Thomas Johnson (judge)
Thomas Johnson | |
---|---|
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
In office September 19, 1791 – January 16, 1793[1] | |
Nominated by | George Washington |
Preceded by | John Rutledge |
Succeeded by | William Paterson |
1st Governor of Maryland | |
In office March 21, 1777 – November 12, 1779 | |
Preceded by | Robert Eden (Royal) |
Succeeded by | Thomas Lee |
2nd Commissioner of the Federal City | |
In office January 22, 1791 – August 23, 1794 | |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Gustavus Scott |
Personal details | |
Born | Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, MD | November 4, 1732
Political party | Federalist |
Signature | |
Thomas Johnson (November 4, 1732 – October 26, 1819) was an
Life before the Revolution
Thomas Johnson was born in
Thomas and his siblings were educated at home. As a young man he was attracted to the law, studied it with an established firm, and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1753. By 1760, he had moved his practice to Frederick County, and in 1761 he was elected to the Maryland provincial assembly for the first time. On February 16, 1766, Johnson married Ann Jennings,[3] the daughter of the judge under whom he apprenticed. They had eight children, including one who died in infancy and a second who died as a young adult.[2]
Revolutionary years
In 1774 and 1775, the Maryland assembly sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In the Congress Johnson was allied with those who favored separation from Great Britain. In November 1775, Congress created a Committee of [Secret] Correspondence that was to seek foreign support for the war. Thomas Johnson, along with Benjamin Franklin, and Benjamin Harrison V, were initially named to the committee.[4]
Johnson returned to Maryland and continued his work in the state's Assembly when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. In 1775 he drafted the declaration of rights adopted by the Maryland assembly and later included as the first part of the state's first constitution. It was adopted for Maryland by the state's constitutional convention at Annapolis in 1776. He also served as brigadier general in the Maryland militia. Thomas Johnson and his brothers supported the revolution by manufacturing ammunition and possibly cannon.[5] Their former factory, Catoctin Furnace, is now part of a state park near Camp David, just north of Frederick, Maryland. In the winter of 1777, Johnson delivered supplies to the Continental Army encampment at Valley Forge.[2]
Earlier in 1777, the state legislature elected Johnson as the new state's first Governor. He served in that capacity until 1779. In the 1780s he held a number of judicial posts in Maryland, as well as serving in the assembly in 1780, 1786, and 1787. He pushed a bill through the Maryland Assembly naming commissioners to meet with Virginia's commissioners to "…frame such liberal and equitable regulations concerning [the Potomac] river as may be mutually advantageous to the two states and that they make report thereon to the General assembly." Although Johnson was not a commissioner,
Federal years
In September 1789,
On August 5, 1791, Johnson received a
Johnson suffered very poor health for many years, and cited it in declining Washington's 1795 offer to nominate him for Secretary of State, as Thomas Jefferson had recommended. He managed to deliver a eulogy for his friend George Washington at a birthday memorial service on February 22, 1800. On February 28, 1801, President John Adams named Johnson chief judge for the District of Columbia; he was confirmed for the post, but declined the appointment.[9]
Later years, death and legacy
His daughter Ann had married John Colin Grahame in 1788, and in his later years Johnson lived with them in a home they had built in
Johnson was one of the first investors in the
Other schools named after Thomas Johnson include Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School in Frederick, Maryland, Thomas Johnson Middle School in
See also
- Catoctin Furnace
- List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
- List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office
- United States Supreme Court cases during the Jay Court
References
- ^ a b "Justices 1789 to Present". Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Guynn, Susan (November 11, 2007). "Thomas Johnson: Patriot, politician lost in history". Frederick News-Post. Frederick, Maryland. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ Delaplaine, Edward S. (1927). "The Life of Thomas Johnson: Member of the Continental Congress, First Governor of Maryland, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court". Westminster, Maryland, US: Willow Bend Books: 492.
- ^ "Secret Committee of Correspondence/Committee for Foreign Affairs, 1775–1777". U. S. Department of State. 5 September 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
- ^ "Catoctin Iron Furnace". U. S. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
- ^ John Clifford, Mount Vernon Conference Archived 2012-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Compact of 1785 (1786 Md. Laws c. 1)
- ^ Crew, Harvey W., Webb, William Bensing, Wooldridge, John (1892), Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C., United Brethren Publishing House, Dayton, Ohio Archived 2016-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Chapter IV. "Permanent Capital Site Selected", pp. 87–88, 101 Archived 2016-05-06 at the Wayback Machine in Google Books Archived 2016-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d "Johnson, Thomas". Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "Christensen, George A. (1983) Here Lies the Supreme Court: Gravesites of the Justices, Yearbook". Archived from the original on September 3, 2005. Retrieved 2005-09-03. Supreme Court Historical Society at Internet Archive.
- S2CID 145227968.
- from the original on 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
- ^ Dr. Emilie Amt Myersville (6 May 2019). "Letter to the Editor. Thomas Johnson not appropriate for a school's name". The Frederick New Post. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "Maryland to remove statue of justice who affirmed slavery". Baltimore Sun. 16 March 2017. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
Further reading
- Abraham, Henry J. (1992). Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3.
- Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books). ISBN 1-56802-126-7.
- Delaplaine, Edward (1998). The Life of Thomas Johnson: Member of the Continental Congress, First Governor of Maryland, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (paperback ed.). Heritage Books. ISBN 1-58549-687-1.
- Flanders, Henry. The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874 at Google Books.
- Frank, John P. (1995). Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L. (eds.). The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-1377-4.
- Hall, Kermit L., ed. (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505835-6.
- Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0-87187-554-3.
- Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8153-1176-1.
External links
- United States Congress. "Thomas Johnson (id: J000175)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Thomas Johnson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- Johnson gravesite in Frederick, Maryland
- Rose Hill Manor Park web pages
- Maryland archives image of 1776 Declaration of Rights
- Thomas Johnson letters – C. Burr Artz Public Library