>> he was essentially an incredibly racist, neo-confederate who was dead set against congress' program of reconstructing the south. >> republicans in congress despised andrew johnson. >> he stood for the repression of african-americans whom a war had just been fought to liberate. >> president johnson vetoed almost all the measures to give civil liberties and representation to blacks. the republican-controlled congress decided to wage a political war. >> it set an impeachment trap for him. >> that trap was called the tenure of office act. >> congress passed a law over johnson's veto that said he could not fire his own cabinet members. >> when president johnson fired his secretary of war, edwin stanton, the house approved 11 articles of impeachment against him, one of which accused the president of bringing congress into ridicule and disgrace. >> their entire approach to