Richard Mentor Johnson

Upon his father’s death, Johnson inherited an octoroon slave named Julia Chinn and got involved in a relationship with her. The couple was blessed with two daughters but Johnson and Chinn were prohibited from marrying because Chinn was a slave.

After Chinn’s death in the summer of 1833, Johnson began a relationship with another family slave and later also got involved with her sister, also a slave.

Richard Johnson died on November 19, 1850, in Frankfort, Kentucky, due to a heart attack, at the age of 70. He was buried in the Frankfort Cemetery, in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Richard Mentor Johnson was born on October 17, 1780, in Beargrass, near present-day Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.He was the fifth of eleven children born to Robert Johnson, a land surveyor, and his wife, Jemima Suggett, a heroic women.

Since there were no schools on the frontier, Richard started his formal education at the age of 15. He attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and later studied law as an apprentice of George Nicholas and James Brown.

In 1802, Johnson was admitted to the Kentucky bar and subsequently established his own legal practice.Later, he owned a retail store and pursued a number of business ventures with his brothers.

In 1804, Richard Johnson was elected to represent Scott County in the Kentucky House of Representatives and served on the Committee on Courts of Justice. During his term, Johnson promoted law to protect settlers from land speculators.

In 1807, Johnson was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives and represented Kentucky's 4th district, serving until 1813. He served as the Chairman of the Committee on Claims during the 11th U.S. Congress.

Subsequently, he was re-elected and became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd district, a capacity in which he served from 1813 to 1819. Therefore, Johnson served six consecutive terms, between 1807 and 1819.

In December 1819, he resigned his post in the state legislature and was elected the United States Senator from Kentucky, where he served until March 1829. Johnson served as chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads in the 19th and 20th Congresses.

In the War of 1812, he served as the commander of a regiment of Kentucky riflemen, where he served in the Canadian campaign under William Henry Harrison. Johnson fought in the ‘Battle of the Thames’ and was among one of 14 military officers who were presented a sword by an act of Congress.

After the war, Johnson worked towards issuance of laws to secure pensions for widows and orphans, and to provide financial support for internal improvements in the West. As member of the U.S. House of the Representatives, his opposition to re-chartering the First Bank of the United States gained him national attention.