Thomas Johnson

Maryland Historical Society

Thomas Johnson, a lawyer, politician, and justice, was the first governor of the State of Maryland. Johnson was born on November 4, 1732, near St. Leonard's Creek in Calvert County, Maryland. He was the fifth child of Thomas Johnson (1702-1777) and his wife Dorcas Sedgwick (1705-1770). Johnson had two older and five younger brothers and two older and two younger sisters; one brother died in infancy.

Johnson received his initial education at home and then moved to Annapolis where he first worked in the Land Office under Thomas Jennings, before studying law with Stephen Bordley, one of the colony's most prominent attorneys. Johnson first qualified to practice law in 1756 and nine years later he had qualified in the Provincial and Chancery courts as well as various county courts. Having established himself professionally, Johnson in 1766 married Jennings's daughter Anne (1745-1794). The couple had seven children, three sons and four daughters.

From the 1760s to the early 1770s, Johnson was a partner with Annapolis merchant Lancelot Jacques in a western Maryland iron furnace. He also formed a partnership with three of his brothers in an ironworks that included the Catoctin Furnace near the town of Frederick.

Johnson began his public career in 1762, when Anne Arundel County voters elected him to the Lower House of the General Assembly. Johnson served until 1774, when he was selected to represent Maryland in the Continental Congress. From January 1776 to February 1777, Johnson served as a senior brigadier general in the Maryland militia, commanding troops sent to aid General George Washington during his retreat through New Jersey in the winter of 1776-1777.

On February 13, 1777, the General Assembly elected Johnson as the new state's first governor. Johnson was re-elected unanimously in November 1777 and November 1778 (the statutory limit for consecutive terms). As governor during the Revolutionary War, Johnson prepared for possible invasion by British forces and secured provisions for Washington's troops.

Upon leaving office, Johnson settled at Richfield, his Frederick County estate. Johnson declined to serve when elected to represent Maryland in Congress in December 1779 and October 1780. Instead, in December 1780 he accepted a seat from Frederick County in the House of Delegates. He resumed the practice of law in December 1781, but returned to the House in 1787 and 1788 to help guide Maryland's ratification of the federal Constitution and to support George Washington's bid for the presidency. Johnson served as Chief Judge of the General Court from April 1790 until October 1791, when Washington appointed him to the United States Supreme Court. Johnson also headed the Board of Commissioners of the Federal City, helping to choose a site and a name for the new national capital.

Johnson retired from the court in 1793 and declined appointment as secretary of state. He came out of retirement for a final time on February 22, 1800, to deliver a funeral oration for his friend, George Washington. Thomas Johnson died on October 26, 1819, in Frederick at the home of his son-in-law, and was buried in the family vault in All Saints' Parish cemetery. In 1913, Johnson's body was removed to Mt. Olivet Cemetery where a monument was erected in his honor.

Delaplaine, Edward S. The Life of Thomas Johnson. New York: The Grafton Press, 1927.

Papenfuse, Edward C. et al., eds. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. Vol. 1. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

White, Frank F., Jr. The Governors of Maryland, 1777-1970. Publication No. 15. Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission, 1970.