Andrew Johnson was not elected to fill Lincoln's role, he was just elected his Vice President. After the assassination he found himself in a very difficult position. Rebuilding the United States after the Civil War would be a heavy task for him. He intended to gain some compliance from the seceding states and unify the entire country as it was before the Civil War. He was put in situations he was not comfortable with and was not prepared to deal with during his presidency. Honestly he was only elected to try to maintain the balance between the North and the South and to gain support from pro-war Democrats. Johnson Didn't Have Much Education During the Reconstruction era after the terrible Civil War, Andrew Johnson was eager to create a more stable and strong nation. Andrew Johnson never went to school, he simply taught himself to read. This demonstrated his desire to work, but provided almost no education. As seen in Hans L. Trefousse's biography of Andrew Johnson, Andrew Johnson was deprived of school and any general teaching opportunities. Johnson came from poverty, so education was not an option. When he was young he taught himself to read. Andrew Johnson was deprived of the school and of any general teaching duties. Trefousse states, "Andrew Johnson stands out as unique: unique for being the only one to be impeached and unique for not attending school for a single day." He was apprenticed to the tailor of Selby where he came to listen to the townspeople read to the tailors. Johnson wasn't the best prepared for his job considering he had never gone to school. Self-taught learning is great, but it wasn't good enough for the presidency, only for the vice presidency. The United States was not looking for a vice president with… middle of paper… expecting to have to rebuild the United States as president while he was running for vice president. Andrew Johnson should never have been elected Vice President of the United States. Having almost no education is really not a good start for a VP. He was put in situations where he was extremely unprepared and didn't make an intelligent decision. Andrew Johnson's unpreparedness and Johnson was not prepared to take on the task of reconstruction and try to return the United States to the original peace. Works Cited "Andrew Johnson". Andrew Johnson NP Web. October 20, 2013. "Andrew Johnson." History.com. A&E and Web Television Networks. November 14, 2013Trefousse, Hans L. Andrew Johnson: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1989. Print."35a. Presidential Reconstruction." Presidential Reconstruction [ushistory.org]. US History and the Web. November 14. 2013.