Richard Mentor Johnson (17 October 1780 – 19 November 1850) was a member of the US House of Representatives (DR-KY 4) from 1807 to 1813 (succeeding Thomas Sandford and preceding Joseph Desha), from KY 3 from 1813 to 1819 (succeeding Stephen Ormsby and preceding William Brown), from KY 5 from 1829 to 1833 (succeeding Robert L. McHatton and preceding Robert P. Letcher), and from KY 13 from 1833 to 1837 (preceding William Wright Southgate); a US Senator from 10 December 1819 to 3 March 1829 (succeeding John J. Crittenden and preceding George M. Bibb), and Vice President of the United States from 4 March 1837 to 4 March 1841 (succeeding Martin Van Buren and preceding John Tyler).
Biography[]
Early career[]
Johnson shooting Tecumseh
Richard Mentor Johnson was born in Beargrass, Virginia (now Louisville, Kentucky) in 1780, and he became a lawyer in 1802. He often worked pro bono for poor people, and he also opened his home to veterans, widows, and orphans. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1806, and he favored war with Britain during the War of 1812, allying with Henry Clay. At the start of the war, he served as a militia colonel, and he served under William Henry Harrison, fighting at the Battle of the Thames; he claimed to have been the man who killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, boosting his popularity.
Rise to power[]
After the war, Johnson returned to the House of Representatives, and he was appointed to the US Senate in 1819 to fill the vacant seat of John J. Crittenden. As his prominence grew, his marriage to octoroon slave Julia Chinn was criticized, with him giving his surname to their children. Their relationship led to Johnson losing his Senate seat in 1829, but he returned to the House a year later. In 1836, he was the Democratic Party's vice-presidential nominee alongside presidential nominee Martin Van Buren, and he used his killing of Tecumseh to his advantage during the election. Virginia's delegation to the Electoral College abstained, refusing to elect Johnson, so Johnson was instead elected by the Senate. He proved such a liability for the Democrats that, in 1840, he was not renominated for vice-president, and Martin Van Buren (running without a running mate) lost re-election to American Whig Party candidate William Henry Harrison. Johnson died in 1850, just two weeks into his term in the State House.