Andrew Johnson and the Patronage

187 Pages·2016·2.02 MB·English

by  James Lewis Baumgardner

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Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
12-1968
AAnnddrreeww JJoohhnnssoonn aanndd tthhee PPaattrroonnaaggee
James Lewis Baumgardner
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss
Part of the American Politics Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History
Commons
RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn
Baumgardner, James Lewis, "Andrew Johnson and the Patronage. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee,
1968.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1874
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To the Graduate Council:
I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by James Lewis Baumgardner entitled "Andrew
Johnson and the Patronage." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for
form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History.
LeRoy Graf, Major Professor
We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance:
John Muldowney, D. H. Carlisle, Harold S. Fink, Richard C. Marins
Accepted for the Council:
Carolyn R. Hodges
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on file with official student records.)
Noveembr2 2,1 968
Tot heG raduaet Council:
I am subtmtiinhge rewiat dhi sesrttaionw rittbeynJ amesL ewsi
Baumargdneern tit"lAneddr eJwo hsnonan d theP atrona.g"e I recmmoend
thaitt b ea ccepitnep dar tiaflu flillmeontft her equiresm efntothre
degreoef D octoofrP hilohsy,ow pitah m aojri nH istory.
Weh avree atdh idsis serttaino
and recmmoend iatcsc ept:an ce
Accepftoerdt heC ounci:l
VicCeh anclelofro r
GradutaeS tuedsian d Research
D!: S SEi:T.r\TIOf,:
6639
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ANDREW JO�SON AND THEP ATRONAGE
A Dissertation
Presentetdo
the Graduate Council of
TheU niversitoyf ·Tennessee
In Partial Fulfillment
of theR equiremenftosr t he Degree ..
Doctoro f Philosophy
by
James LewisB aumgardne�
Decembe1r 968
ABSTRACT
The Constitutiboens towsu pont he presidentth e right to make
appointment"sb y and witht he advice and consento f the Senate"t o
federalp osi tioanta homean d abroad. Overt he passageo f time,t hrough
free use of thisp oweran d thei mplied power of removalt,h e several
chiefe xecutivecso nstructead v ast patronages ystem,o t whicho ne
primary goalw as to reward the party tait hf'ul for theirs ervices.T he
purpose of thisd issertatiiosn to determine how wellA ndrew Johnson,
the unexpected successoorf Abraham Lincolnu,s edt he seeminglpyo werful
patronagew eaponan.d the reasonsw hy he usedi t as he did.
Prior to his elevatiotno thep residency, Johhnads obne ena
JacksoniaDne mocrawti tha greta faithi n thew isdomo f the masses of
people.A s such,h e had subscribetdo the spoilss ystemw ithi ts attend­
ant principleosf loyaltyt o the partyan d rotatioinn office.Th ere is
littlee videncteo indicatteh ath e subsequentclhya ngedh is views,
despitet he tactt hatt heyw ereo f questionabvlael iditiyn theun bal­
1865-1869.
anced postwar political ofc ontext
Andrew Johnsonw as alsoa decidedi ndividualisat c,h aracteristic
whichs howedi tselfo n severalo ccasiondsur ing his presidenticaalr ee.r
Thist raita t timeso vershadowehdi s politicaclo �victionansd , increas­
inglyd uring the course of his presidencyd,i ctatehdi s actions. Nowhere
was thist actmo re clearly evidentt han in his use of the patronage.
As presidentJ,o hnsoni nitiallyw as alloweda treep atronaghean d,
but as he and the dominant elemento f the Republicanp arty, theR adical;s
ii
81:Jl62
iii
increasingcllya shedo n the issueso f reconstructiotnh,e latterm oved
to wrest controlo f thes ystem trhoimm . Seekinge ndorsemenfto r his
1866
policiesh,e appealetdo thep eoplei n the congressioncaamlp aign.
Many of his supporterursg ed thath e use the federalp atronagteo affect
the outcome of the electio,n sa nd a number of changes wermea de,b ut the
Radicalesm ergedv ictoriousS.o meo bservers,b otha t thatt imean d
later,c harged thatt hisr esult occurrbeedc ausJe ohnsonm isusedh is
patronagpeo wer,s but he probablrye alizetdh at he couldn ot havec hanged
the outcomeo f the elections regardloefs hso w he might haveu sedh is
powers of removalan d appointment.
Havingf ailedt o win popular supportf or his positionJ,o hnson
thenf acedt hea lternativoef eithert urningt o the Democratipca rtya nd
bolsterinigt witht he federalp atronagoer becominpgo litically isolated.
Thel eaders of thatp arty .bothe xpected ande ncouragehdi m to return to
the fold,b utt he chiefe xecutivset eadfastlrye fused to do so. The
1864
peopleh ad not electeda Democraticp residenitn and Johnson's
integritayn d honestydi ctatetdh att heyw eren ot to receiveo ne against
theirw ill.
While becominign creasingployl iticalliys olatedJ,o hnsons ought
to reward thosew hoh ad remainedf aithfutlo him. Closes upporterwse re
appointetdo office, daensdp ited emands fromD emocrattsh atc hanges be
made,h e refusedt o removel oyal cabinetm embersf romt heirp osts. At
the same time,h owevert,h e president wonuoltd t oleratdei sloyalty.
Wh�n his secretary of warp rovedun faithful, Johnsond,e fying Radical
legislativ�ef fortst o secure EdwinM . Stanton in his position, removed
iv
him-froomf fice.T hism ovel ed to thec hiefe xecutive'ismp eachment
and trial,a processw hicht heR adicalunss uccessfullya ttemptetdo turn
intoa condemnatioonf his entirep atronage policy.
Both primary and secondarsyo urces wereu sedf or thiss tudy.
Heavy dependencweas placed uponc ertainm anuscriptc ollectionpsar,t i­
cularly thoseo f Andrew JohnsonS,e natosr JohnS herman and Lyman Trum­
bull,an d RepresentatiEvlei huB .W ashburne. The CongressionaGll obe,
theU nitedS tates SenaExteec utiveJ ournal,an d theo fficiaalc count·of
the impeachment trial werea lsoo f considerabvlael ue.
TABLOEF C ONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTROUDCTION 1
I.P ATRONA:G TEHEP RE-PSRIEDENTIVAILE W 13
II. A TIOMEF C ONSENSUS 36
II.I FORWANT OFA POLIC• Y 61
IV. LAME DUCPKA TRONAGE 96
V.T HE INHERITEDF AMIYL 114
•
VI. PRESIDENTPIAALTRO NAGOEN TR IAL 136
VII.I NS EARCHO FA POLICY 155
BIBLIOGRAPHY 167
APPENDIX 175
VITA 179
• • •
v
INRTOUDCTION
Two cluaseso f tChoen istttuino relattoet hes bujetc ofe xceuitve
patrgoena.T hef irsptr odveist hta the spiredent
shalnlo imntae,a ndb y awnidt thh eA dvicaen dC onesnto ft he
Sentae,s halalpp oitn Ambassdaors,o theprub liMci nistaenrds
Conlssu,J ugdeso ft hes upreCmoeu ,r t and otahlelOr f ficers
of tUhnei tedt.eS,st wahoseAp opitnmesn tare noth ereoitnh er­
wisper ovidfeo,dran d whihc shalblee stbalishbeydL a :w
butt he Croensmgsay byL awv est Atpphoeit nmenotf s uch
inferOifofrci er,sa st hetyh inpkr op,ei rnt heP resiednt
1
alo,n e itnh eC ousr otfL a,wo ri nt heH eadosfD epartmse.nt
Whilet heC onsitttuino thugsa vteh ep resiedntan extensriovlee
int hep rocesosfa pponitmetntof ederoaflif c,ei t· afiletdom akea ny
prosviiofno rr emolvs.a Undewrh act irumcstnaceansd byw howm ere
removsa ltboe m ad?e Thisq usetino beceam thec entoefr par olonged
discusisni·otnFh ier sCto nrgeswshe nt heb ilelts ablishtihnegD epart-
menotf F oreiAgnf fai(rlast eSrt aet Depart)m ceamnetb eofret hta body
inJ une,1 78,9 witthh ep rosvoiint hta thsee creyt waras"t ob er emobvlae
byt heP resiedn.t"D uirngt hec oursoef t hed eabte int heH ousoef
Rerpeesnttaivessve eraglr eatvlayira nti deawse raei erdb,u tt hec entral
issue ftohrem aojritoyft hem ebmerwsa sw hethetrh er ightt or emove
wasan � offciiop oweorft hep resiednto ra ni nceindto f tphoew etro
2
appoitn and thereftoorb ees harebdy t hep reseindtan d the Stee.n a
!uniteSdtt aesC onsttiiotn,uAr ticle, S IeIciton 2,C lause2 .
Theo nlrye stricptliaocnoe ndt hipsr osviino was tihncaumtb etn congress­
menc oulndo th olodt hefre deroaflif ces. Ibdi.,A rticel I,S ecitno 6,
--
Clau2s.e ·
2virtuaulnlsyu rpptoewda st hep osint oifoW illiamS mitohf S outh
Caroliwnhao i nistsedt hatth eo nlpyr osviiomnad eb yt heC onisttuiton
1
2
Thel attveire wwa sp resenctlearedl yb yA lexanWhdieter of
Virgiia,nw hom aianitnetdht a,s incteh eC onstitudtiivoindt ehdep ower
ofa ppoitnmenbte twetehnep reseindtan d theS entae, "theoyu ghatl stoo
3
bea ssoicatedi n tdhiesi msisonf roomf ifc.e" Ins uppoorftt hev iwe,
JohPna g,e fae llVoiwr ginn,ig aaveex rpesisont oa thuoghwth ichun doubt-
edlayls ow ast ruoblinsgmo eo fh isc ollgeusae.A rgiungt hta leaving
thep oweorfr emovwailt thh ep reseindta lonweo uledn curoage theg rowth
ofa no rangiztaino ofc ivils ervanst loyatloh i,mP agwear netdh ta "con-
ferritnhgsi pow,e srof ar frommak ing Ptrhseei edntm orree spoinbsle,
diimnishheissr esponsiit,yb ilainndc litnoee sst ablishhi ma ni ndeenpdent
4
moncarh."
Thec hiesfp oskmeanf ort hep reseind'tsr ightt or emove from
offiwcaesJ amesM adsio,n whhaod ar gueidn an earliHeorue s disciuosns
ont hsi sbujetc that to tdhierv eimdoev paolw ebre twetehnep reisdent
and the Sewnoautlehd a ve etfhfee ocftd iimnishingp retsheiend' ts
5
responsitiybf iolrt hea ctioonfs thoofsifeci alunsd erh im. Hen ow
summarizehdi sp ostiino:
forr emovwaalsi mpeacehmn,tt hebrye pilmyitnhga otf fciesw erteo b e
helddu irngg ood vbieohorar alte asfto rt emrsf ixebdyl a.w Annals
ofC onrges,sF irsCto nrgess,4 75. A vierwe cveiinsgo mmeod erastuep ­
porwta sp resenbtyeS dh ermoanf C onnecctui,tw hom aianitnetdht a ofifce
wast hec retaino ofC onrgesansd therefwoirteh tihne l imiotfst heC on­
stitutcioounlb der eguleadti nan y mannCeorn rgess swa fi.t Ibdi.,5 11.
3
Ibi.d'47 3.
4
Ibid.' 405-41.
5
!bid.,3 8,7 394-95.