• The President's signature stamp

    Andrew Johnson

    National Historic Site Tennessee

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The Freedmen's Bureau Bill

Freedmen's Bureau Bill

First Veto:

1. Johnson was opposed to the use of the military during peacetime.

2. Johnson felt the Bill was a Federal encroachment into state matters.

3. Johnson felt this was "class legislation" for a particular segment of society that:

a. Would keep the ex-slaves from being self-sustaining, and

b. Had not been done for struggling whites (like he had been as an ex-apprentice).

4. Johnson did not feel that Congress should be making these decisions for unrepresented states.

Second veto:

Johnson's second objections were the same as his first.

Did You Know?

Did You Know?

Andrew Johnson was injured in a train wreck in 1857. Afterwards his right elbow was virtually immobile and he often used a signature stamp for documents.