Richard Johnson
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- Vice President to:
Martin Van Buren
- Democrat, from New York.
- Dates Served: Johnson served as Vice President from 1837 - 1841.
- Political Party: Johnson was a Democrat, from Kentucky.
- Born: 1780.
- Died: 1850, at the age of 70.
- The presidential opponents during the 1836 campaign were:
- Campaign issues in 1836:
- The issue this year was the legacy of Jackson's past 8 years in office.
Van Buren was Jackson's heir-apparent and his endorsement both helped
and hurt him. Jackson was revered by many with an almost religious zeal,
but many people now resented his battle with the banks and were upset
over his refusal to use any Federal money for internal infrastructure
unless the projects spanned multiple states. Slavery had begun to become a
seriously divisive issue on a Federal level and Van Buren waffled when
asked for his official position. He won the election due largely to
telling his supporters what they wanted to hear, without being commital.
- Notable Facts about Richard Johnson:
- Religious affiliation: Johnson was a Baptist. His public comments on religion were almost always focused on its relation to the State, and the importance of their separation. His comments on his personal, specific beliefs were almost non-existant.
- A lawyer, he served in the US House of Representatives, representing
Kentucky from 1807 - 1819, then in the US Senate from 1819 - 1829, then
back in the US House again from 1829 - 1837.
- During the War of 1812 he took a leave of absence from Congress to command
a Kentucky regiment under General William Henry Harrison. He was seriously
wounded in 1813 at the Battle of the Thames in Canada, and later claimed
that he personally killed the Indian leader Tecumseh.
- Johnson was a loyal disciple of Andrew Jackson, and Jackson personally
picked him to run for Vice President with Martin Van Buren in the next
election in 1836, and dictated his choice to the Democratic Convention,
which naturally accepted his choice as Gospel. In spite of Jackson's endorsement, Johnson was booed when his name was read at the Democratic Party Convention in 1836. He had many enemies.
- The reason for Johnson's chilly reception
was that he was very unpopular in the South. He lived with a black woman
as his common-law wife, and he raised his mixed-race children
as
free
citizens, giving his daughters dowries of land when they married white men. (According to rumor mills he had several black wives.)
- On election day, neither Johnson nor his opponent for VP, Francis Granger, received a majority of Electoral
votes, which, according to the 12th Amendment, requires the Senate to choose
the winner. Johnson was eventually declared the winner, becoming the only
Vice President to be chosen by the Senate. His winning score
was 33 votes to Granger's 14, mostly as a result of pressure from
the revered Jackson as well as Van Buren. Without their support he would have been
pushing a broom within 24 hours.
- Johnson stayed away from Washington for most of his term as VP,
spending most of his time back home in Kentucky running a hotel
and resort. As a result, he was probably the most effective
Vice President the country has ever had.
- Due to his lack of friends, the Democratic party refused to re-nominate Johnson
for Vice President 4 years later. They ended up not nominating anyone for VP
for Van Buren's re-election campaign in 1840, so Johnson ended up running as the
de facto candidate.
- In 1841, after he and Van Buren lost the election, he returned to Kentucky and
served briefly in the State Legislature before retiring from public life, then
died a few years later.
Notable events during his Vice Presidency:
- The Panic of 1837. Two months after Van Buren's inauguration, banks stopped
converting paper money into gold and silver, creating a nation-wide panic
and depression that lasted for 6 years, until 1843. 900 banks collapsed,
causing food riots to erupt in several cities. (This didn't help Van Buren's
re-election campaign efforts in 1840).
- The Caroline Affair, in 1837. Canadian rebels had been trying to incite a
popular revolution against British rule in the country and tried to capture
Toronto, but failed, retreating to Navy Island in the Niagra River. American
sympathizers sent them supplies aboard the steamship "Caroline", but it was
captured by a British-backed Canadian militia, who set the boat on fire and
pushed it over Niagra Falls in flames, killing one American. President Van Buren
sent soldiers to the area but stopped short of declaring war on Britain and
decided instead on an official position of neutrality in the Canadian rebellion.
- The Aroostook War, in 1839. The border between the state of Maine and the
Canadian province of New Brunswick had never formally been defined, and both
Canada and the US claimed around 12,000 square miles along the Aroostook River
in what is now northern Maine. In 1839 Canada arrested an American who was
trying to expel Canadians from the area, under orders from Maine officials. As
a result, militias quickly massed on both sides of the river and waited for
official military support from each government. Instead, President Van Buren
sent General Winfield Scott to the area where a truce was negotiated. This was
eventually settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 3 years later. No one died
on either side in this so-called "war".
- Texas Revolution, in 1836. Texas declared itself an independent republic in
1836, after groups of mostly recent American immigrants fought and won several
battles with the Mexican army. The new Republic formally applied for US statehood
but was rejected, due mainly to Northern concerns over the prospect of admitting
a new slave state to the Union, and to the resulting tension with Mexico. Texas
was eventually admitted in 1845, as a slave state and also with the predicted
war being ignited with Mexico.
- The Second Seminole War. Seminole Indians had been resisting their forced
eviction from Florida to the West. However, President Van Buren continued
his predecessor's Indian Removal policies, with the last Seminole resistance
being crushed in 1842.