Andy’s Trip West, cartoon by Petroleum V. Nasby
President Andrew Johnson took over as president of the United States after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The nation he inherited had just finished a devastating civil war with over 600,000 dead. The country was grappling with Reconstruction, the process which included the re-admission of former Confederate states. Johnson favored a speedy re-admit policy that did not include protections for the newly freed slaves. President Johnson felt himself at odds with the Radical Republicans who felt his Reconstruction policies were too soft with the former Confederate states, especially after a series of presidential vetoes over equal rights protections for freedmen. After the 1866 elections, the Radical Republicans controlled both houses of Congress with the power to override Johnson’s presidential vetoes. In short time, the new Congress repealed many of the Reconstruction policies set in place by Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. Johnson would later find himself facing impeachment from the House of Representatives narrowly avoiding conviction in the Senate.
Click on the link below to download the political cartoon with image analysis cartoons.
Historymartinez's Blog 