Who was the 17th president

1. Who the 17th president was — the basic fact

Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee politician who had been Lincoln’s vice president in 1865, became the 17th president when Lincoln was assassinated and completed the remainder of that term from 1865 to 1869; standard presidential lists and timelines record him as number 17 in the sequence of U.S. presidents ^[1].

2. How presidential numbering is determined — context on succession and counting

The official numbering of presidents follows each individual who has served as president in sequence regardless of how they took office (election or succession), which is why vice presidents who assume the office following death or resignation are counted as separate presidents — a practice reflected in common presidential lists and timelines ^[1].

3. Why Johnson’s presidency matters historically

Andrew Johnson’s presidency is historically significant because it immediately followed the Civil War and presided over early Reconstruction policies; his approach to Reconstruction and repeated clashes with Congress over the treatment of the formerly Confederate states and civil rights for formerly enslaved people defined much of his term — this context is summarized in standard presidential timelines and related historical references ^[1].

4. Sources and where this appears in reference materials

Authoritative public-facing timelines and lists such as the White House Historical Association’s “The Presidents Timeline” list presidents in order and show Andrew Johnson occupying the slot after Abraham Lincoln, indicating his status as the 17th president ^[1]. Other encyclopedic and governmental lists referenced in the search set similarly order presidents by succession, which is the standard approach used across official and educational resources ^[1].

5. What the cited sources do and do not cover about Johnson

The White House Historical Association timeline used here provides the sequential ordering and dates for presidents but is a compact timeline and does not itself present an extended biography or deep evaluation of Johnson’s policies in the excerpts provided ^[1]. For detailed policy analysis, primary documents, congressional records, and specialized biographies would be required; those deeper materials are not present in the current snippet set ^[1].

6. Competing perspectives and historiography — brief notes

Historians disagree about Johnson’s legacy: some emphasize the constitutional and political challenges he faced in a fractured postwar nation, while others criticize his leniency toward former Confederates and opposition to measures expanding civil rights — such interpretive debates are part of why Johnson is a contested figure in presidential rankings. The provided timeline confirms his place in order but does not adjudicate these historiographical debates ^[1].

7. Why the numbering still matters for readers today

Knowing a president’s ordinal number helps place their administration in the broader sweep of U.S. history (for example, “17th president” quickly signals the immediate post–Civil War era). Reference timelines and government resources use that numbering to link to events, policies, and other officeholders of the period; the timeline excerpt used here establishes that practical indexing role ^[1].

Limitations and final note: the above relies on the presidential sequence and timeline material available in the provided source excerpts; available sources do not mention extended biography details or primary-source quotations about Andrew Johnson beyond his placement in the presidential sequence ^[1]. If you want, I can fetch and summarize more detailed biographies, political actions, or major events from Johnson’s presidency using additional sources.