Visit HarpWeek.com

   
 

 
 
   
Name:  Herschel Vespasian Johnson

See a full text list of Biographies

   

Born:  September 18, 1812
Died:  August 16, 1880
 
Complete HarpWeek Biography:
Herschel Johnson was a Georgia governor, judge, and U.S. senator, who was the vice-presidential nominee of the Northern wing of the Democratic party in 1860. In 1834 he graduated from the University of Georgia and was admitted to the bar. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1843 and for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1847. He completed the U.S. Senate term of Walter Colquitt (1848-1849). Thereafter he was a superior court state judge (1849-1853) and governor of Georgia (1853-1857). After the Democratic party divided in 1860, primarily Northern delegates selected him as Stephen Douglas's vice-presidential running-mate. Following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president and the secession of Georgia, Johnson remained loyal to his state. During the Civil War he served in the second Confederate congress (1862-1865). In 1866 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, but Radical Republicans in Congress refused to seat him. Subsequently, he practiced law and served as a circuit court judge (1873-1880) in Georgia.

Source consulted: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

 

 


 

 
 

 

     
 

 
     
 

 
     
 

 

 

Website design © 2001-2008 HarpWeek, LLC
All Content © 1998-2008 HarpWeek, LLC
Please submit questions to webmaster@harpweek.com