J. Neely Johnson

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J. Neely Johnson
4th Governor of California
In office
January 9, 1856 – January 8, 1858
LieutenantRobert M. Anderson
Preceded byJohn Bigler
Succeeded byJohn B. Weller
Personal details
Born(1825-08-02)August 2, 1825
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
Political partyWhig Party, American Party
SpouseMary Zabriskie
Children
  • William
  • Bessie
ProfessionJurist, lawyer, politician
Signature

John Neely Johnson (August 2, 1825 – August 31, 1872) was an American lawyer and politician. He was elected as the

Progressive Party
).

Biography

Born in rural Gibson County, Indiana, Johnson never attended University; while born to a prominent family, his plans for his studies were foiled by economic effects of the Panic of 1837. He apprenticed a printer before moving to Iowa to work with a lawyer, and was admitted to practice law in Iowa.[2]

In July 1849, Johnson left Iowa for the

Ferris Forman, and was elected as Sacramento City Attorney in 1850.[3] After two years in the City Attorney's office, Johnson began his political career by running as a Whig in the 1852 election, in which Johnson was elected to the California State Assembly as one of four members representing Sacramento.[4]

During his time in the Assembly, Johnson nearly broke a local editor's nose after accusing the editor of writing an insulting article about him. The editor aimed a pistol at Johnson, but was tackled by onlookers before he could fire.[5]

In 1854, both the state and federal wings of the Whig Party were on the verge on collapse due to party splits over the Kansas–Nebraska Act. In the wake of this split, Johnson joined the nativist American Party, known popularly as the Know Nothings.[citation needed]

In the

Catholic sentiment. The party nominated Assemblyman Johnson as its candidate for governor. Johnson ran against incumbent John Bigler, with Johnson securing the governorship by a comfortable margin. Johnson was described as "the most startled man in the state" upon hearing of his election.[5]

Along with the governorship, Know Nothings also received considerable gains in the

Attorney General (William T. Wallace), Treasurer (Henry Bates), and Controller (George W. Whitman).[6]

Governor

Johnson was sworn in as the fourth

San Mateo County
.

The Vigilante Committee

lithograph
depicting James Casey and Charles Cora being taken prisoner by armed Vigilante Committee members

Since the early 1850s, tensions within

John McDougall
, condemned the actions of the vigilantes, but was not able to stop them because state law enforcement was too weak.

Distrust of city authorities again reached the surface on May 14, 1856, when

U.S. Marshal
the previous year.

Johnson traveled to San Francisco from Sacramento along with his brother William and the newly commissioned chief of the California Militia, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman to meet the Vigilante Committee ringleaders. Sherman recalled in his 1875 Memoirs Johnson angrily confronting Coleman and other Vigilante ringleaders in their makeshift headquarters and exclaiming, "Coleman, what the devil is the matter here?" Coleman replied that the San Franciscans "were tired of it, and had no faith in the officers of the law."[10] After personal negotiations between Governor Johnson and the Vigilantes over transferring the criminals to state law enforcement failed, Johnson watched helplessly as both Casey and Cora were hanged by the Vigilantes on May 20.

Portrait of Johnson by William F. Cogswell

Johnson returned to Sacramento with the Vigilantes refusing to disperse, claiming they were San Francisco's rightful law enforcement. With the city's

Volney E. Howard continued to gather arms, but suffered a major setback on June 21, 1856, when Vigilantes seized the arms schooner Julia.[13]

The Vigilantes remained San Francisco's de facto law enforcement until August 1856. Vigilantes arrested Chief Justice David S. Terry of the Supreme Court of California for stabbing a Vigilante member, and hanged two more individuals. Governor Johnson revoked his proclamation on San Francisco's insurrection on November 3.[14]

Rest of term

The Vigilante Crisis in the summer of 1856 overshadowed the rest of Johnson's term. Despite the fact that a large portion of the

George W. Bowie. Bowie would be defeated by Lecompton Democrat John Weller. Shortly after, the American Party ceased to be a major political force in California and elsewhere throughout the United States, and were absorbed by the Republican Party
and sections of the Democratic Party.

Nevada

Frustrated by his tenure in the California governorship and anxious for a new political start, Johnson relocated to western

Nevada
's electorate ratified this second attempt, and Nevada was admitted as a U.S. state on October 31, 1864.

In 1867,

Salt Lake City on August 31, 1872.[16]

References

  1. ^ "The Nevada Supreme Court". Nevada State Library and Archives. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  2. ^ Melendy and Gilbert. The Governors of California: From Peter H. Burnett to Edmund G. Brown, Talisman Press, 1965.
  3. ^ James P. Jackson (1999). "Celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the Sacramento City Attorney's Office" (PDF). City of Sacramento. Archived from the original (.PDF) on 2007-06-20. Retrieved 2007-05-10. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "J. Neely Johnson Candidate Biography". JoinCalifornia. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  5. ^ a b c California State Library. "Governor J. Neeley Johnson of California". State of California. Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  6. ^ "5 September 1855 General Election". JoinCalifornia. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  7. ^ Long, Percy Vincent (1912). The Consolidated City and County Government of San Francisco: Read Before the Annual Convention of the American Political Science Association, Held at Buffalo, New York, December 28, 1911. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  8. ^ San Francisco (Calif.) (1887). The Consolidation Act and Other Acts Relating to the Government of the City and County of San Francisco. Wm. M. Hinton & Company.
  9. ^ "The Vigilantes". San Francisco Virtual Museum. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  10. ISBN 0-14-043798-3
    .
  11. ^ - California Military Museum
  12. ^ John Wool (5 June 1856). "Letter Governor Johnson". Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  13. ^ "William Tecumseh Sherman (1820 - 1891)". Museum of the City of San Francisco. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  14. OCLC 108243065
    .
  15. ^ William C. Miller; Eleanore Bushnell, eds. A.J. Marsh, S.L. Clemens, Amos Bowman. Reports of the 1863 Constitutional Convention of the Territory of Nevada (Carson City: Legislative Counsel Bureau, 1972), p. 465, n18.
  16. ^ Sacramento Daily Union, vol. 43, no. 6682, 2 September 1872, p.2.

External links

Party political offices
First Know Nothing nominee for Governor of California
1855 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Four members
 California State Assemblyman, 11th District
1853–1854
(with three others) 		Succeeded by
Three members
Preceded by
Governor of California

1856–1858 		Succeeded by
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