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Biographical Sketches
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WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON
Connecticut
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William Samuel Johnson
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Scholar, lawyer-jurist, and politician, Johnson was
one of the best educated of the signers. The intimate of famous men on
both sides of the Atlantic, he found his loyalties torn by the War for
Independence. This did not prevent him, however, from serving
Connecticut, Columbia College, and the Nation. He chaired the
Convention's committee of style and backed the Great Compromise.
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The son of Samuel Johnson, the first president of
King's College (later Columbia College and University), William was born
at Stratford, Conn., in 1727. His father, who was a well-known Anglican
clergyman-philosopher prepared him for college and he graduated from
Yale in 1744. About 3 years later, he won a master of arts degree from
the same institution and an honorary masters from Harvard.
Resisting his father's wish that he become a
minister, Johnson embraced law insteadlargely by educating himself
and without benefit of formal training. After admittance to the bar, he
launched a practice in Stratford, representing clients from nearby New
York State as well as Connecticut, and before long established business
connections with various mercantile houses in New York City. In 1749,
adding to his already substantial wealth, he married Anne Beach,
daughter of a local businessman. The couple was to have five daughters
and six sons, but many of them died at an early age.
Johnson did not shirk the civic responsibilities of
one of his station. In the 1750's he began his public career as a
Connecticut militia officer. In 1761 and 1765 he served in the lower
house of the colonial assembly. In 1766 he was elected to the upper
house (1766 and 1771-75).
At the time of the Revolution, conflicting loyalties
disturbed Johnson. Although he attended the Stamp Act Congress (1765),
moderately opposed the Townshend Duties of 1767, and believed that most
British policy was unwise, he retained strong transatlantic ties and
found it difficult to choose sides. Many of his friends resided in
Britain; in 1765 and 1766 Oxford University conferred honorary masters
and doctors degrees upon him; he had a strong association with the
Anglican Church; he acted as Connecticut's agent in Britain during the
years 1767-71; and he was friendly with men such as Jared Ingersoll,
Sr., who were affiliated with the British administration.
Johnson finally decided to work for peace between
Britain and the Colonies and to oppose the extremist Whig faction. On
this basis, he refused to participate in the First Continental Congress,
to which he was elected in 1774, following service as a judge of the
Connecticut colonial supreme court (1772-74). When hostilities broke
out, he confined his activities to peacemaking efforts. In April 1775
Connecticut sent him and another emissary to speak to British Gen.
Thomas Gage about ending the bloodshed. But the time was not ripe for
negotiations and they failed. As radical patriot elements gained the
ascendancy in Connecticut, Johnson fell out of favor with the government
and no longer was called on to serve it. Although he was arrested in
1779 on charges of communicating with the enemy, he cleared himself and
was released.
Once the passions of war had ebbed, Johnson resumed
his political career. In the Continental Congress (1785-87), he was one
of the most influential and popular Delegates. Playing a major role in
the Constitutional Convention, he missed no sessions after arriving on
June 2; espoused the Connecticut Compromise; and chaired the committee
of style, which shaped the final document. He also worked for
ratification in Connecticut.
Johnson took part in the new Government as a U.S.
Senator, in which position he contributed to passage of the Judiciary
Act of 1789. In 1791, the year after the Government moved from New York
to Philadelphia, he resigned mainly because he preferred to devote all
his energies to the presidency of Columbia College (1787-1800), in New
York City. During these years, he established the school on a firm basis
and recruited a fine faculty.
Johnson retired from the college in 1800, a few years
after his wife died, and the same year wed Mary Brewster Beach, a
relative of his first bride. They resided at his birthplace, Stratford.
He died there in 1819 at the age of 92 and was buried at Old Episcopal
Cemetery.
Drawing: Oil (ca. 1790) attributed to Robert Edge
Pine. Columbia University.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/constitution/bio21.htm
Last Updated: 29-Jul-2004
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