What: President after Lincoln's assassination When: 1864-1868( president) Why: " An accidental president" who was an ex-Tennessee Senator. Johnson was Lincoln's vice-president. He was a Southerner who did not understand the North, a Tennessee who had never been accepted by the Republicans, and a president who had never been elected to the office. Republicans feared that Southerners might join hands with Democrats in the North and win control of Congress. If the South ran Congress blacks might be enslaved once again. To protest blacks, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill, but Johnson vetoed the Bill. Congress tried to have Johnson impeached. The bill to have him impeached passed in the Senate. The one great achievement that Johnson's administration committed was the purchase of Alaska.