed in the context of his time and place though. Very few nineteenth century Americans or whites world over felt differently....Most were racist in some way in today's terms.