William Samuel Johnson
State: Connecticut
Age at Convention: 59
Date of Birth: October 7, 1727
Date of Death: November 14, 1819
Schooling: Yale 1744, M.A. Harvard 1747
Occupation: Lawyer, Inventor, Public Security Interests, Lending and Investments
Prior Political Experience: Lower House of the Colonial Assembly 1761 & 1765, Upper House of the Colonial Assembly 1766 & 1771-1775, Refused to participate in First Continental Congress 1774, Confederation Congress 1785-1787
Committee Assignments: Committee on Slave Trade, Committee on State Commitments, Chairman of the Committee of Style, Committee of Economy, Frugality and Manufactures
Convention Contributions: Arrived June 2, except for a brief absence in late July was present until he signed the Constitution. Influential in securing the passage of the Connecticut Compromise. William Pierce stated that “Dr. Johnson is a character much celebrated for his legal knowledge; he is said to be one of the first classics in America, and certainly possess a very strong and enlighten understanding.”
New Government Participation: Served as Senator from Connecticut (1789 – 1791) and assisted in the passage of the Judiciary Act. Resigned from Senate to devote his career as President of King’s College (Columbia).
Biography from the National Archives: William Samuel Johnson was the son of Samuel Johnson, the first president of King’s College (later Columbia College and University). William was born at Stratford, CT, in 1727. His father, who was a well-known Anglican clergyman-philosopher, prepared him for college and he graduated from Yale in 1744. About 3 years later he won a master of arts degree from the same institution and an honorary master’s from Harvard.
Resisting his father’s wish that he become a minister, Johnson embraced law instead—largely by educating himself and without benefit of formal training. After admittance to the bar, he launched a practice in Stratford, representing clients from nearby New York State as well as Connecticut, and before long he established business connections with various mercantile houses in New York City. In 1749, adding to his already substantial wealth, he married Anne Beach, daughter of a local businessman. The couple was to have five daughters and six sons, but many of them died at an early age.
Johnson did not shirk the civic responsibilities of one of his station. In the 1750s he began his public career as a Connecticut militia officer. In 1761 and 1765 he served in the lower house of the colonial assembly. In 1766 and 1771 he was elected to the upper house. At the time of the Revolution, Johnson was disturbed by conflicting loyalties. Although he attended the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, moderately opposed the Townshend Duties of 1767, and believed that most British policies were unwise, he retained strong transatlantic ties and found it difficult to choose sides. Many of his friends resided in Britain; in 1765 and 1766 Oxford University conferred honorary master’s and doctor’s degrees upon him; he had a strong association with the Anglican Church; he acted as Connecticut’s agent in Britain during the years 1767-71; and he was friendly with men such as Jared Ingersoll, Sr., who were affiliated with the British administration.
Johnson finally decided to work for peace between Britain and the colonies and to oppose the extremist Whig faction. On that basis, he refused to participate in the First Continental Congress, to which he was elected in 1774, following service as a judge of the Connecticut colonial supreme court (1772-74). When hostilities broke out, he confined his activities to peacemaking efforts. In April 1775 Connecticut sent him and another emissary to speak to British Gen. Thomas Gage about ending the bloodshed. But the time was not ripe for negotiations and they failed. Johnson fell out of favor with radical patriot elements who gained the ascendancy in Connecticut government and they no longer called upon his service. Although he was arrested in 1779 on charges of communicating with the enemy, he cleared himself and was released.
Once the passions of war had ebbed, Johnson resumed his political career. In the Continental Congress (1785-87), he was one of the most influential and popular delegates. Playing a major role in the Constitutional Convention, he missed no sessions after arriving on June 2; espoused the Connecticut Compromise; and chaired the Committee of Style, which shaped the final document. He also worked for ratification in Connecticut.
Johnson took part in the new government, in the U.S. Senate where he contributed to passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789. In 1791, the year after the government moved from New York to Philadelphia, he resigned mainly because he preferred to devote all his energies to the presidency of Columbia College (1787-1800), in New York City. During these years, he established the school on a firm basis and recruited a fine faculty.
Johnson retired from the college in 1800, a few years after his wife died, and in the same year wed Mary Brewster Beach, a relative of his first bride. They resided at his birthplace, Stratford. He died there in 1819 at the age of 92 and was buried at Old Episcopal Cemetery.
Related:
* indicates delegates who did not sign the Constitution
Connecticut
William Samuel Johnson – Roger Sherman – Oliver Ellsworth (Elsworth)*
Delaware
George Read – Gunning Bedford, Jr. – John Dickinson – Richard Bassett – Jacob Broom
Georgia
William Few – Abraham Baldwin – William Houstoun* - William L. Pierce*
Maryland
James McHenry – Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer – Daniel Carroll – Luther Martin* - John F. Mercer*
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham – Rufus King – Elbridge Gerry* - Caleb Strong*
New Hampshire
John Langdon – Nicholas Gilman
New Jersey
William Livingston – David Brearly (Brearley) - William Paterson (Patterson) - Jonathan Dayton – William C. Houston*
New York
Alexander Hamilton – John Lansing, Jr.* - Robert Yates*
North Carolina
William Blount – Richard Dobbs Spaight – Hugh Williamson – William R. Davie* - Alexander Martin*
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin – Thomas Mifflin – Robert Morris – George Clymer – Thomas Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons) - Jared Ingersoll – James Wilson – Gouverneur Morris
South Carolina
John Rutledge – Charles Cotesworth Pinckney – Charles Pinckney – Pierce Butler
Rhode Island
Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Convention.
Virginia
John Blair – James Madison Jr. – George Washington – George Mason* - James McClurg* - Edmund J. Randolph* - George Wythe*
Other:
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