Historians In Awe Over Discovery At Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Property

Andrew Johnson Convinced Abraham Lincoln To Exempt Tennessee From Emancipation

Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, owned eight slaves throughout his life but didn’t claim any type of ownership while serving in the White House. He did, however, convince Abraham Lincoln to exempt Tennessee from the Emancipation Proclamation. He eventually flipped his position and suggested that African American men should enroll in the Union Army.

His thought process was that they could perform menial tasks while white Americans fought on the front lines. Johnson’s stance on slavery was originally argued at the constitutional level. Because slaves were considered property and the U.S. Consitution allowed for the unobstructed ownership of property, he didn’t believe the federal government had the right to take away slavery at the state level.