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Primary sourcePainting10 March 1866

President Johnson Addresses His Fellow Citizens

10 March 1866

An 1866 Harper's Weekly engraving showing President Andrew Johnson giving a public speech in Washington in February 1866.

Depicts President Andrew Johnson delivering a public speech in Washington in February 1866.

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Wood engraving of a crowd of men in top hats and women in long dresses gathered before large white columns of a building. A man stands on a raised platform in the center, addressing them. Gas lamps and trees are visible. Caption below reads: President Johnson addressing his fellow-citizens at Washington, February 22, 1866.
"President Johnson Addresses His Fellow Citizens at Washington, February 22, 1866," Harper's Weekly, 10 March 1866.

About this source

What it is

This wood engraving was published in Harper's Weekly on 10 March 1866. It shows President Andrew Johnson addressing a crowd gathered outside a large building with white columns in Washington, D.C., on 22 February 1866.

Why it matters

This speech took place during a period of growing conflict between Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction policy. Illustrated newspapers like Harper's Weekly brought images of presidential speeches to a wide public audience, shaping how ordinary Americans saw their leaders and political debates of the day.

Look closer

  • What can you tell about the size and composition of the crowd from the engraving?
  • Why might an artist choose to show the president from a distance, surrounded by onlookers?
  • What political messages might Johnson have been delivering at this moment, and how might that shape the way the illustrator drew the scene?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Johnson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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