Johnston, Samuel, 1733-1816

<p>Samuel Johnston (December 15, 1733 – August 17, 1816) was an American planter, lawyer, and statesman from Chowan County, North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in both the Continental Congress and the United States Senate, and he was the sixth Governor of North Carolina.</p>

<p>Johnston was born in Dundee, Scotland in the Kingdom of Great Britain, but came to America when his father (Samuel Sr.) moved to Onslow County, North Carolina in 1736. Samuel Sr. became surveyor-general of the colony where his brother, Gabriel Johnston, was Royal Governor. Young Samuel was educated in New England, then read law in Carolina. He moved to Chowan County and started his own plantation, known as Hayes, near Edenton.</p>

<p>Johnston was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Edenton. In 1759 he was elected to the Province of North Carolina House of Burgesses and would serve in that body until it was displaced in 1775 during the American Revolution. During North Carolina's War of the Regulation in December 1770, he introduced the anti-Regulators bill that would later be passed as the Johnston Riot Act in response to the September 1770 Hillsborough Riot and to later reports of a planned Regulator march upon the provincial capital, New Bern, which ultimately did not occur. The passage of the Johnston Riot Act and others precipitated an even greater enlargement of the Regulator movement and forced Royal Governor Tryon to call out the provincial militia, which culminated in the Battle of Alamance on May 16, 1771. As a strong supporter of independence, he was also elected as a delegate to the first four provincial congresses and presided over the Third and Fourth congresses in 1775 and 1776. After the Royal Governor Josiah Martin abdicated in 1775, he was the highest-ranking official in the state until Richard Caswell was elected president of the Fifth Provincial Congress.</p>

JOHNSTON, Samuel, a Delegate and a Senator from North Carolina; born in Dundee, Scotland, December 15, 1733; immigrated to the United States in 1736 with his parents, who settled in Chowan County, N.C.; attended school in New England; studied law in North Carolina, admitted to the bar, and practiced in that State; member, State assembly 1760-1775; clerk of the courts for the Edenton District; deputy naval officer for the port of Edenton; member of the Committee of Correspondence 1773; delegate to the first four provincial congresses and president of the third and fourth; colonial treasurer; member at large of the provincial Council of Safety, and district paymaster of troops 1775; member, State senate 1779, 1783, and 1784; Member of the Continental Congress 1780-1781, and elected first President after the Articles of Confederation were signed, but declined to serve; presided over the State conventions of 1788 and 1789; elected Governor of North Carolina and was twice reelected but resigned in 1789 to become a United States Senator; elected to the United States Senate and served from November 26, 1789, to March 3, 1793; judge of the superior court of North Carolina 1800-1803; died near Edenton, Chowan County, N.C., August 17, 1816; interment in the Johnston Burial Ground on the Hayes plantation, near Edenton, N.C.

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>12/07/1796 U.S. President Lost 0.72% (-25.00%)</li>
<li>11/08/1796 US Vice President Lost 0.98% (-32.20%)</li>
<li>11/26/1789 NC US Senate - Initial Election Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>11/00/1789 NC Governor Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/00/1788 NC Governor Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/00/1787 NC Governor Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1781 NC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1780 NC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1779 NC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>