Reverdy Johnson was an American statesman, diplomat, and lawyer. Able to grasp either side of an issue, he was called “the Trimmer” for his ability to bring about compromises.
Background
Johnson was born on May 21, 1796, in Annapolis, Maryland. His mother, Deborah Ghieselen, was a daughter of Reverdy Ghieselen, of Huguenot descent, who was for a time commissioner of the land office of Maryland. His father, John Johnson, whose ancestors had emigrated from England, served his state as a member of both houses of the legislature, as judge of the court of appeals, and as chancellor.
Education
Young Johnson received his general education in St. John's College at Annapolis, graduating in 1811.
Career
After reading law, first with his father and then with Judge Stephen, Johnson was admitted to the bar in 1815. His law practice began in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, but in 1817 he removed to Baltimore, where for almost sixty years he continued active in his profession, becoming one of the greatest lawyers of his day.
During his early law practice, in cooperation with Thomas Harris, clerk of the Maryland court of appeals, he compiled the reports of cases decided in that court (1800-1827). His chief legal fame rested upon his ability as a constitutional lawyer. He appeared as counsel in a number of very important suits and had as associates or opponents many of the most famous men of his time. In 1854 he and Thaddeus Stevens obtained for Cyrus McCormick a decision upholding the validity of the reaper patent. Two years later, in a second suit between the same parties he was associated with Edward M. Dickerson in opposition to Edwin M. Stanton. The most famous case with which he was connected was Dred Scott vs. Sanford, in which he represented the defense and was credited by George Ticknor Curtis, one of Scott's attorneys, with being the major influence in bringing about the decision against the bondman.
Johnson was an ardent Whig during the life of that party and later affiliated with the Democrats but never felt at home with them. In 1821 he was elected state senator from Baltimore and was returned to office in 1826 but resigned two years later because of the increasing demands of his profession. In 1845, when the Oregon and Texas questions were under discussion, he began his national career as a member of the United States Senate. In March 1849, he resigned from the Senate to become attorney-general under President Taylor, but his activities in this capacity were of little importance. He was soon under a cloud owing to an opinion he rendered on the Galphin claim in which Secretary of War Crawford had been attorney for the claimant. Before his death, Taylor was considering the dismissal of Johnson for his connection with the scandal, as well as that of Crawford, and of Meredith, the secretary of the treasury. After Taylor's death Johnson resigned with the rest of the cabinet and soon became allied with the Democrats. He had much sympathy for the South, urged conciliation, and was a member of the futile peace congress held in Washington early in 1861. Secession, however, he looked on as treason and stood for the preservation of the Union. Hence he upheld Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, though he frequently urged leniency or acquittal for those charged with disloyalty. When he was chosen a member of the Maryland house of delegates in 1861 he worked hard to keep the state from seceding from the Union. The next year he was again elected United States senator but did not take his seat until 1863 because Lincoln soon sent him to New Orleans to investigate complaints of foreign consuls that General Benjamin Butler had seized their property.
In 1868 Johnson was appointed to succeed Charles Francis Adams as minister to Great Britain, where he was well received, for he was known to favor the maintenance of friendship with the British, but, at home, he was severely criticized for his cordiality towards individuals whose actions had not been friendly to the Union. There were three questions entrusted to Johnson for settlement: the alienability of allegiance, the jurisdiction over the San Juan islands in Puget Sound, and the claims for damages done by the Alabama and other vessels built in Great Britain for the Confederacy. Agreements were promptly signed whereby the British government recognized the right of expatriation for British subjects and pledged itself to submit the San Juan question to arbitration. Johnson also negotiated a treaty for the settlement, by means of arbitral commission, of all financial claims arising between the two countries after July 26, 1853. The most important of the American claims were those for damages done by the Alabama and similar vessels. None of these agreements was ratified, chiefly owing to the fact that they were the work of a supporter of Andrew Johnson, but they did form the bases for later treaties.
After the election of Grant, Reverdy Johnson returned to the United States in the summer of 1869, and resumed his law practice. He defended many Southerners charged with disloyalty to the Union and was attorney for Allen Crosby, Sherod Childers, and others in the Ku Klux trials of South Carolina (1871-1872). In 1875 with David Dudley Field he obtained the acquittal of Cruikshank, who had been charged with fraud and violence in elections and indicted for conspiracy under the enforcement act of May 30, 1870. Still in active practice he died on February 10, 1876, from an accidental fall while in Annapolis to argue a case before the court of appeals.
Achievements
Politics
On the Oregon question Johnson attacked the administration and favored a boundary line following the forty-ninth parallel; in the matter of Texas, on the other hand, he deserted the Whigs to uphold Polk in prosecuting the war with Mexico. Yet he opposed the annexation of Mexican territory, for he feared that it would revive the whole problem of the extension of slavery. Although he thought that slavery was wrong, he believed that its expansion into the territories was a local concern, but, nevertheless, in order to avert the threatened disaster to the Union he urged compromise and suggested that the slavery question be submitted to the Supreme Court.
In the Senate he continued his moderate and conciliatory policy, championing the Constitution but occasionally giving way to expediency. He held that slaves who had enlisted in the army should be granted their freedom but was opposed to emancipating their families on this ground. In 1864 he supported McClellan for the presidency since he felt that the Emancipation Proclamation was unwise and resented Lincoln's interference in the Maryland and Kentucky elections. Though he had hoped that emancipation might come gradually, he voted for the Thirteenth Amendment. In his attitude towards the South he stood out in strong opposition to Sumner's conqueredprovince theory, for he held the Union to be indestructible. He favored the Wade-Davis plan of reconstruction, which Lincoln vetoed and, after Lincoln's assassination, generally supported Johnson in his policy towards the South. He was a member of the committee of fifteen on reconstruction and also sat on the later joint congressional committee. He fought the bill creating the Freedmen's Bureau, chiefly on account of the provision for trial by courts martial, and repeatedly he used his eloquence against arbitrary imprisonment and other violations of personal liberty.
While he opposed Negro suffrage because he felt that the blacks were unprepared for the responsibility, he finally voted for the Fourteenth Amendment as a means of ending military domination in the South. Yet, later, he voted for the bill dividing that region into military districts. For his various inconsistencies he was called a "trimmer" by his opponents, a term that was not entirely undeserved, though some of his shifts can be explained by his open-mindedness and natural lack of strong prejudices.
In the quarrel between Congress and President Johnson, he gave the executive considerable support and obtained an amendment to the Tenure of Office Act permitting the president to continue making recess appointments. In the impeachment of Johnson he was a member of the committee on rules for the Senate acting as a court, and filed an opinion that Johnson was not guilty. He seems to have been largely responsible for the acquittal through convincing a number of wavering senators that Johnson would enforce congressional reconstruction.
Personality
Johnson had an unusual memory, which served him especially well in the latter half of his life, when he became partially blind. His mental alertness made him a rare cross-examiner. He possessed a deep, oratorical voice that immediately commanded attention and was an important professional asset, as were also his tact, good nature, and unusual courtesy.
Connections
On November 16, 1819, Johnson married Mary Mackall Bowie, whose mother's father was Gov. Robert Bowie. Together, Reverdy and Mary had 15 children, of which five daughters and three sons survived.