Johnson was born on October 17, 1780, in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Robert, and his mother, Jemima (Suggett) Johnson, had migrated from Virginia to the West shortly before his birth, and shortly afterward they moved to Bryant's Station near the present Lexington, Kentucky.
Reared upon the frontier, young Richard had few educational advantages, but he was able to begin the study of Latin at the age of fifteen and thus equip himself for the study of law, which he pursued under George Nicholas and James Brown, professors in Transylvania University.
Johnson was admitted to the bar in 1802, and in 1804 was elected to the state legislature. Two years later he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he sat from 1807 until 1819. In Congress Johnson supported President Jefferson and his embargo policy, and later favored the declaration of war against Great Britain. During the conflict which followed he left Washington to become colonel of a regiment of mounted Kentucky riflemen. Having a natural aptitude for military affairs, he worked out a theory of combat for such troops, which he was soon able to put into practice with remarkable success. With his regiment he marched under Governor Shelby to join General Harrison on the Canadian border, and here took part in the battle of the Thames. In this engagement his troops bore the brunt of the attack, and a part of them, commanded by his brother James, rode through the British lines to turn and attack the enemy from the rear. The Colonel, while charging the Indian allies of the British, was severely wounded, but his forces prevailed and he was borne from the field a hero. In the fighting he had killed an Indian chief, said by some to have been Tecumseh.
Johnson had not resigned his seat in Congress while engaged in military activities, and as soon as his wounds permitted he returned to Washington. In 1819 a great financial panic struck the country. Johnson voluntarily retired from his seat in the House and was elected a member of the Kentucky legislature, which forthwith chose him to represent the state in the United States Senate. He has been given credit for the passage of the Kentucky law abolishing imprisonment for debt, and he later took a leading part in the agitation of similar legislation before Congress; it is, therefore, probable that his promotion at this time was due to his connection with the relief movement which was rampant in Kentucky. He retained his seat in the Senate from 1819 until 1829.
In the presidential election of 1824 he favored Clay, but turned to Jackson when the forces of Clay united with those of Adams. Defeated for the Senate in 1829, he returned to the House of Representatives. Jackson used Richard Johnson as his personal agent on various occasions, notably when he was trying to force his cabinet to accept Peggy O'Neill, the wife of Secretary J. H. Eaton. The General decided that Johnson should be vice-president under Van Buren, and accomplished his nomination by the same kind of strong-handed action which secured that of the presidential candidate. Failing to secure a majority of the electoral vote, he became the only vice-president ever elected by the Senate.
Johnson's career as vice-president was inconspicuous and in 1841 he retired to private life. In November 1850 he took his seat once more in the Kentucky legislature, but died less than a fortnight later, and his fame, in large measure, passed with him to the grave.
As chairman of the committee on military affairs Johnson was active in securing pension legislation. He opposed the establishment of the second United States Bank in 1816, but was in favor of protection and of internal improvements.
In 1816 he proposed and secured the passage of a measure granting congressmen an annual salary of $1, 500 instead of a per diem allowance. This, he believed, would encourage the members of that body to expedite their business, but the constituencies looked upon it as a "salary grab, " and many members consequently lost their seats. Johnson retained his by bowing to the will of the people and working for the repeal of his own act. His willingness to recant is typical of his character.
The next political storm in which he was involved arose in 1818 over the Seminole campaign of Andrew Jackson. When the question was before the House in 1819, Johnson alone of the committee on military affairs reported in favor of Jackson.
During Jackson's presidency, the relations between Johnson and the General were cordial, even intimate. Johnson signed the report condemning the Bank of the United States, not because he was convinced of its sins, but merely and frankly to accommodate the administration. He also supported the President in his tariff policies and opposition toward internal improvements, though his private views favored both.
Johnson seems to have taken considerable interest in education. After the War of 1812 he introduced in Congress resolutions looking toward the establishment of military academies. He favored the establishment of a national seminary in the District of Columbia, and was one of the organizers of Columbian College (now George Washington University). He was a founder and trustee for some time of Georgetown College, Kentucky. He gave buildings on his land, supplied a teacher, and maintained general supervision of the Choctaw Academy, established under the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1825) for the education of the Indians. White boys also, among them his nephew, Robert Ward Johnson, attended this institution, which flourished until after 1841.
Johnson was possessed of the courage, dash, and military bearing of the best frontier type, and of the clear-cut, classic features which one associates with patrician blood.
Johnson was never married, but had two daughters by Julia Chinn, a mulatto who came to him in the distribution of his father's estate.
He was a minister in the Christian Church, an attorney, and a politician, elected as U.S. Representative from Kentucky.
He was an American politician from Arkansas who served as a U.S. Representative (1847-1853), U.S. Senator (1853-1861), delegate to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861-1862), and Confederate States Senator (1862-1865).
