1866 elections

Brooks West
Sister Lucy
APUSH Essay #24
February 2 2015
“The text authors claim that the midterm elections of 1866 were “more crucial than some presidential elections.” Do you agree? Why or why not?” Although not a presidential election, the off-year congressional election of 1866 was in fact a referendum election for Andrew Johnson. By the summer of 1866, Johnson had lost support within the Republican Party for his Reconstruction policies. After a unity meeting of 7,000 delegates at the National Union Convention—which met in Philadelphia on August 14—failed to bridge the growing gap between Johnson and the Republicans, the determined President decided to take the issue to the people.
Beginning on August 28, accompanied by such notables as Civil War hero Admiral David Farragut, Johnson launched an unprecedented speaking tour in the hopes of regaining public and political support. He traveled from Philadelphia to New York City, then through upstate New York and west to Ohio before heading back to Washington, D.C. This "swing around the circle" was marked by an intemperate campaign style in which Johnson personally attacked his Republican opponents in vile and abusive language reminiscent of his Tennessee stump speech harangues. On several occasions, it also appeared that the President had had too much to drink, nearly stumbling from the platform. In the end, the campaign was a disaster for Johnson. One observer later said that the President lost one million Northern voters as a result of his tour. In the election, the anti-Johnson Republicans won two-thirds of both houses, thus sealing Johnson's doom and giving his opponents enough power to override his programs. Later, the House of Representatives, in voting its articles of impeachment against Johnson, would charge him with disgracing his office by attempting to appeal directly to the people for support in the 1866 elections—something that was considered to be demagogic and beneath the dignity of a President at the time. Radical Republicans were swept into office, ensuring that a hard line would continue to be maintained against the former Confederate states.
Johnson failed in his attempts to persuade the public to support his lenient policy in his "Swing Around the Circle" tour. For the remainder of his Presidency, Johnson would face staunch Congressional opposition. I agree that this was more crucial than some presidential elections because the ramifications had more of an impact on the United States then some meaningless or not as important presidential elections. These midterm elections where Johnson made a terrible look for himself soon led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives for the first time in United States history. The elections led to Johnson losing the House, the Senate, and the people. It was one of the biggest collapses in history because Johnson single handily sunk his entire campaign and any possible chance of be reelected and set up the Congress to be against him and his party.