Andrew Johnson was one of the most fascinating figures in the nineteenth century. His unique personality and career had been only faintly reckoned with by writers. His life was like a Greek tragedy or Shakespeare's Richard III. He was a sadly subverted idealist whose prejudices and stubborn strength distorted his vision and thwarted his remarkable potential. Standing at the crossroads of cultural change, and having great power, Johnson blocked the 'right' path toward the evolution of a healthy, multi-racial society. The 'what ifs' of history always haunt the mystical spiral that is time.
In reading their early letters, I found the two young (Johnson age 27 and Jones 29) members of the Tennessee State House of Representatives-Johnson at age twenty seven and Jones at age twenty-nine-struggling for significance and a place in the politics of the time. Both were hungry for status, a place to serve themselves and others. The saddler from Fayetteville and the tailor from Greenville had an affinity for one another as craftsmen, respectable working men, 'mechanics,' and as faithful Jacksonian Democrats. Both came to Nashville in 1835 to begin their state and national public service.
Their plebeian brand of politics was grounded in trust of their class, common people, and was distinguished by distrust of those privileged, in concentrations of wealth, opposition to government aid to business, and support of limited government with budgetary restraint. Both supported Manifest Destiny and expanded suffrage. They favored slavery but were not fanatical in this. Strong Unionists, they adored Jackson.
Both were suspected by the Democratic Party power brokers; they were just a bit more democratic than was safe for winning elections. Excluded from positions of power within the inner circle of leadership in Tennessee, both Johnson and Jones demonstrated maverick tendencies. They would break with the party line when principles were neglected. They both worked for an end to imprisonment for debt in Tennessee. This ancient oppression served the overlords' arrogance and nothing else. Mr. Jones was the driver of this effort at populist reform.
By the 1842 elections, both were ready for higher office. In their efforts to move from the Tennessee State Senate to the U.S. Congress, each counseled the other on campaigning. While Johnson would have to struggle with each election in his northeast Tennessee's First District after his victory in 1843, Jones' position was secure. Only twice in eight elections was Jones opposed. From 1843 until 1852 he was the representative from the Tennessee 5th District, which included Franklin (Winchester), Lincoln (Fayetteville), Bedford (Shelbyville), and Marshall (Lewisburg) counties; from 1853 until he retired in 1859, he was the representative from the 6th District, which, was made up of those four counties plus Maury (Columbia).