President: Andrew Johnson

Wife: Eliza McCardle (1810-1876), on May 5, 1827

Kids: Martha Johnson (1828-1901); Charles Johnson (1830-63); Mary Johnson (1832-83); Robert Johnson (1834-69); Andrew Johnson (1852-79)

Pets: White mice

Bio: Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), was the 17th President Of The United States. Johnson was born on Dec. 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina, the younger of two sons. When his father died in 1811, his mother was left to support the family by spinning and weaving cloth in their Raleigh cottage.

In 1827, the family moved to Greeneville, where he opened his own tailor shop. In the same year he married Eliza McCardle. In 1831 he began his political career when he was elected as mayor of Greeneville. He worked with like-minded friends to help develop the new Democratic Party. Johnson was elected to the state legislature in 1835, 1839, and 1841, and to the U.S. Congress in 1843. He then went on to become Governor from 1853 to 1857, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Johnson's strained relationship with his own party damaged beyond repair when he tried to prevent Tennessee from joining the secession movement after Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860. Of course, this also put him in good favor with President Lincoln. As Lincoln's running mate on the Union party ticket, Johnson was elected in November 1864. Then, on April 15, 1865, Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination.

As soon as he became president, he gave Southerners the right to establish their own changes in slavery laws, angering most Northerners. But Congress set aside the governments Johnson had created in the South and put Southerners under military supervision. When Johnson tried to gain control of the Army in February 1868 in violation of law, he was the first American President to be impeached by the House of Representatives. But when tried before the Senate, he received a verdict of "not guilty."

After he served out the term, he returned to Tennessee and was elected to the US Senate, but he died a few months later, on July 31, 1875.