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Andrew Johnson Trivia

Andrew Johnson Trivia Quizzes

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4 Andrew Johnson quizzes and 45 Andrew Johnson trivia questions.
1.
  Andrew Johnson, A Unique President   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; and his term in office was turbulent. How much do you know about this fascinating man?
Average, 10 Qns, wmshipman, Feb 18 20
Average
wmshipman
Feb 18 20
320 plays
2.
  The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was the first time Congress tried to remove a president. How much do you know about this defining moment in US politics?
Difficult, 10 Qns, tralfaz, Dec 01 17
Difficult
tralfaz
553 plays
3.
  Difficult Andrew Johnson Trivia    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
A quiz on the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson.
Difficult, 15 Qns, AdmiralShark, Dec 04 20
Difficult
AdmiralShark
Dec 04 20
405 plays
4.
  The Ultimate Andrew Johnson Quiz    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Here are ten questions to see how well you know the 17th president of the United States.
Tough, 10 Qns, uslugg, Jul 21 05
Tough
uslugg
436 plays

Andrew Johnson Trivia Questions
1. When was Andrew Johnson born?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: December 29, 1808

Johnson was born in Raleigh, NC to Jacob and Mary "Polly" Johnson, a poor working-class family. His father died in January 1812, allegedly from an illness that resulted from his saving three men from drowning the previous year.

2. What law was Johnson accused of violating?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: The Tenure of Office Act

This law prevented Johnson from dismissing Cabinet secretaries without the approval of the Senate - the logic being that the Senate had to approve the secretary's appointment. In reality, it was to ensure that the radical Republican Edwin Stanton stayed on a Secretary of War. The Tenure of Office Act was repealed in 1887 and declared unconstitutional in 1926 in Meyers v. United States.

3. When Johnson's father died, it was the result of what?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: saving two men from drowning

In December 1812, Jacob Johnson saved two men from drowning in a pond near Raleigh. He never recovered completely from the cold water and the effort and died the next month at the age of 33, when his son Andrew was just four.

4. Why did Johnson decide to flee from North Carolina as a young man?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: He fled an apprenticeship and a threatened lawsuit

Johnson fled Raleigh when he was 15 years old after a neighbor threatened to sue him for pelting her house with bits of wood. He was also running from a local tailor, James Selby, to whom he was legally apprenticed until he was 21. Going first to South Carolina, Johnson later attempted to reconcile with Selby. When Selby refused, Johnson left for Tennessee.

5. Whom did Andrew Johnson pick to permanently replace Stanton?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: Lorenzo Thomas

General Thomas was Adjutant-General of the Army. Johnson asked for Stanton's resignation while Congress was in recess. Stanton refused and so Johnson fired him and named Ulysses. S. Grant as interim Secretary. The Senate returned and voted 35-16 (these numbers will be important later) to keep Stanton under the Tenure Act. Johnson appointed Thomas in hopes of forcing a judicial review of the Tenure Act.

6. In what city was Johnson born?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: Raleigh, NC

Johnson was born in a log cabin in Raleigh, NC on December 29, 1808.

7. How many years of formal education did Andrew Johnson complete as a child?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: 0

Andrew Johnson never attended school and was illiterate until the age of 18. It was his young new bride, Eliza McCardle that taught him how to read, write, and count.

8. This was a hard fact to locate. What was the House vote for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: 126-47

The House had tried to impeach Johnson a few times before this, but those attempts had always failed. His biggest "crime" before the Tenure of Office Act was that he disagreed with Congress, so when a valid reason to impeach him came up, it was passed with an overwhelming majority.

9. Who was Andrew Johnson and his brother indentured to in 1823 as apprenticed tailors?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: James Shelby

The two boys ran away from Shelby two years after their mother indentured them to him. They ended up seeking shelter in Carthage, NC.

10. Prior to becoming Abraham Lincoln's running mate, Johnson served as a U.S. Senator and Tennesse Governor as a member of what political party?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: Democrat

Johnson fancied himself a Jacksonian Democrat. He opposed federal spending to the extreme, often voting against federally funded improvements (such as railroads) for his home region of eastern Tennessee.

11. Andrew Johnson was brought up on impeachment charges in 1867 by the U.S. Congress for violating which legislative act?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: Tenure of Office Act

President Johnson challenged the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act, which Congress had passed over his veto, by firing his Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. As a result of his actions, much like Bill Clinton's impeachment, Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives but was later acquitted by the Senate.

12. Johnson and Eliza McCardle were married by a distant relative to a future president. What was this president's name?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Mordecai Lincoln married the couple on May 17, 1827 in Greeneville, TN.

13. When Johnson did become Lincoln's running mate, what ticket did they run on?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: Union

Lincoln and Johnson ran on the Union ticket. Lincoln was a Republican, and chose Johnson as his running mate because Johnson was a so-called "War Democrat," who was popular in the North because he was the only U.S. Senator from the South to vocally oppose secession.

14. While he was President, Andrew Johnson's son-in-law was elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee. What was his name?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: David T. Patterson

David T Patterson was a lawyer from Greenville, Tennessee and a strong supporter of Johnson's. Before marrying Martha Johnson in 1855, father-in-law-to-be Andrew had helped his good friend Patterson obtain a judgeship in East Tennessee.

15. Who presided over the trial of President Andrew Johnson?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: Chief Justice Salmon Chase

Although the President of the Senate presides over all other impeachment trials, the Constitution states that the Chief Justice presides over the trial of a president. Why? To avoid a major conflict of interest - The President of the Senate is also the Vice-President.

16. While a Tennessee state senator, Johnson attempted to revive a proposal to create a new state from the mountain regions of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. This new state was to be named after which famous American?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

The original movement to create the state of Frankland started in 1784 but the move was not recognized by the US government or the state of North Carolina, who owned the land. The organizers of the state hoped to get Benjamin Franklin's support for Frankland to become the 14th state. He declined to support the movement.

17. When Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination, who served as Johnson's vice president?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: He didn't have one

Johnson never named a vice president. This became significant during his impeachment three years later. Many senators did not want to find him guilty in the ensuing trial, because they did not want Benjamin Wade (then the presiding officer of the Senate) to become president. At the time, Wade was first in line for the position if Johnson was removed.

18. The House managers felt sure that the XIth article of impeachment against Johnson would win a conviction. What was this charge?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: Denying the validity of the laws passed by the 39th Congress

This charge was all about the XIVth Amendment. Johnson opposed this amendment, and when the Southern states that Johnson had readmitted to the US voted against it, it died . . . but did it? The Radical Republicans claimed that those states had not yet re-entered the Union, therefore they did not have voting rights. Thus by Congress' calculation, the Amendment had the necessary 3/4 votes of the states to pass AND that Johnson exceeded his authority in readmitting the former Confederate States. Johnson did not hide his feelings on this issue.

19. How many terms did Johnson serve in the US House of Representatives representing the first district of Tennessee?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: 5

Johnson served in the House from 1843 to 1853.

20. Why did Johnson repeatedly veto "reconstruction" legislation passed by Congress -- such as bills granting voting rights to blacks?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: He was a racist

Johnson was a firm believer in white superiority and opposed the idea of equal rights for black Americans. He also believed that states could not leave the United States of their own volition, meaning that they should be granted all of their pre-war rights and be able to elect their own governments as soon as the civil war ended. He also felt that military governments, which Congress wanted to oversee southern states, were a form of despotism.

21. Within the first year of his Presidency, Andrew Johnson had refused all pleas for mercy from Henry Wirz, who was hanged from the gallows that were erected in the shadows of the Capitol Building. Who was Henry Wirz and what was he executed for?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: He was the commander of the Confederate prison camp Andersonville where Union soldiers were held under poor conditions during the Civil War.

Henry Wirz was a Captain in the Confederate Army and was appointed as Commandant of Camp Sumpter, more commonly known as Andersonville. About 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned there and nearly a third of them had died from starvation and diseases from the unsanitary conditions of the camp. The inhumane conditions have been compared to Hitler's Nazi death camps of WWII.

22. President Clinton is famous for arguing the meaning of the word "is" during his impeachment process. What word held a similar ambiguity during Johnson's impeachment?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: term

The Tenure of Office Act protected Stanton for the term that the Senate approved him for. This would allow Cabinet member to be replaced when a new President was elected. However, verbage in the Constitution implied that President Lincoln's term ended when he died and so President Johnson's presidency was a new term - therefore Stanton was not protected by the Act. This interpretation by some of the Senators had the Radical Republicans questioning the certainy of the conviction before the vote.

23. After the House of Representatives impeached Johnson in 1868, what did the bulk of the charges brought against him focus on?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: His dismissal of the Secretary of War

The bulk of the charges filed against Johnson focused on the dismissal of his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton -- which many in Congress felt was a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Stanton, alone in Johnson's cabinet, opposed the president's attempts to stifle Congress' reconstruction acts. While no one ever accused Johnson of theft, lawmakers had failed in several previous attempts to link him to Lincoln's assassination and to a scheme where Confederate officials sought to purchase pardons.

24. Andrew Johnson was regarded by many to have been an embarrassment at the Inauguration of 1865. What was the reason for this perception?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: He was noticeably drunk and rambled on during his speech.

It is alleged that Johnson had drank a significant amount of whiskey beforehand in order to "fortify himself from a recent illness."

25. Who was threatened with arrest just before the Senate's vote on the charges against President Andrew Johnson?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: The spectators

Chief Justice Chase admonished the spectators to be silent during the voting. Anyone creating a disturbance would be arrested immediately.

26. While Johnson served as military governor of Tennessee during the Civil War, what military rank did he carry?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: brigadier general

Johnson served as military governor of Tennessee from 1862 to 1864.

27. Whatever other faults may be found with Johnson's presidency, one of his decisions can be impartially viewed as a resounding success. What was it?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson, A Unique President

Answer: The purchase of Alaska

Ridiculed at the time as "Johnson's Polar Bear Garden," the purchase of Alaska (then called Russian America) can be viewed now as a move of remarkable foresight. Johnson did not get along well with Grant and hated the idea of black suffrage. Johnson did have many foreign policy successes, notably the acquisition of Alaska and Midway Island and the removal of the French from Mexico without bloodshed, but these were largely the work of his Secretary of State, William Seward. There was little, if any, foreign policy involving Spain during his tenure.

28. For obvious reasons, Andrew Johnson was not nominated by the Democrats for the Presidential election of 1868. This man received the nomination instead and was subsequently defeated by Ulysses S. Grant.

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: Horatio Seymour

Horatio Seymour was soundly defeated by Grant, who had received 280 electoral votes to Seymour's 80 electoral votes. Grant also won the popular vote by more than 300,000 votes.

29. Whose vote is considered the one that acquitted Andrew Johnson?

From Quiz The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Answer: Senator Ross of Kansas

Ross was appointed in 1866 to replace a senator who had committed suicide. He broke with the Republican Party and voted for acquittal. What is less known is that there were six other Republicans that had previously announced that they would vote for acquittal (and did) and four other Republicans would have voted for acquittal if Ross had not.

30. Who did Johnson replace as Abraham Lincoln's vice-president?

From Quiz Andrew Johnson

Answer: Hannibal Hamlin

Hamlin wanted a second term as Lincoln's vice-president but Lincoln convinced the party to replace Hamlin with Johnson who, as a pro-Southern Democrat would balance the ticket.

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