Thomas Johnson
portrait byCharles Willson Peale
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
1stGovernor 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	(1732-11-04)November 4, 1732 St. Leonard,Maryland,British America
Died	October 26, 1819(1819-10-26) (aged 86) Frederick, Maryland, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, MD
Political party	Federalist
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United Colonies of North America
Branch/service	Continental Army
Years of service	1776–1777
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands	Maryland Line
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War

Thomas Johnson (November 4, 1732 – October 26, 1819) was an 18th-century American lawyer, politician, andpatriot.^[2] He was adelegate to theFirst Continental Congress in 1774, where he signed theContinental Association; commander of theMarylandmilitia in 1776; and electedfirst (non-Colonial) governor of Maryland in 1777. Throughout his career, Johnson maintained a personal and political friendship withGeorge Washington,^[2] who gave him arecess appointment as anAssociate Justice of theSupreme 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.

Thomas Johnson was born inCalvert County, Maryland, on November 4, 1732, 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 Johnson, daughter of his brotherJoshua, marriedJohn 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 toFrederick County, and in 1761 he was elected to theMaryland provincial assembly for the first time. On February 16, 1766, Johnson marriedAnn 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]

In 1774 and 1775, the Maryland assembly sent him as a delegate to theContinental Congress. In the Congress Johnson was allied with those who favored separation fromGreat Britain. In November 1775, Congress created aCommittee of [Secret] Correspondence that was to seek foreign support for the war. Thomas Johnson, along withBenjamin Franklin andBenjamin Harrison V, were initially named to the committee.^[4]

Johnson returned to Maryland and continued his work in the state's Assembly when theUnited 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 thestate's first constitution. It was adopted for Maryland by the state's constitutional convention at Annapolis in 1776. He also served as a seniorbrigadier general in theMaryland militia from January 1776 to February 1777,^[5] commanding troops sent to aid Washington during his retreat through New Jersey in the winter.^[6] Thomas Johnson and his brothers supported the revolution by manufacturing ammunition and possibly cannon.^[7] Their former factory,Catoctin Furnace, is now part of a state park nearCamp David, just north ofFrederick, Maryland. In the winter of 1777, Johnson delivered supplies to theContinental Army encampment atValley 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,^[8] theresulting 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 theConstitutional Convention of 1787.^[9] Johnson attended the Maryland Convention in 1788, where he successfully urged the state's ratification of theUnited States Constitution. That year, he lost toJohn Eager Howard in theMaryland gubernatorial election.^[10]

In September 1789, PresidentGeorge Washington nominated Johnson to be the firstfederal 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, withDavid Stuart andDaniel Carroll, to the commission that would lay out the federal capital in accordance with theResidence Act of 1790. In September 1791 the commissioners named the federal city "The City of Washington" and the federal district "The Territory ofColumbia".^[11]

On August 5, 1791, Johnson received arecess appointment from Washington as anAssociate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, to the seat vacated byJohn Rutledge,^[12] and wassworn into office on September 19, 1791.^[1] Formallynominated to the position on October 31, 1791, his appointment was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on November 7, 1791.^[12] Johnson was the author of the Court's first written opinion,Georgia v. Brailsford, in 1792. He served on the court until resigning on January 16, 1793,^[12] citing his poor health.^[2]

Johnson suffered very poor health for many years, and cited it in declining Washington's 1795 offer to nominate him forSecretary of State, asThomas 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, PresidentJohn Adams named Johnson Chief Judge for theDistrict of Columbia; he was confirmed for the post, but declined the appointment.^[12]

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 inFrederick, Maryland. The home, calledRose 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 atMount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick.^[13][14]

Johnson was one of the first investors in theIllinois-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 suedWilliam M'Intosh in the landmark Supreme Court caseJohnson v. McIntosh. The case, which remains one of the most importantproperty decisions in American history, determined that only the federal government could acquire Indian land, so Johnson's descendants did not havegood title to the property.^[15]

Other schools named after Thomas Johnson include Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School in Frederick, Maryland, Thomas Johnson Middle School inLanham, Maryland and Thomas Johnson Elementary School inBaltimore, Maryland. In 1978, theGovernor Thomas Johnson Bridge was opened to traffic. The bridge crosses thePatuxent River and connectsCalvert withSt. Mary's Counties. As Johnson was a slave owner, the naming of schools for him has become controversial.^[16][17]

• 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

• 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 atGoogle 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toThomas Johnson (1732–1819).

• United States Congress."Thomas Johnson (id: J000175)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Thomas Johnson at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal 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

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

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