The Disfranchisement of Tennessee
This collection includes one copy of the anonymously published The Disfranchisement of Tennessee, a protest against Military Governor Andrew Johnson's 1864 electoral process that established extra voting standards. Johnson’s September 30, 1864 Proclamation scheduled voting for the 1864 election and required each voter to be an “active friend of the Government of the United States, and the enemy of the so-called Confederate States.” Johnson’s Proclamation also allowed Union soldiers to vote in the field. The anonymous author claims that Johnson’s power to determine voting standards in such manners vests him with “plenary dictatorial power” and protests this electoral process within the state of Tennessee.
Dates
- 1864
Language
This material is in English.
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Extent
0.1 Linear Feet (1 folder)
Abstract
This collection features The Disfranchisement of Tennessee, a pamphlet written in 1864 by an anonymous author that protests Andrew Johnson's new electoral processes.
Biographical/Historical Note
Andrew Johnson served as the seventeenth president of the United States. Johnson settled early in his life in Greeneville, Tennessee; he was educated as an attorney and later served in the Tennessee General Assembly. Johnson further served in the offices of governor of Tennessee, U. S. Representative and U. S. Senator. He served as Vice-President of the United States during the Civil War. Upon Lincoln's assassination, Johnson became the new president; however, he and Congress clashed over control during the Reconstruction Era, 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. After leaving the White House, Johnson uncharacteristically returned to politics, and he served as a Tennessee Senator before dying from a stroke in 1875.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository