Kensey Johns Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist and Whig Parties who served as U. S. Representative from Delaware.
Background
Johns was born on December 10, 1791, in New Castle, Delaware, the son of Chief Justice, afterwards Chancellor, Kensey Johns, and grandson, through his mother, Ann, of Governor Nicholas Van Dyke, he inherited high traditions of public service.
Education
Johns graduated from the College of New Jersey in the class of 1810 with James G. Birney, George M. Dallas, and others who later attained prominence. After studying law with his maternal uncle, Nicholas Van Dyke, he completed a course in the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1813.
Career
While yet a young man Johns attained high standing as a sound and able lawyer. He possessed an analytical mind which enabled him to grasp the essentials in a case and refer every question to some basic legal principle. Fifteen years of law practice had established him securely as one of the leaders in the profession when he decided to enter public life.
On October 2, 1827, he was chosen to fill the unexpired term of Congressman Louis McLane, who had been elected to the Senate, and at the expiration of the Twentieth Congress, Johns was elected for the following term. At its close, December 3, 1831, he retired from national politics. Of his several speeches in Congress the one in favor of the tariff of 1828 was the most important. His chief argument was the sad plight of the manufacturers, and he handled the subject in a practical rather than a logical or statesmanlike manner.
After retiring from Congress he resumed the practice of law. In 1831 the constitutional convention reorganized the judiciary system. Although the chancery remained unchanged, his father, grown old in service, took this opportunity to resign; and the governor, at the suggestion of the bar, appointed the son chancellor, January 18, 1832. In this office, Johns carried out the ideals of legal study acquired in his youth. The process of grasping the leading principle in a case was carried a step further to a clearer enunciation, where needed, of those rules of equity hitherto imperfectly understood in Delaware law. Keen discrimination in selecting authorities and weighing principles, and thorough learning and research were his chief attributes. Though some of his decisions are now regarded as aberrant, his judgments were generally correct; and in most of the appeals from his decrees, his decisions were affirmed by the court of errors and appeals.
After twenty-five years of active service, he died very suddenly at the close of a term in Sussex.