Editing Thomas Johnson (judge) (section)

== 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 [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]. In November 1775, Congress created a [[Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War#Committee of (Secret) Correspondence|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/ar/91718.htm |title=Secret Committee of Correspondence/Committee for Foreign Affairs, 1775–1777 |date=5 September 2007 |publisher=U. S. Department of State |access-date=2007-11-21 |archive-date=2009-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205233933/https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/ar/91718.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 [[Maryland Constitution of 1776|state's first constitution]]. It was adopted for Maryland by the state's constitutional convention at Annapolis in 1776. He also served as a senior [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] in the [[Maryland Military Department|Maryland militia]] from January 1776 to February 1777,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Johnson, Thomas {{!}} Federal Judicial Center |url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/johnson-thomas |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref> commanding troops sent to aid Washington during his retreat through New Jersey in the winter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Johnson, New Dictionary of National Biography Entry |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000700/000743/html/ndnbjohnson.html#:~:text=From%20Jan%201776%20to%20Feb,of%20the%20State%20of%20Maryland. |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=msa.maryland.gov}}</ref> Thomas Johnson and his brothers supported the revolution by manufacturing ammunition and possibly cannon.<ref>{{cite web
   |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/cato/culthist/furnace.htm
   |title=Catoctin Iron Furnace
   |publisher=U. S. National Park Service
   |access-date=2007-09-26
   |archive-date=2007-10-16
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016115405/http://www.nps.gov/archive/cato/culthist/furnace.htm
   |url-status=live
   }}</ref> 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]].<ref name=newspost/>

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,<ref>John Clifford, [http://www.nps.gov/thst/historyculture/upload/Mount%20Vernon%20Conference-2.doc Mount Vernon Conference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108175322/http://www.nps.gov/thst/historyculture/upload/Mount%20Vernon%20Conference-2.doc |date=2012-11-08 }}</ref> the [[Mount Vernon Conference|resulting conference]] agreed to regulate and settle the jurisdiction and navigation on their mutual border of the Potomac River. Their process served as a predecessor to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] of 1787.<ref>[http://www.virginiaplaces.org/pdf/mdvaapp1.pdf Compact of 1785 (1786 Md. Laws c. 1)]</ref> Johnson attended the Maryland Convention in 1788, where he successfully urged the state's ratification of the [[United States Constitution]]. That year, he lost to [[John Eager Howard]] in the [[1788 Maryland gubernatorial election|Maryland gubernatorial election]].<ref name="GBN">{{cite web |date=26 August 2004 |title=MD Governor |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=122169 |access-date=24 April 2024 |publisher=ourcampaigns.com}}</ref>