President Andrew
Johnson, a Democrat, had been elected vice president in 1864 on
a National Union ticket with Republican President Abraham
Lincoln. During the first half of 1866, the divergent views of
Johnson and Republicans on Reconstruction became increasingly
apparent and his working relationship with Congress deteriorated
rapidly. Consequently, the president and close advisors hoped
to transform the National Union Party into a new coalition of
Democrats and conservative Republicans that could win control of
Congress in the 1866 elections, or at least enough seats to
allow the president to wield his veto power without the threat
of congressional overrides. The National Union Convention
met in Philadelphia on August 14-16, 1866, with the aim of
upholding states’ rights against the “usurpation and
centralization of power in Congress.” In the September 29, 1866
issue of Harper’s Weekly (published September 19), a
cartoon by Thomas Nast mocked the National
Union Convention, which Congressman and New York Times
publisher Henry Raymond organized and chaired.
Following the National Union Convention,
President Johnson and key administration figures traveled from
August 28 to September 15 on a campaign speaking tour across the
nation called the “swing around the circle.” Rumors circulated
widely that the president delivered his speeches while drunk.
At various stops, the president blamed Congress (as they blamed
him) for the recent race riot in New Orleans. In response to a
question from the audience, Johnson sarcastically suggested the
execution of leading Radical Republicans. The remark inspired a
cartoon by Thomas Nast, which appeared in
the November 3 issue of Harper’s Weekly (published
October 24). The tour was a public-relations fiasco,
undermining popular and congressional support for the
president.
In the October 6 issue of Harper’s
Weekly (published September 26), editor George William
Curtis
remarked that the question before voters in
the fall elections was whether the result of the Civil War would
be fulfilled by adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment or
overturned by its rejection. He argued that it should be
necessary for the Southern states to ratify the amendment before
they could be represented again in Congress. Republican
victories in state elections held in the late summer and early
autumn indicated that Johnson’s goal of Democratic gains in
Congress would fall far short of success. A
cartoon
in the October 27 issue of Harper’s Weekly (published
October 17) depicted Uncle Sam as a pharmacist urging President
Johnson to take his medicine in the form of the Fourteenth
Amendment. The bottles on the shelf are labeled for states
where Republican state tickets had won. In the November 3
issue, another
cartoon played on Johnson’s former
occupation as a tailor and showed the president declining to fix
Uncle Sam’s Constitution coat with an amendment.
On October 16, Governor Benjamin Humphreys
of Mississippi, a former Confederate general, sent a
message
to the state legislature urging them to reject the
Fourteenth Amendment because it was “an insulting outrage” that
would violate states’ rights and centralize federal power. In
the November 3 issue of Harper’s Weekly (published
October 24), George William Curtis
responded to
Humphreys and other white Southerners who opposed ratification.
The editor emphasized that nothing less was at stake than “the
existence and security of the nation.” He predicted that
Northern resolve would not weaken under Southern threats to
reject the amendment, just as it did not flinch during the Civil
War.
Meanwhile, the Fourteenth Amendment was
ratified by three more states—New Jersey on September 11, Oregon
on September 19, and Vermont on October 30. Sweeping success in
the state elections of 1866 gave Republicans control of enough
legislatures to pick up 18 seats in the U.S. Senate (state
legislatures elected U.S. senators until ratification of the
Seventeenth Amendment in 1913), and carried over to the
congressional elections in early November when Republicans
gained 37 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The
Republican majorities in the upcoming 40th Congress
(March 1867–March 1869) were more than enough to override any
presidential veto. |
1)
September 29, 1866, p. 617
cartoon, “The Tearful
Convention,” Thomas Nast
2)
November 3, 1866, p. 696
cartoon, “King Andy,” Thomas Nast
3) October 6, 1866, p. 627, c. 2
editorial, “A Clear Issue”
4)
October 27, 1866, p. 688
cartoon, “Extract Const. Amend.”
5) November 3, 1866, p. 695
cartoon, untitled (Uncle Sam to
Andrew Johnson)
6)
November 3, 1866, p. 691, c. 3-4
“Domestic Intelligence”
column, “The Mississippi Legislature”
7) November 3, 1866, p. 691, c. 1
editorial, “Southern View
of the Amendment”
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