# Thomas Johnson (judge) *18th-century American lawyer, politician and patriot; first (non-Colonial) governor of Maryland and associate justice of the Supreme Court (1791–1793)* *Not to be confused with [[Tom Johnson]], Hennepin County Attorney, or [[Lyndon Johnson]].* Thomas Johnson (November 4, 1732 – October 26, 1819) was a Maryland lawyer and Revolutionary-era officeholder. In 1774 he represented Maryland at the First Continental Congress and signed the Continental Association there. In 1776 he commanded Maryland militia. In 1777 the legislature chose him as the first governor of Maryland after independence.[^1] George Washington was his longtime friend and political ally. In August 1791 Washington placed him on the Supreme Court by recess appointment. Johnson left the Court in January 1793, citing ill health. His tenure there was the second shortest of any justice.[^1] ## Life before the Revolution Johnson was born on November 4, 1732, in Calvert County, Maryland. His parents were Thomas Johnson (1702–1777) and Dorcas Sedgwick Johnson (1705–1770). His grandfather, a London lawyer also named Thomas Johnson, had settled in Maryland before 1700. He was the fourth of ten children. His niece Louisa, daughter of his brother Joshua, later married John Quincy Adams.[^1] He was schooled at home and read law with an established firm. He entered the Maryland bar in 1753. He had relocated his practice to Frederick County by 1760, and he won his first seat in the provincial assembly in 1761. On February 16, 1766, he married Ann Jennings, daughter of the judge under whom he had apprenticed. The couple had eight children, two of whom died young.[^1] ## Revolutionary years The Maryland assembly made Johnson its delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775. There he sided with the delegates who favored separation from Great Britain. In November 1775 Congress set up a Committee of Secret Correspondence to seek foreign support for the war. Johnson was among its first members, with Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Harrison V.[^1] In 1775 he wrote the declaration of rights that the Maryland assembly adopted. That declaration became the opening part of the state's first constitution, which a convention at Annapolis adopted in 1776.[^1] From January 1776 to February 1777 he held the rank of senior brigadier general in the Maryland militia. He led troops sent to support Washington's retreat across New Jersey.[^1] He and his brothers made ammunition, and possibly cannon, for the Revolutionary cause. Their works, Catoctin Furnace, now lie within a state park near Camp David, north of Frederick. In the winter of 1777 he brought supplies to the Continental Army at Valley Forge.[^1] Earlier in 1777 the legislature elected him governor, and he held the office until 1779. During the 1780s he filled several judicial posts in Maryland. He also sat in the assembly in 1780, 1786 and 1787. In the assembly he carried a bill appointing commissioners to negotiate regulations for the Potomac River with Virginia's commissioners.[^1] ## Federal years In September 1789 Washington nominated Johnson as the first federal judge for the District of Maryland. Johnson turned the post down. He was the senior justice of the Maryland General Court in 1790 and 1791.[^1] In January 1791 Washington named him to the commission charged with laying out the federal capital under the Residence Act of 1790. His fellow commissioners were David Stuart and Daniel Carroll. In September 1791 the commissioners named the city "The City of Washington" and the district "The Territory of Columbia".[^1] On August 5, 1791, Washington gave Johnson a recess appointment as associate justice. The appointment filled the seat left vacant by [[John Rutledge]], and Johnson took the oath on September 19, 1791. He was formally nominated on October 31, 1791, and the [[United States Senate]] confirmed him on November 7, 1791.[^1] He wrote the Court's first written opinion, *Georgia v. Brailsford* (1792). He resigned on January 16, 1793, giving his poor health as the reason.[^1] Ill health also led him to decline Washington's 1795 offer to nominate him as Secretary of State, an appointment Thomas Jefferson had recommended. On February 22, 1800, he gave a eulogy for Washington at a birthday memorial service. On February 28, 1801, President John Adams named him Chief Judge for the District of Columbia. The Senate confirmed him, but he declined the post.[^1] ## Later years, death and legacy His daughter Ann had married John Colin Grahame in 1788. In his last years Johnson lived with them at Rose Hill Manor, the house they built in Frederick, Maryland. The house is now a public county park, and Governor Thomas Johnson High School stands on half of the property. He died at Rose Hill on October 26, 1819. He was first buried in All Saints churchyard and was later reinterred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick.[^1] Johnson was an early investor in the Illinois-Wabash Company, which bought land in Illinois directly from several Indian tribes. After his death his son Joshua Johnson and grandson Thomas Graham sued William M'Intosh. In that case, [[Johnson v. McIntosh]], the Supreme Court held that only the federal government could acquire Indian land. As a result, Johnson's heirs did not hold good title to the property.[^1] Several Maryland schools carry his name, and the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge opened in 1978. The bridge crosses the Patuxent River between Calvert and St. Mary's Counties. Johnson owned slaves, and the naming of schools for him has been disputed on that account.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Thomas Johnson (judge)* (revision 1370885350, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Johnson's birth, family, Revolutionary and state offices, Supreme Court appointment, confirmation and resignation dates, death, and legacy. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Johnson_(judge)>