| 1867 State of the Union Address | |
| Type: | State of the Union Address |
| Participants: | Andrew Johnson |
| Blank1 Label: | Previous |
| Blank1 Data: | 1866 State of the Union Address |
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| Blank2 Data: | 1868 State of the Union Address |
On Tuesday, December 3, 1867, at 12:30, Col. Robert Johnson, Andrew Johnson's son and Secretary to the President of the United States, reported the President's annual message to the U.S. House of Representatives.[1]
This annual message is notable for having included a passage that historian Eric Foner describes as "probably the most blatantly racist pronouncement ever to appear in an official state paper of an American President." The passage in question is copied below, with emphasis added to most often-quoted phrases:[2]
The text had been leaked to the press early and an investigation of the leak was requested.[3] According to one newspaper, "Outside of reconstruction there are many good things in it which will meet the hearty approbation of the country. On the latter he charges home declaring the Congressional scheme of reconstruction a failure and attended with immense expense, that the negroes being slaves one day are not fit for the exercise of suffrage the next, and twits Congress of the late elections. The President evidently feels his oats this year and is much more defiant than one year ago. Of course he will not see how he himself has stood in the way of reconstruction, and very naturally lays the blame elsewhere."[4]