Born December 29, 1808, Andrew Johnson began his political career in Greeneville, Tenn. After serving as alderman and mayor, Johnson successfully ran for a seat in the lower house of the state legislature in 1835. After serving three terms in the state Senate, Johnson moved to the U. S. House of Representatives, where he served for ten years, 1843-1853. He also served as Governor of Tennessee from 1853-1857. In the fall of 1857, he was chosen as a U. S. Senator.

In 1861, Johnson returned to East Tennessee to fight the surging secessionist movement, joining people such as William G. Brownlow and Horace Maynard in his support of the Union. After a June referendum in which Tennesseeans voted for secession, Johnson made his way back to Washington.

After the Federal capture of Forts Henry and Donelson and the occupation of Nashville in February 1862, however, President Lincoln sent Johnson back to Tennessee to serve as military governor, a position in which he was charged to restore civil government and bring the state back to the Union. Lincoln also placed Johnson on the ticket in the 1864 election as his vice-presidential nominee. After Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, Johnson was sworn in as the seventeenth president.

Johnson faced the difficult task of reconstructing the nation in the wake of the Civil War as he assumed the presidency. Johnson and Congress clashed over control of Reconstruction, and in 1868, the House Republicans in Congress impeached Johnson, the first president to face impeachment. Johnson's presidency was spared by a single vote in the Senate.

Following his tumultuous presidency, Johnson returned to Greeneville, eager for vindication. In 1874, he became the first former President of the United States to win a seat in the United States Senate. However, four months after taking his seat in the Senate, Johnson suffered a stroke and died on July 31, 1875. He was buried wrapped in a American flag with his head resting on a copy of the Constitution.