Richard Mentor Johnson
vice president of the United States from 1837 to 1841
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Richard Mentor Johnson served as Vice President of the United States under President Martin Van Buren from 1837 to 1841. He is a notable figure in American political history as one of the few vice presidents to achieve this high office, representing the political landscape of the early nineteenth century.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1780-10-17
- Died
- 1850-11-19
- Works
- 1
via Open Library + Wikidata
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Richard Mentor Johnson (October 17, 1780 – November 19, 1850) was an American lawyer, military officer and politician who served as the ninth vice president of the United States from 1837 to 1841 under President Martin Van Buren. He is the only vice president elected by the United States Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. Johnson also represented Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. He began and ended his political career in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
After two years in the Kentucky House, Johnson was elected to the U.S. House in 1806. He allied with fellow Kentuckian Henry Clay as a member of the War Hawks faction that favored war with Britain in 1812. At the outset of the War of 1812, Johnson was commissioned a colonel in the Kentucky Militia and commanded a regiment of mounted volunteers from 1812 to 1813. He and his brother James served under William Henry Harrison in Upper Canada. Johnson led troops in the Battle of the Thames. Many reported that he personally killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, a claim that he later used to his political advantage.
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1780 births1836 United States vice-presidential candidates1840 United States vice-presidential candidates1850 deaths19th-century American lawyers19th-century Baptists19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly19th-century United States representatives19th-century United States senators19th-century vice presidents of the United StatesAmerican Freemasons