Editing Thomas Johnson (judge)

{{Short description|US Supreme Court justice from 1791 to 1793}}
{{other people||Thomas Johnson (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox judge
| name                = Thomas Johnson
| image               = Thomas Johnson (governor).jpeg
| office              = [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
| nominator           = [[George Washington]]
| term_start          = September 19, 1791 <!--Term start date as per www.supremecourt.gov, reflects date oath taken-->
| term_end            = January 16, 1793<ref name=SCOTUSjustices>{{cite web| url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx| title= Justices 1789 to Present| publisher=Supreme Court of the United States| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 14, 2022}}</ref>
| predecessor         = [[John Rutledge]]
| successor           = [[William Paterson (judge)|William Paterson]]
| office1             = 1st [[Governor of Maryland]]
| term_start1         = March 21, 1777
| term_end1           = November 12, 1779
| predecessor1        = [[Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland|Robert Eden]] {{small|(Royal)}}
| successor1          = [[Thomas Sim Lee|Thomas Lee]]
| office2             = [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.#Commissioners of the Federal City (1791–1802)|2nd Commissioner of the Federal City]]
| term_start2         = January 22, 1791
| term_end2           = August 23, 1794
| predecessor2        = ''Office created''
| successor2          = [[Gustavus Scott]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1732|11|4}}
| birth_place         = [[St. Leonard, Maryland|St. Leonard]], [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], [[British America]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1819|10|26|1732|11|4}}
| death_place         = [[Frederick, Maryland]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick Maryland|Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, MD]]
| party               = [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
| signature           = Thomas Johnson Signature.svg
| caption             = portrait by [[Charles Willson Peale]]
| allegiance          = [[File:Flag of the United States (1776–1777).svg|23px]] [[United Colonies of North America]]
| branch              = [[File:Seal of the United States Board of War and Ordnance.svg|23px]] [[Continental Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1776–1777
| rank                = [[File:Continental Army-Brigadier general.svg|23px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]
| commands            = [[File:Flag of Maryland.svg|23px]] [[Maryland Line]]
| battles             = [[American Revolutionary War]]
}}

'''Thomas Johnson ''' (November 4, 1732 – October 26, 1819) was an 18th-century American lawyer, politician, and [[Patriot (American Revolution)|patriot]].<ref name=newspost>{{cite web| title=Thomas Johnson: Patriot, politician lost in history| last=Guynn| first=Susan| date= November 11, 2007| url=https://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/thomas-johnson-patriot-politician-lost-in-history/article_6b73a55b-582d-5216-b94d-97e879e7fbdd.html| newspaper=Frederick News-Post| location=Frederick, Maryland|access-date=February 14, 2022}}</ref> He was a [[Delegate (American politics)|delegate]] to the [[First Continental Congress]] in 1774, where he signed the [[Continental Association]]; commander of the [[Maryland]] [[Militia (United States)|militia]] in 1776; and elected [[List of Governors of Maryland|first (non-Colonial) governor of Maryland]] in 1777. Throughout his career, Johnson maintained a personal and political friendship with [[George Washington]],<ref name=newspost/> who gave him a [[recess appointment]] as an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in August 1791. Citing poor health, he served only briefly and resigned in January 1793, with the second shortest tenure of any Supreme Court justice.

== Life before the Revolution ==
Thomas Johnson was born in [[Calvert County, Maryland]], on November 4, 1732,<!-- probably Gregorian Calendar, but found no reliable source giving Oct 24 or Nov 15 – all sources agree on Nov 4 --> to Thomas Johnson (1702–1777) and his wife Dorcas Sedgwick Johnson (1705–1770). His grandfather, also named Thomas Johnson (1656–1714), was a lawyer in London who had emigrated to Maryland sometime before 1700. The younger Thomas was the fourth of ten children, some of whom later had large families of their own. ([[Louisa Adams|Louisa Johnson]], daughter of his brother [[Joshua Johnson (merchant)|Joshua]], married [[John Quincy Adams]].)

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, Maryland|Frederick County]], and in 1761 he was elected to the [[Maryland General Assembly|Maryland provincial assembly]] for the first time. On February 16, 1766, Johnson married [[Ann Jennings Johnson|Ann Jennings]],<ref>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.</ref> 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.<ref name=newspost/>

== 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>

== Federal years ==
In September 1789, [[Presidency of George Washington|President George Washington]] nominated Johnson to be the first [[United States federal judge|federal judge]] for the District of Maryland, but he declined the appointment. In 1790 and 1791, Johnson was the senior justice in the Maryland General Court system. In January 1791, President Washington appointed Johnson, with [[David Stuart (Virginia politician)|David Stuart]] and [[Daniel Carroll]], to the commission that would lay out the federal capital in accordance with the [[Residence Act]] of 1790. In September 1791 the commissioners named the federal city "The City of Washington" and the federal district "The Territory of [[Columbia (name)|Columbia]]".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ Crew, Harvey W., Webb, William Bensing, Wooldridge, John (1892), ''Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C.'', United Brethren Publishing House, Dayton, Ohio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506134020/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPR1,M1 |date=2016-05-06 }}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ Chapter IV. "Permanent Capital Site Selected", pp. 87–88, 101] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506134020/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA87,M1 |date=2016-05-06 }} ''in'' [https://books.google.com/books Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103122323/https://books.google.com/books |date=2016-01-03 }}</ref>

On August 5, 1791, Johnson received a [[recess appointment]] from Washington as an [[associate justice of the United States Supreme Court|Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court]], to the seat vacated by [[John Rutledge]],<ref name=FJCTJohnson>{{cite web| title=Johnson, Thomas| url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/johnson-thomas| publisher=Federal Judicial Center| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 14, 2022}}</ref> and was [[Oath of office#Federal judiciary oaths|sworn into office]] on September 19, 1791.<ref name=SCOTUSjustices/> Formally [[Nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States|nominated]] to the position on October 31, 1791, his appointment was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on November 7, 1791.<ref name=FJCTJohnson/> Johnson was the author of the Court's first written opinion, ''[[Georgia v. Brailsford (1792)|Georgia v. Brailsford]]'', in 1792. He served on the court until resigning on January 16, 1793,<ref name=FJCTJohnson/> citing his poor health.<ref name=newspost/>

Johnson suffered very poor health for many years, and cited it in declining Washington's 1795 offer to nominate him for [[United States Secretary of State|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 [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia|District of Columbia]]; he was confirmed for the post, but declined the appointment.<ref name=FJCTJohnson/>

== Later years, death and legacy ==
[[File:Justice Johnson.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Johnson's gravesite at Mount Olivet Cemetery]]
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 [[Frederick, Maryland]]. The home, called [[Rose Hill Manor]], is now a county park and open to the public. [[Governor Thomas Johnson High School]] is on half of the Rose Hill property. He died at Rose Hill on October 26, 1819, and was originally buried in All Saints churchyard. His remains were removed and re-interred at [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]] in Frederick.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c20_e.html |title=Christensen, George A. (1983) ''Here Lies the Supreme Court: Gravesites of the Justices'', Yearbook |access-date=2005-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050903032026/http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c20_e.html |archive-date=September 3, 2005 }} [[Supreme Court Historical Society]] at [[Internet Archive]].</ref><ref>See also {{cite journal |last=Christensen |first=George A. |title=Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited |journal=Journal of Supreme Court History |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=17–41 |year=2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5818.2008.00177.x |s2cid=145227968 }}</ref>

Johnson was one of the first investors in the [[Illinois-Wabash Company]], which acquired a vast swath of land in Illinois directly from several Indian tribes. Soon after his death in 1819 his son Joshua Johnson and grandson Thomas Graham sued [[William M'Intosh (fur trader)|William M'Intosh]] in the landmark Supreme Court case ''[[Johnson v. McIntosh]]''. The case, which remains one of the most important [[Property (law)|property]] decisions in American history, determined that only the federal government could acquire Indian land, so Johnson's descendants did not have [[good title]] to the property.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Eric |last=Kades |title=The Dark Side of Efficiency: ''Johnson v. McIntosh'' and the Expropriation of American Indian Lands |volume=148 |journal=[[University of Pennsylvania Law Review]] |issue=4 |pages=1065–1190 |year=2000 |doi=10.2307/3312840 |jstor=3312840 |url=https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3363&context=penn_law_review |access-date=2021-04-29 |archive-date=2021-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429115349/https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3363&context=penn_law_review |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Other schools named after Thomas Johnson include Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School in Frederick, Maryland, Thomas Johnson Middle School in [[Lanham, Maryland]] and Thomas Johnson Elementary School in [[Baltimore]], Maryland. In 1978, the [[Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge]] was opened to traffic. The bridge crosses the [[Patuxent River]] and connects [[Calvert County, Maryland|Calvert]] with [[St. Mary's County, Maryland|St. Mary's]] Counties. As Johnson was a slave owner, the naming of schools for him has become controversial.<ref>{{cite web
   |url=https://www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/letter_to_editor/thomas-johnson-not-appropriate-for-a-schools-name/article_fdedeffe-21e7-56cf-b547-6e06b744bbe4.html
   |title=Letter to the Editor. Thomas Johnson not appropriate for a school's name
   |author=Dr. Emilie Amt Myersville
   |date=6 May 2019
 |publisher=The Frederick New Post
   |access-date=2020-06-26
   |archive-date=2020-06-26
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626004200/https://www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/letter_to_editor/thomas-johnson-not-appropriate-for-a-schools-name/article_fdedeffe-21e7-56cf-b547-6e06b744bbe4.html
   |url-status=live
   }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
   |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-statue-removed-20170316-story.html
   |title=Maryland to remove statue of justice who affirmed slavery
   |date=16 March 2017
 |publisher=Baltimore Sun
   |access-date=2020-06-26
   |archive-date=2020-06-26
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626004158/https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-statue-removed-20170316-story.html
   |url-status=live
   }}</ref>

== 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]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases prior to the Marshall Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Jay Court]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Abraham |first=Henry J. |title=Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court |url=https://archive.org/details/justicespresiden0000abra |url-access=registration |edition=3rd |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |location=New York |isbn=0-19-506557-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Cushman |first=Clare |title=The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 |edition=2nd |publisher=(Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books) |year=2001 |isbn=1-56802-126-7}}
* {{cite book | last = Delaplaine |first = Edward |title = The Life of Thomas Johnson: Member of the Continental Congress, First Governor of Maryland, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court |publisher = Heritage Books |year = 1998|edition=paperback |isbn = 1-58549-687-1}}
* Flanders, Henry. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eEQEAAAAYAAJ ''The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court'']. Philadelphia: [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.]], 1874 at [[Google Books]].
* {{cite book |last=Frank |first=John P. |editor-last=Friedman |editor-first=Leon |editor2-last=Israel |editor2-first=Fred L. |title=The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |year=1995 |isbn=0-7910-1377-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/justicesofunited0000unse }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Hall |editor-first=Kermit L. |title=The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |location=New York |isbn=0-19-505835-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hall }}
* {{cite book |last=Martin |first=Fenton S. |author2=Goehlert, Robert U. |title=The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Books |year=1990 |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-87187-554-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/ussupremecourtbi0000mart }}
* {{cite book |last=Urofsky |first=Melvin I. |title=The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher=Garland Publishing |year=1994 |location=New York |isbn=0-8153-1176-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/supremecourtjust00melv }}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* {{Biographical Directory of Congress|J000175|Thomas Johnson|inline=1}}
* {{FJC Bio|1186|nid=1382861|name=Thomas Johnson<!--(1732–1819)-->}}
* [http://www.dcmemorials.com/index_indiv0006804.htm Johnson gravesite] in Frederick, Maryland
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051025064030/http://www.co.frederick.md.us/parks/RoseHill.htm Rose Hill Manor Park web pages]
* [http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/003145/html/m3145-0221.html Maryland archives image of 1776 Declaration of Rights]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080408041857/http://www.mdch.org/collection.aspx?id=289 Thomas Johnson letters – C. Burr Artz Public Library]

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland|Robert Eden]]|as=Royal Governor of Maryland}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Maryland]]|years=1777–1779}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Sim Lee|Thomas Lee]]}}
|-
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Rutledge]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]|years=1792–1793}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Paterson (judge)|William Paterson]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Signers of the Continental Association}}
{{Governors of Maryland}}
{{SCOTUS Justices}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Thomas}}
[[Category:1732 births]]
[[Category:1819 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:19th-century American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:19th-century American judges]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick, Maryland)]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from Maryland]]
[[Category:Governors of Maryland]]
[[Category:Maryland Federalists]]
[[Category:Maryland lawyers]]
[[Category:Maryland militiamen in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Militia generals in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:People from Calvert County, Maryland]]
[[Category:People of Maryland in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Politicians from Frederick, Maryland]]
[[Category:United States federal judges appointed by George Washington]]
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
[[Category:Recess appointments]]
[[Category:People from colonial Maryland]]
[[Category:Family of Thomas Johnson]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court justices who owned slaves]]
[[Category:Signers of the Continental Association]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1788–1789 United States elections]]