Living in Greeneville, you learn very quickly that they love them some Andrew Johnson. The main road through town is Andrew Johnson Blvd. The local bank is Andrew Johnson Bank. The 17th president is buried here. His house is a National Park site. His old tailor shop was moved to the inside of the Andrew Johnson Visitors Center. The Andrew Johnson Presidential Library and Museum is on the campus of Tusculum College. At one time Johnson was mayor of Greeneville.
Growing up in Middle Tennessee, Johnson was a bit of a footnote in history class: Lincoln’s vice president, took over when Lincoln was assassinated, impeached for showing favoritism to the South during Reconstruction. Last year, a group of museum professionals went on a tour of the Capitol in Nashville. The tour guide was showing off the portraits of the three men from Tennessee who became president: Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson. She called him a traitor. This, of course, ruffled some feathers (and understandably so).
Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act because he believed it flew in the face of the separation of powers. The Supreme Court later agreed with him and declared the act unconstitutional.
Today, the U.S. Mint sent representatives to the second oldest town in Tennessee to unveil the President Andrew Johnson dollar coin. We pulled the kids out of school to go see the festivities, which included a presentation of colors by a local Civil War reenactment group (Union soldiers, btw), a local first grade class led us in the Pledge of Alegance, remarks from the president of Andrew Johnson Bank, a biographical sketch from the local Andrew Johnson impersonator, remarks from the chief counsel of the U.S. Mint and then every child received a brand new, shiny Andrew Johnson dollar.
Girl Scouts served cake featuring the coin. Andrew Johnson Bank set up a tent where the adults could buy the dollar coins. It was a fun ceremony and a real piece of history, the sort of thing numistmatists dream of.
Tennessee is an odd duck in that the state is divided into three sections, the “Three Grand Divisions” of Tennessee. My experience from living in two of the three is that the people on this end, don’t care much for the way Andrew Johnson is treated by the other two. They know Nashville exists out there somewhere, but have no reason to worry about it much. And Memphis might as well be in Arkansas. But I’ve grown to see the charm of this place and have learned to appreciate the local flavor.
In April, Greeneville will host a convention of Lincoln impersonators. I cannot wait.
Posted on February 17, 2011
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