Richard Johnson (October 17, 1780 – November 19, 1850) Ninth Vice President of the United States
So this morning as I was checking the events that occurred on February 8th, I saw that date in 1837, Richard Johnson became the 9th Vice President of the United States, What caught my attention was the Richard Johnson is the only Vice-President ever elected by the U.S.Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, which says in part…..
….The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States Read More
Richard Johnson first served as a representative in the US Congress from Kentucky. He was elected in 1806; and became an ally of Henry Clay (also from Kentucky) As such, Johnson became a member of the War Hawks faction, that favored war with Britain in1812. From Wikipedia…
… Johnson was commissioned a colonel in the Kentucky Militia and commanded a regiment of mounted volunteers from 1812 to 1813. He and his brother James served under William Henry Harrison in Upper Canada. Johnson participated in the Battle of the Thames. Some reported that he personally killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, which he later used to his political advantage.
In 1836, Johnson ran for vice-president on a Democratic ticket with Martin Van Buren. His campaign slogan may be the worst slogan I have ever heard ….“Rumpsey Dumpsey, Rumpsey Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh” Johnson fell jus short of the number of electoral votes needed to win.Virginia’s delegation to the Electoral College went against the state’s popular vote and refused to endorse Johnson. Saying we are not voting for anyone with a campaign slogan like that one. (Not really). So the Senate was forced to decide the election and since the Democrats controlled the Senate, Johnson was elected.However, Johnson was such a liability for the Democrats in the 1836 election they decided to leave him off the ticket. Van Buren ran without a running mate campaigning using the slogan .“Rumpsey Dumpsey, Rumpsey Dumpsey, I dumped the man who killed Tecumseh” (just kidding!). Van Buren lost the election to William Henry Harrison “Old Tippecanoe” who was a member of the Whig Party (which is the worst name for a political party ever) and Richard Johnson’s former commander in the War of 1812.
Johnson tried to return to public office but was defeated. He finally was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1850, but he died on November 19, 1850, just two weeks into his term. While his commanding officer lasted a whole four weeks in office after being elected president in 1840. Hum, Tecumseh’s revenge???
