USA > Maryland > Biographical sketches of distinguished Marylanders > Part 4
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John Adams, afterward President of the United States, in 'his works edited by his grandson, Charles Francis Adams, thus speaks of him: "Johnson, of
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Maryland, has a clear and cool head, an extensive . knowledge of trade as well as of law. He is a deliber- ating man, but not a shining orator ; his passion and imagination do not appear enough for an orator ; his reason and penetration appear, but not his rhetoric." Ile reports Johnson as saying in one of his speeches in 1775: "We ought not to lay down a rule in a passion. 1 see less and less prospect of a reconciliation every day, but I would not render it impossible. Thirteen Colonies connected with Great Britain, in sixteen months, have been brought to an armed opposition to the claims of Great Britain. The line we have pur- sued has been the line we ought to have pursued; if what we have done had been done two years ago, four Colonies would not have been for it." Again Mr. Adams says : " Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, was the most frequent speaker from his State, and while he re- mained with us, was inclined to Mr. Dickerson for some time, but ere long he and all his State came cordially into our system. In the fall of 1776, his State ap- pointed him General of Militia, and he marched to the relief of General Washington in the Jerseys. He never returned to Congress." The most important act of Mr. Johnson while in Congress was his mnotion that George Washington, of Virginia, be appointed Com- mander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. An act, which was in itself the first movement toward so glorious an event, might justly be regarded as the most important of his life. John C. Hamilton, in his life of Alexander Hamilton, thus notices the fact :
" On the fifteenth of June, 1775, Colonel Washington was unanimously elected, and the seventeenth, the day on which the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, was commissioned as Commander-in-Chief."
The enviable distinction of having nominated him to
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this place belongs to Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, who soon after signalized his patriotism by hastening from civil life with a body of Maryland troops to join the army during its retreat through New Jersey, and who, as a just tribute to his virtues and talents, was elected the first Governor of that State.
As this circumstance is not only one of great public interest, but had an important bearing on the political destinies of the country, and more especially as it has been erroneously supposed that this honor was claimed by John Adams, a distinguished member of that Con- gress, it becomes important to give the evidence on which this statement rests. It is found in the follow- ing extract of a letter from that gentleman to Colonel Pickering, dated August 6th, 1822. After giving an account of his going to Philadelphia in 1775, in com- pany with Cushing, Samuel Adams, and Paine, " four poor pilgrims," Mr. Adams says : "They were met at Frankfort by Dr. Rush, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. Bayard, and others, who desired a conference, and particularly cau- tioned not to lisp the word 'Independence.' They added, you must not come forward with any bold meas- ures; you must not pretend to take the lead; you know Virginia is the most populous State in the Union ; they are very proud of their ancient dominion, as they call it; they think they have the right to lead, and the Southern States and Middle States are too much dis- posed to yield it to them. This was plain dealing, Mr. Pickering ; and I must confess that there appeared so much wisdom and good sense in it, that it made a deep impression on my mind, and it had an equal effect on all my colleagues. This conversation, and the princi- ples and facts and motives suggested in it, have given a color, complexion, and character to the whole policy of the United States from that day to this. Without
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it, Mr. Washington would never have commanded our armies, nor Mr. Jefferson have been the author of the Declaration of Independence, nor Mr. Richard Henry Lee the mover of it, nor Mr. Chase the mover of foreign relations.
" If I have ever had cause to repent of any part of this policy, that repentance ever has been and ever will be unavailing. I had forgot to say, nor Mr. Johnson ever have been the nominator of Washington for General."
It is worthy of note, that George Washington and Thomas Johnson, two great men, born in the same year, in adjoining States, were united by the firmest bonds of a friendship, strengthened by devotion to the same cause. It is ahke worthy of remark that this chosen friend of our Chief is scarcely known by more than name to the people for whose honor and glory he strove. The words of McMahon in reference to the silence of most historians upon the life of Dulany, might be quoted with nearly the same degree of justice in regard to Governor Johnson. No man did more for the ad-
vancement of Liberty's cause, yet amongst the recorded names of American heroes, how seldom do we find his name. Few men of Maryland's struggling days did so much toward furnishing material for the history of Maryland-yet how has history forgotten him !!
The Maryland Congress was again convened by a call of its deputies on the 21st of November, 1774. The proceedings of the Congress up to that time were unani- mously approved.
At the December session a committee charged with the important duty of corresponding with the other Colonies was appointed.
This was known as the " Provincial Committee of Correspondence."
Thomas Johnson was one of the committee, being then a deputy in Congress.
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On the 14th of October, 1774, the first tea-burning in Maryland took place. The tea was brought on the brig Peggy Stewart. Mr. Stewart, a part owner in the cargo, was forced to set fire with his own hands to the vessel. This act was witnessed by Maryland patriots who wore no disguise -- who feared only injustice, who hated tyranny !
The daily development of events breathed alone hos- tility toward England. In July, 1775, a Provisional Government was established in Maryland. In the Pro- visional Convention was vested the supreme power. The chief executive authority of the Province was vested in a Committee of Safety elected by the Conven- tion. Thomas Johnson was a member of the Executive Committee.
A reconciliation was still hoped for, though the cry "to arms" had already been raised against the powers of Great Britain.
Chancellor Hanson of Maryland, in his introductory remarks to the Journals of the Convention, says: "Such an administration, the immediate offspring of necessity, might have been reasonably expected to be subversive of that liberty which it was intended to secure. But in the course of more than two years, during which it existed, it was cheerfully submitted to by all, except the advocates of British usurpation; although many occasions occurred in which an inten- perate zeal transported men beyond the just bounds of moderation, not a single person fell a victim to the oppression of this irregular government. The truth is, that during the whole memorable interval between the fall of the old and the institution of the new form of government, there appeared to exist amongst us such a fund of public virtue as has scarcely a parallel in the" annals of the world." In the executive branch of this
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government, Thomas Johnson was, down to January, 1776, a chief actor in its administration. The whole atmosphere of Maryland was pervaded by a rational liberty which respected difference of opinion as a right belonging to every colonist. And no one was more fully impressed with the sacredness of this right than Thomas Johnson.
Thomas Johnson, August 18th, 1775, at Annapolis, wrote to Horatio Gates a letter from which are taken the following extracts :
"I shall be very unhappy that petitioning the King, to which measure I was a friend, should give you or any one else attached to the cause of America and liberty the least uneasiness. You and I, and America in general, may almost universally wish in the first place to establish our liberties; our second wish is, a reunion with Great Britain; so may we preserve the empire entire, and the constitutional liberty, founded in whiggish principles handed down to us by our ancestors. In order to strengthen ourselves to accom- plish these great ends, we ought, in my opinion, to conduct ourselves so as to unite America and divide Britain ; this, as it appears to me, may most likely be effected by doing rather more than less in the peaceable line, than would be required if our petition is rejected with contempt, which I think most likely. Will not our friends in England be still more exasperated against the Court ? And will not our very moderate men on this side of the water be compelled to own the necessity of opposing force to force ? The rejection of the New York petition was very serviceable to America. If our petition should be granted, the troops will be recalled, the obnoxious acts repealed, and we restored to the footing of 1763. If the petition should not be granted, but so far attended to as to lay the ground-work of a
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negotiation, Britain must, I think, be ruined by the delay; if she subdues us at all, it must be by a violent and sudden exertion of her force; and if we can keep up a strong party in England, headed by such char- acters as Lord Chatham and the others in the present opposition, Bute, Mansfield and North, and a corrupt majority cannot draw the British force fully into action against us. Our friends will certainly continue such as long as they see we do not desire to break from a reasonable and beneficial connection with the mother country; but if, unhappily for the whole Empire, they should once be convinced by our conduct that we de- sign to break from that connection, I am apprehensive they will thenceforth become our most dangerous enemies-the greatest and first law of self-preservation will justify, nay compel it. The cunning Scotchman and Lord North fully feel the force of this reasoning ; hence their industry to make it believed in England that we have a scheme of Independence, a general term they equivocally use, to signify to the friends of liberty a breaking off of all connection, and to tories that we dis- pute the supremacy of Parliament. In the Declaratory Act is the power of binding us by its acts, in all cases whatever-the latter we do most certainly dispute, and I trust shall successfully fight against with the appro- bation of every honest Englishman. Lord North's pro- position, and consequent resolution of Parliament, were insidiously devised to wear the face of peace, and em- barrass us in the choice of evils-either to accept and be slaves, or reject and increase the number and power of our enemies. I flatter myself that your petition will present to him only a choice of means injurious to his villainous schemes.
"Our Convention met the very day of my getting home. The meeting was very full; we sat close many
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days, by six o'clock in the morning, and by candlelight in the evening. Our people were very prompt to do everything desired; they have appropriated £100,000 for the defence of this Province, a great part of it to be laid out in the military line immediately, paid con- tingently, and the rest for establishing manufactories of salt, saltpetre, and gunpowder.
"We have an association ascertaining the necessity and justifiableness of repelling force by force, to be universally signed ; and strict resolutions with regard to our militia, which is to be as comprehensive here as perhaps in any country in the world, when called into action. We are to be subject to the Congressional rules and regulations for the army. A Committee of Safety, composed of sixteen, is, in the recess of the Convention, to have the supreme direction. We yet retain the forces of our Government, but there is no real force or efficacy in it; if the intelligence we have from England looks to war, I dare say this Province will not hesitate to dis- charge all officers, and go boldly into it at once.
" The spirit has run through our young men so much, that if the business proceeds, notwithstanding the scarcity of men in this and the other Southern Prov- inces, I believe we must furnish you with a battalion or two; if, as I hope, those who are gone acquire reputa- tion, many of our youth will be on fire. The difficulty now is to regulate and direct the spirit of the people at large; and I verily believe, that instead of their being discouraged by a check on our military achievements, a sore rub would inflame them nearly to madness and desperation."
On the 10th day of May, 1776, the Continental Con- gress to the Colonies generally, recommended an abol- ishment of the oaths of allegiance to the Crown, the total suppression of authority under the English Gov-
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ernment, and the establishment of permanent constitu- tions.
The Maryland Convention, with its ancient pride and jealousy of rights, regarded this recommendation as an attempt at interference with the internal regulations of the Colonies.
A remonstrance, in reply, was put forth by the Mary- land Convention on the 21st of May. The exclusive right of the people of Maryland to regulate its internal government was asserted.
With a sense of political independence, which seems native to Maryland soil, the Convention of that Colony declared the independence of the Province on the 6th day of July, 1776.
The final action of the Continental Congress had not then been learned. The Declaration of Independence had been fully ratified two days before.
"We have thought (says the Declaration) it just and necessary to empower our deputies in Congress to join with a majority of the United Colonies in declaring them free and independent States, in framing such fur- ther confederation between them, in making foreign alliances, and in adopting such other measures as shall be judged necessary for the preservation of their liber- ties : provided the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal polity and government of this Colony be reserved to the people thereof. No ambitious views, no desire of independence, induced the people of Maryland to form a union with the other Colonies. To procure an exemption from parliamentary taxation, and to continue to the Legislatures-of these Colonies the sole and exclusive right of regulating their internal polity, was our original and only motive."
In this declaration the independence of the State is proclaimed : with a final crash fell the dominion of
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England, and with it the power of the Proprietary Government.
A proposition of the Convention of June the 27th, 1776, for militia for the flying camp, to be furnished by the Province, was approved.
Thomas Johnson was elected Brigadier-General to command the said militia. This, however, was not to be, for on the 4th of July, 1776, Thomas Johnson was elected by the Convention as a deputy from the Province to the Continental Congress.
The following resolution was then passed :
"Considering that the said Thomas Johnson, Esq., cannot discharge the duty of Brigadier-General of the forces to be raised in this Province, in consequence of the resolves of Congress of the 7th day of June last, to which command the Convention, from a confidence in his capacity and abilities to fill the same with advantage to the public cause and honor to himself, had appointed him, and also execute the trust reposed in him as a deputy in Congress for this Province; and being of opinion that it is of very great importance to the wel- fare of this Province that it should not be deprived of the advice and assistance of the said Thomas Johnson in the public councils of the United Colonies, and that his place can be supplied with less inconvenience in the military than in the civil department; therefore Re- solved, That a Brigadier-General be elected by ballot in the room of the said Thomas Johnson, Esq." John Dent was elected in his place.
The Convention next called a new Convention for the establishment of a permanent government in the State. The old Convention became a portion of the Provisional Government. The Committee of Safety remained in existence.
Thomas Johnson was a member of the new Conven-
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tion which assembled at Annapolis on the 14th day of August, 1776. The appointing of a committee to pre- pare a form of government and a Bill of Rights, was the first act of the new Convention. Of this Committee Thomas Johnson was a member. On the 10th of Sep- tember their report was made. Copies of the same in the form of circulars were printed and distributed throughout the State.
After having learned the opinion of the people with regard to the form of government and Bill of Rights, the Convention re-assembled, when the form and bill were adopted with but little alteration, and with only a partial change remained the same until 1838. The great American statesman, Alexander Hamilton, and the Scotch philosopher, Dugald Stuart, both pro- nounced it the wisest of all the constitutions estab- lished by the States after their separation from the Crown of England. According to the provisions of the new Constitution, the two Houses of the Legislature selected on the 13th of February the first Governor of the State. Thomas Johnson was chosen to fill that high and dignified office. On Friday, the 21st of March, 1777, he was proclaimed with great honor the first Governor of the State of Maryland. The inauguration took place in the State House, at Annapolis, in the pres- ence of many distinguished personages.
In his history of Maryland, McSherry thus refers to this important event: "The announcement was hailed by three volleys from the soldiery drawn up in front of the State House, and a salute of thirteen rounds was fired from the batteries in honor of the new confed- eracy. A sumptuous entertainment was then partaken, and the festivities of the day were closed with a splendid ball; a renewal of the ancient and pleasant amusement, for which Annapolis, the Athens of the Colonies, had
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been so widely celebrated in the days of the Proprie- taries, but which had been solemnly discontinued in the dark hours of the opening struggle."
The Congress was once more in session in the city of Philadelphia. Fearing for the safety of that city, the great Commanding General, gathering all the militia that could be obtained, fixed his camp near Middle- brook. In the shadow of the approaching peril he wrote to Governor Johnson the following letter, dated at Morristown, April 11th, 1777 :
SIR :- The latest accounts received respecting the enemy, rendered probable by a variety of circumstances, inform us that they are very busily engaged in fitting up their transports at Amboy for the accommodation of troops, that they have com- pleted their bridge, and are determined to make their first push at Philadelphia. The campaign is therefore opening, and our present situation weaker than when you left us, forces me to entreat your utmost attention to the raising and equipping of the Continental troops allotted to be raised in your State. I have waited in painful expectation of reinforcements, such as would probably have insured a happy issue to any attack I might have- determined upon, and such as Ihad a right to expect, had the officers faithfully discharged their duty; but that time is past, and I must content myself with improving on the future chances of war. Even this cannot be done unless the officers can be persuaded to abandon their comfortable quarters and take the field. Let me, therefore, in the most earnest terms beg that they may be forwarded to the army without loss of time. I have also to ask of you to transmit to me a list of the field-officers of your battalions, and their rank. with the number of their respective battalions. I have the honor to be, etc.
Admiral Howe appearing on the 21st of August, 1777, in the Chesapeake with several hundred sail, Governor Johnson issued a proclamation.
The militia were called to arms, and two companies, at least, out of every batallion were ordered to march at once to the head of the Chesapeake-"To defend 5*
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our liberties requires our exertions. Our wives, our children, and our country implore our assistance. Motives amply sufficient to arm every one who can be called a man !"-So spoke the proclamation, and when its trumpet voice was heard resounding with the vehemence borrowed of war, an answering call came from every mountain, forest and stream of that loyal State that never swerves from duty !
On the 17th of March, 1778, the Legislature once more met at Annapolis. An appeal had been made to the State by Congress for an increase of the army. The quota demanded of Maryland was two thousand nine hundred and two men. Maryland had at this time a double foe to face. The State was distracted by internal troubles, caused by a resistance to its authority. The power placed in the hands of the Governor at this time was almost limitless. "These extensive powers (says McSherry) were placed, without hesitation, in the hands of Thomas Johnson, who had been re-elected Governor by the Legislature in the preceeding Fall, and whose sterling patriotism and public virtue merited the confidence which was reposed in him. It was not abused. Indeed the exigencies of the revolution fre- quently called forth exhibitions of integrity and self- devotedness worthy of the old Roman patriots and sages."
Three years had passed since the inauguration of Johnson as Governor. He was twice re-elected with- ont opposition. The Constitution now restricted him from longer being eligible. Thomas Sim Lee was elected his successor on the Sth of November, 1779.
The two Houses of the Legislature, in testimony of the regard in which the administration of Governor Johnson was conducted, transmitted to him an address. In this eulogy bis "prudence, assiduity, firmness, and integrity," are revealed in rare words of praise.
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The present Constitution of the United States of America was decided upon in Convention at Philadel- phia the 17th of September, 1787. Copies of it were transmitted to the several Legislatures of the States. A Convention of Delegates chosen by the people of each State would decide upon the Constitution thus submit- ted to them, according to the resolves of the Federal Convention.
In a letter from Annapolis dated December 11, 1787, addressed to General Washington, Governor Johnson said : "The scale of power which I always suggested would be the most difficult to settle between the great and small States as such, was in my opinion very prop- erly adjusted. I believe there is no American of ob- servation, reflection, and candor, but will acknowledge man unhappily needs more government than he im- agines. I flatter myself that the plan recommended will be adopted in twelve of the thirteen States, without conditions sine qua non. But let the event be as it may, I shall think myself, with Americans in general, greatly indebted to the Convention, and possibly we may confess it when it may be too late to avail ourselves of their moderation and wisdom."
At Annapolis, Monday, the 21st of April, 1778, as- sembled the Maryland Convention. To this Conven- tion, as he had been so often before, Thomas Johnson was sent as a delegate. The important weight of his judgment and influence is clearly manifested in the following letter from General Washington to that brave and honorable gentleman :
MOUNT VERNON, 20th April, 1788.
DEAR SIR :- As well from report as from ideas expressed to me in your letter of December last, I am led to conclude that you are disposed, circumstanced as our public affairs are at present, to ratify the Constitution, which has been submitted to
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the people by the Federal Convention, and under this impres- sion, I take the liberty of expressing a single sentiment on the occasion. It is that an adjournment of your Convention, if at- tempted, to a later period than the decision of the question in this State, will be tantamount to the rejection of the Constitu- tion. I have good reason for this opinion, and I am told it is the blow which the leading characters of the opposition in the next State have meditated, if it shall be found that a direct attack is not likely to succeed in yours. If this be true it can- not be too much deprecated and guarded against The post- ponement in New Hampshire, although it had no reference to the Convention in this State, but proceeded altogether from the local circumstances of its own, is ascribed by the opposition here to complaisance toward Virginia, and great use is made of it. An event similar to this in Maryland would have the worst tendency imaginable; for indecision there would certainly have considerable influence on South Carolina, the only other State which is to precede Virginia, and submits the question almost wholly to the determination of the latter. The pride of the State is already touched upon this string, and will be raised much higher if there is fresh cause.
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