Andrew Johnson sworn in after Lincoln assassination

Andrew Johnson sworn in after Lincoln assassination

April 15, 2010 04:00:00 am

On April 15, 1865, Vice-President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the seventeenth President of the United States, after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Johnson became the first US President to be impeached, but he was not convicted.

Learn more about Andrew Johnson and his impeachment from the US Senate.

THIS DAY @ LAW

John Locke born

On August 29, 1632, the political philosopher John Locke was born in Wrington, England. His political philosophy and social contract theory would heavily influence the American and French Revolutions as well as the democratic governments set up following those revolutions. Read works by John Locke from Project Gutenberg.

Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed

On August 29, 1957, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation since 1875. The legislation set up the US Commission on Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice.