Andrew Johnson took the oath of office in April 1865 following the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln. He quickly grabbed the reins of the presidency in the absence of congressional leaders who would not reassemble for meetings until December. Granted, he had little knowledge of presidential leadership, but he did have firm — and often very stubborn — ideas of how Reconstruction should be implemented. Lincoln had shared his thoughts during numerous speeches and conversations with the public, and Johnson, who shared Lincoln’s belief that the Southern states had never left the Union, was ready to “preserve” the republic.

As his first action, the new president appointed provisional governors for each of the former Confederate states to oversee the process. Each governor was required to call a special convention to draft a new state constitution that would abolish slavery and renounce the previous vote for secession. Once the constitution was ratified, a new government would be elected, including representatives to serve in the U.S. Congress, and the state would be “readmitted” to the Union. Southerners who swore an oath of loyalty would be provided amnesty, an actual presidential pardon.

But wait. It was not quite that simple. Not everyone qualified for a pardon. Some were “more guilty” than others in executing rebellion against the government; graciously, the word “treason” was not used in the formal documents.

Who was excluded? Several categories of former “rebels” found themselves singled out. First, if an individual had been a federal official prior to his state’s secession and had chosen to join the Confederacy, he was excluded from an easy reconciliation. Second, if an individual graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and had chosen to join the Confederate military, he was “out.” After all, he had taken up arms against his former comrades in the corps! Third, if a person had served as a high-ranking official in the Confederate States of America government, he had committed a higher offense against the republic and was not welcomed back. Fourth and finally, if a person was considered wealthy, with taxable property valued at more than $20,000, and had provided “aid and comfort” to the Confederacy, ditto — no easy reentry.

In each of the four categories of “leadership in the rebellion,” the individual was required to apply personally to President Andrew Johnson for a pardon — a serious humbling for those individuals who had snubbed the senator who remained in Congress…

But it gets interesting when one analyzes the application of the process. By late summer 1865, Johnson had pardoned thousands of individuals, including some of the wealthy planter class that he vehemently disliked and several former Confederate leaders. After all that serious “Tennessee talk” about the Confederacy and the elitist class of leaders, Johnson appeared to have crumbled in his resolve.

Was it because he needed experienced leaders in each state, or was it because he actually respected their humility in applying for a pardon? Andrew Johnson’s motivations remain an enigma. He took counsel from few — if any — and that “backwoods to White House” suspicion of others left him little recourse for civil discourse among advisors. Few would have used the word “civil” when describing a conversation with the president, known for his fiery temper and obstinance. He remained a believer in states’ rights and the inferiority of men of color, and his notes support his belief that if the vote was given to the former slaves, the planter class would still control their votes, and the poor and working-class whites — the president’s people — would continue to be ostracized from any role in their own government.

Johnson took his position on Reconstruction, acted accordingly, and stood firm, ignoring the demands of his cabinet and Radical Republican leaders.

That stance created problems when it became public knowledge that several “readmitted” states had flatly refused to admit that secession had been an act of rebellion. Furthermore, while technically abolishing slavery, many had turned around and imposed sets of legislative actions that treated former slaves as second-class citizens. The practical aspect of these “code” laws was that a new form of slavery had been instituted in the Deep South.

But the president, who retained his belief that blacks were not capable of governing themselves, did nothing. When Congress reconvened in December 1865, the battle lines had already been drawn, and the Radical Republicans considered the former tailor from Greeneville, Tennessee, an easy target to be subdued.

Oh, how wrong they were…