Richard Mentor Johnson
Richard Mentor Johnson (October 17, 1780–November 19, 1850) was a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky and the ninth Vice President of the United States.
He was born at "Beargrass", Jefferson County, Kentucky, near the present site of Louisville, and attended Transylvania University. He was admitted to the bar in 1802, and was a member of the state House of Representatives from 1804-1806 and again in 1819. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Tenth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1807-March 3, 1819). He was chairman of the Committee on Claims and the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War.
Johnson was commissioned a Colonel of Kentucky Volunteers and commanded a regiment in engagements against the British in Lower Canada in 1813. He was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John J. Crittenden, and was reelected and served from December 10, 1819 to March 3, 1829. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1829.
He was chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads. He was elected to the Twenty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1829-March 3, 1837) He was chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and Committee on Military Affairs. He was chosen Vice President by the Senate on February 8, 1837, no candidate having received a majority of the electoral vote, and served under President Martin Van Buren from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1841.
Johnson was a member of the state House of Representatives in 1850, but he died in Frankfort, Kentucky soon after taking his seat. He was intered in the Frankfort Cemetery.
His brothers James and John Telemachus and his nephew Robert Ward Johnson were all members of the House of Representatives, and, in the case of Robert Ward, a Senator as well.
After his first two wives died, the old Jacksonian Democrat had a common-law marriage with a former slave, Julia Chinn, whom he had inherited from his father. Together they had two daughters, Adaline Chinn Johnson and Imogene Chinn Johnson.
External Links
Senate Historical Office: Richard Mentor Johnson Biography (pdf)
Referenced By
1837 | 1850 | 19 November | 19th November | 8 February | 8th February | Battle of Chrysler's Farm | Battle of Moraviantown | Battle of the Thames | Biographical Listing/J | Eighteenth United States Congress | Eleventh United States Congress | February 8 | February 8th | Fifteenth United States Congress | Fourteenth United States Congress | Johnson | List of people by name: J | Nineteenth United States Congress | November 19 | November 19th | President of the Senate of the United States | President of the United States Senate | Robert Ward Johnson | Seventeenth United States Congress | Sixteenth United States Congress | Tenth United States Congress | Thirteenth United States Congress | Twelfth United States Congress | Twentieth United States Congress | Twenty-first United States Congress | Twenty-fourth United States Congress | Twenty-second United States Congress | Twenty-third United States Congress | U.S. Vice President | U.S. presidential election, 1836 | U.S. presidential election, 1840 | United States Vice President | Vice-President of the United States | Vice President of the United States | Vice President of the United States of America | Vice Presidents of the United States
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