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Primary sourceNewspaper article1865

President Johnson Pardoning Rebels at the White House, and His Greeneville Tailor Shop

Stanley Fox · 1865

A Harper's Weekly page from 1865 showing President Johnson pardoning former Confederates at the White House, alongside his former tailor shop in Tennessee.

Shows Johnson exercising presidential pardon power over former Confederates, alongside his origins as a tailor.

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A page from Harper's Weekly, October 14, 1865, showing a wood engraving of President Andrew Johnson pardoning Rebels at the White House, and a photograph engraving of Johnson's tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee. Printed text columns surround the images.
Stanley Fox and J.B. Reef, President Johnson pardoning Rebels at the White House, and his Greeneville tailor-shop, Harper's Weekly, 1865.

About this source

What it is

This 1865 Harper's Weekly page contains two engravings: one sketched by Stanley Fox showing President Andrew Johnson pardoning former Confederate rebels at the White House, and another based on a photograph by J.B. Reef showing Johnson's former tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee.

Why it matters

These images contrast Johnson's rise from a small-town tailor to the presidency with his controversial Reconstruction-era policy of pardoning former Confederates after the Civil War. Together they tell a story that contemporary readers found striking, a self-made man from humble origins now holding power over the fate of men who had fought against the Union.

Look closer

  • Why might the newspaper have placed these two very different images on the same page?
  • What might the choice to show Johnson's humble beginnings suggest about how the press wanted the public to see him?
  • What does the pardoning scene not show about why Johnson's Reconstruction policies were controversial?

This newspaper article 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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