State of the Union Addresses

by Andrew Johnson

"State of the Union Addresses by Andrew Johnson" is a collection of presidential addresses delivered between 1865-1869. Johnson's final message in 1868 provoked unprecedented Congressional rejection—the Senate interrupted its reading, and the House refused to print it. The lame-duck president proposed repudiating Civil War bond obligations and repeated his attacks on Reconstruction policy. Newspapers called it "Andy's last howl" and "disgraceful to the country." Congress responded by guaranteeing bondholders full payment, overriding Johnson's combative final stand against both financial creditors and political opponents.