Johnson, Richard M. (Richard Mentor), 1781-1850

Virgil David was president of the Lawrenceville Lyceum in Western Pennsylvania.

Richard M. Johnson was a U.S. Representative and Senator from Kentucky, and a hero of the War of 1812. During the war, he killed an Indian chief, said by some to have been Tecumseh. He went on to serve as Vice President under Van Buren.

Lawyer, Ky. legislator, soldier, U.S. congressman and senator, U.S. vice president.

Vice-President of the United States.

Richard M. Johnson was a U.S. representative and senator from Kentucky. He was vice president under Van Buren from 1837-1841 and the only vice president whose election was thrown into the U.S. Senate. He was a famous Indian fighter who established the Choctaw Academy by the terms of an Indian treaty called the Dancing Rabbit Creek treaty, providing the land and buildings for the school himself, and maintaining a general supervision over it throughout its existence. The school served boys from many tribes, including Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Miamis and Seminoles, and some white boys as well. It closed in the 1840's when the Indian nations opened their own territorial schools.

Richard Mentor Johnson was born on October 17, 1781, at Beargrass, a frontier settlement on the site of what is now Louisville. He attended Transylvania University and studied law under George Nicholas and James Brown. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and served from 1809-1819. Johnson fought in the War of 1812 and worked out the military strategy for the Battle of the Thames. He is rumored to have slain the Indian Chief, Tucumseh. In 1819, he was elected to the state legislature and helped enact a law that ended imprisonment for debt in Kentucky. He served out John J. Crittenden's term in the U.S. Senate, after Crittenden's resignation. He was then reelected to the Senate, serving from 1819-1837. Johnson compaigned as Martin Van Buren's vice- presidential running mate. As no candidate received a majority of the votes, he was elected to the post by the Senate. He served from 1837-1841. He was defeated for reelection in 1840, and returned to Kentucky where he was chosen to represent Scott County in the state legislature. He served until 1843, when he retired. He returned to the state legislature in 1850, serving until his death in November of that year. He was maligned by his opponents during his political career for fathering two daughters by Julia Chinn, a mulatto slave. Some historians claim that he married Julia but the facts remain in dispute.

American lawyer, soldier, and Vice-President.

Born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Richard Mentor Johnson (1774-1826) studied law at Transylvania University before being admitted to the bar in 1802. After establishing a law practice in Great Crossings, Kentucky, he served in the House of Representatives from 1804 through 1806 as well as being elected to Congress from 1807 through 1819, during which he was appointed chairman of the Committee on Claims and the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War. From 1819 through 1829, Johnson once again served as a representative in the House and as a Congressman from 1829 through 1837. Originally a Democratic Republican, he later became a Jacksonian and was elected Vice President of the United States under Martin Van Buren in 1837. Johnson died in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1850.

Source:

Johnson, Richard Mentor. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 19, 2011. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=j000170 .