Why You should Love Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson gets ripped off. Now that there is another impeachment, Andy's name gets brought up often - usually not in a complementary way. That's a little unfair. Not 100% unfair, but at least a little. I thought about a list of reasons to like Andrew Johnson. So here we go.

• He learned to read as an adult. It's not his fault he wasn't taught to read as a child. But it does say something about him that he learned to read years later. 
• He was Lincoln's vice president. Any friend of Abe's should be a friend of yours, right.
• Lincoln picked him because even thought he was from a slave state, he chose to stay with the Union when the war started. He was the only one. He probably was a little too proslavery for most people's taste today, but that's kind of the point. He believed more in the importance of the Union and the constitution than his personal beliefs.
• He was a tailor by occupation. Talk about climbing the ladder. Most politician's previous occupation is being rich.
• He kind of got off to a bad start by being a little tipsy at his inauguration. He was sick and took some alcohol to strengthen himself. OK, not a good idea, but in his already weakened state it made for an even worse idea.
• If he could had the technology back then, his tweets would have gotten him in trouble, too. "Irascible" would be a good word to describe him. That's not going to win you a lot of friends, but it isn't impeachable.
• The congress and cabinet was filled with Republicans. Not just Republicans, they were called Radical Republicans. I don't know how many other Democrats there were around in government then, but there couldn't have been many. The reason Lincoln picked him was because he stayed with the US when all his other buddies went with the South. 
• Most agree that what he was impeached for wasn't even constitutional. 
• After his presidency he continued to serve, being elected to the Senate. 
• They say he was buried with a copy of the constitution as a pillow. Very commendable. A little creepy, but commendable.
• How would you like to have to follow Lincoln?

I 💓 Andrew Johnson