U.S. Mint to Release Andrew Johnson Presidential Silver Medal

President Andrew Johnson

The United States Mint has an ongoing Presidential Silver Medal Series that began in 2018. The series will cover all the presidents, even those considered to be not very good by historians. The next medal in the series is one of those subpar presidents, Andrew Johnson, who was the 17th President of the United States, and successor to the assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Johnson was a pro Union U.S. Senator from Tennessee, the only Senator from a seceding state to remain in the Senate. Johnson was appointed Military Governor of Tennessee (those parts of the state that were under Union control) in March of 1862, with the rank of Brigadier General. Johnson proved a very capable administrator as Military Governor, and in an effort to show unity in the 1864 presidential election, Lincoln selected southerner and War Democrat Johnson to be his running mate. In a further effort at unity, the Lincoln-Johnson ticket ran as the National Union Party to attract both Republicans and War Democrats.

The Presidency of Andrew Johnson

After Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson became president and had the difficult task of implementing Reconstruction. He often clashed with the Republicans in the House and Senate, most notably over civil rights and voting rights for African Americans. While Congress was in recess, Johnson instituted his own policies which included allowing states to create laws called Black Codes, which restricted the civil rights of African Americans. When Congress returned, it passed laws to grant and protect the rights of the former slaves and other blacks, often overriding Johnson’s vetoes in the process.

In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure in Office Act, which limited the ability of the president to remove certain office holders without approval of the Senate. Johnson, who had vetoed the bill and was overridden, decided to challenge the law by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. In response, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson, the first presidential impeachment in U.S. history. Johnson was acquitted by one vote in his Senate trial, and remained in office.

Andrew Johnson’s Senate Impeachment Trial

He finished his term, and tried to get the Democratic nomination for president in 1868 for a second term, failing to do so. He left office in March 1869, when Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as the 18th President of the United States. (The Tenure of Office Act was modified in 1869 and repealed entirely in 1887).

Andrew Johnson Leaving Office by Harper’s Weekly

The Andrew Johnson Silver Presidential Medal is essentially a reproduction of the Andrew Johnson Indian Peace Medal from 1865. Indian Peace Medals, also made of silver, go back to George Washington’s time, and were given to Native American leaders at important events like treaty signings. The front has a portrait of Johnson. On the back, a Native American and a figure representing the United States are shaking hands in front of a bust of George Washington.

Andrew Johnson Presidential Medal Front

Andrew Johnson Presidential Medal Back

The Johnson Medal, like all in this series, is a collector’s item of 99.9% silver, and not a unit of currency. It will go on sale on August 14th, 2023, and will cost $75.