Samuel Johnston (December 15, 1733 – August 17, 1816) was an American planter, lawyer, Grand Master of Freemasons, slave holder, and statesman from

Chowan County, North Carolina Chowan County ( )
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carol ...

. He represented

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in both the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

and the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

, and he was the sixth Governor of North Carolina.

Early life and education revolution

Johnston was born in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Scotland, in the

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

, on December 15, 1733. In 1736, he accompanied his father, Samuel Sr., in relocating to Onslow County, in what was then colonial-era

Province of North Carolina The Province of North Carolina, originally known as the Albemarle Settlements, was a proprietary colony and later royal colony of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776.(p. 80) It was one of the five Southern col ...

. Samuel Sr. became surveyor-general of the colony. Young Samuel was educated in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, and then

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

in Carolina. He moved to Chowan County and started a plantation known as Hayes near Edenton.

Career

Johnston was admitted to the bar and began a law practice in Edenton. In 1759, he was elected to the

House of Burgesses and served in that body until it was displaced in 1775 during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. During North Carolina's

War of the Regulation The Regulator Movement in North Carolina, also known as the Regulator Insurrection, War of Regulation, and War of the Regulation, was an uprising in Provincial North Carolina from 1766 to 1771 in which citizens took up arms against colonial offi ...

in December 1770, he introduced the anti-Regulators bill was later passed as the Johnston Riot Act in response to the September 1770 Hillsborough Riot and to later reports of a planned Regulator march upon the provincial capital,

New Bern New Bern, formerly Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 31,291 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of the Neuse River, Neuse a ...

, which ultimately did not occur. The passage of the Johnston Riot Act and others precipitated an even more significant enlargement of the Regulator movement and forced Royal Governor Tryon to call out the provincial militia, which culminated in the

Battle of Alamance The Battle of Alamance, which took place on May 16, 1771, was the final confrontation of the Regulator Movement, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over various issues with the Colonial Government. The Regulators primarily wanted reforms ...

on May 16, 1771. As a strong supporter of independence, he was also elected as a delegate to the first four provincial congresses and presided over the Third and Fourth congresses in 1775 and 1776. After Royal Governor

Josiah Martin Josiah Martin (23 April 1737 – 13 April 1786) was a British Army officer and colonial official who served as the ninth and last governor of North Carolina from 1771 to 1776, and in exile until 1783. Early life and career Martin was born i ...

abdicated in 1775, he was the highest-ranking official in the state until

Richard Caswell Richard Caswell (August 3, 1729November 10, 1789) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first and fifth governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1776 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1787. He also served as a senior officer ...

was elected president of the Fifth Provincial Congress. Johnston is frequently cited as having served in the North Carolina Senate in 1779, but that is not confirmed in Senate Journals. He may have been elected, but he certainly did not attend. In Johnston's own words, after 1777, "...had nothing to do with public business..." during the Revolution. Under the new state government, Johnston was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1783 and 1784. Johnston was the first Grand Master of Freemasons for the State of North Carolina, voted into office on 11 Dec 1787 to revive Masonic activities that had been defunct after breaking away from England. There had only been Deputy Grand Master until he was elected Grand Master. He would be elected Grand Master again in 1789-1791.

Election as president

North Carolina sent Johnston as a delegate to the

in 1780 and 1781. Johnston was elected the first '' President of the United States in Congress Assembled'' under the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

, but he declined the office. This was reportedUSCA Journals, America's Four Republics: The More or Less United States. 2d Edition, June 2018 on July 10, 1781:

Later career and death

Johnston served as

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Seventy-five people have held the office since the first state governor, Richard Caswell, took office in 1777. The governor serves a ...

from 1787 to 1789. He presided over both conventions called to ratify the

US Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitut ...

. The one in 1788 rejected the Constitution despite Johnston's strong support. He called another convention in 1789, which decided on ratification. Johnston then resigned as governor to become one of the state's first two US Senators and served from 1789 to 1793. In 1800, he was made a Judge in the

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

of North Carolina, an office he held until his retirement in 1803. Johnston died at his home, Hayes Plantation, near Edenton, in Chowan County; he purchased the house from David Rieusett in 1765 and lived there until 1793 when he moved to the Hermitage, a plantation in Martin County. The 1790 Census shows that he enslaved 96 people at Hayes Plantation.Family search
In 1816 he was buried in the Johnston Burial Ground there. The plantation house is privately owned but was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1973. It is now within Edenton, but the current house was completed by his son, James Cathcart Johnston, a year after Samuel's death. On the Hayes farm, Edenton, North Carolina once owned by Johnston in 1983 a copy of the Declaration of Independence was found; in 2024 a copy of The Constitution of the United States was founda-long-lost-copy-of-the-constitution-was-found accessed 19 October 2024
/ref>

Legacy

Samuel Johnston's collection of books, which he bequeathed to his son James, is preserved in a full-scale replication of Hayes Plantation's library at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. The octagon-shaped historic room is on permanent exhibit in the North Carolina Collection Gallery in Wilson Library.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Samuel 1733 births 1816 deaths American Freemasons American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law American people of Scottish descent 18th-century American planters Candidates in the 1796 United States presidential election Continental Congressmen from North Carolina Governors of North Carolina Masonic grand masters Members of the North Carolina House of Burgesses Members of the North Carolina Provincial Congresses North Carolina state court judges People from Edenton, North Carolina Politicians from Dundee Pro-Administration Party state governors of the United States Pro-Administration Party United States senators from North Carolina North Carolina Federalists Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies United States senators who owned slaves 18th-century United States senators