William Freame Johnston

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William Freame Johnston

William Freame Johnston (born November 29, 1808 in Greensburg , Pennsylvania , † October 25, 1872 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania) was an American politician and from 1848 to 1852 the 11th governor of Pennsylvania.

Early years

William Johnston enjoyed a below average school education. But he taught himself the most necessary things from books and his own observations. So he could later study law. In 1829 he was admitted to the bar. That same year he became a district attorney in Armstrong County .

Political rise

William Johnston was originally a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected to the Pennsylvania state parliament in 1835 and re-elected to office in 1838 and 1841. There he made valuable suggestions for budget consolidation and the reduction of national debt. In the mid-1840s, Johnston left the Democratic Party and became a member of the Whig Party, whose candidate he was elected to the State Senate in 1847. In 1848 he became president of this body. After the constitution passed in 1838, the office of lieutenant governor no longer existed in Pennsylvania. This task was entrusted to the President of the Senate. When the incumbent Governor Francis Rawn Shunk had to resign on July 9, 1848 due to an illness of tuberculosis, Johnston fell as President of the Senate to his office. At this point in time, Johnston was not in the capital, Harrisburg . It took some time before he received news of the resignation and the death of Governor Shunk on July 20, 1848. Therefore, Johnston was not inducted into office until July 26, 1848. This means that there was practically no governor of Pennsylvania between July 9 and July 26. The next question to be answered was a special gubernatorial election. The state constitution provided for new elections for a change of office in the office of governor if this change took place before the end of a certain period of the current term of office. That deadline had expired exactly 17 days after Shunk's resignation. A debate arose over this, which Johnston ended with the call for new elections in October 1848.

Governor of Pennsylvania

William Johnston took office in July 1848 and was re-elected in October. So he could officiate until January 20, 1852. During his tenure, he reduced the national debt. He managed to establish financial stability in Pennsylvania's government. Johnston was also the founder of the country's historical archives. All historical documents that could be found since the beginning of the colonization of the country were viewed, sorted, restored and archived there. He also promoted the expansion of the infrastructure, which at the time mainly affected the railways and waterways. Over the question of slavery and the so-called " Fugitive Slave Act " of 1850, there was subsequent unrest in Pennsylvania. This federal law obliged the US states to arrest runaway slaves from the south and return them to their owners. In 1847, Pennsylvania had passed a law prohibiting the detention of runaway slaves. Governor Johnston refused to revoke this law in 1851 because he was an opponent of slavery and did not want to support it. He took the position that the federal government should implement this law without the aid of the states. When an attempt was made to arrest refugee slaves shortly before the election of 1851 , riots broke out in Lancaster County . This harmed the governor, who was held responsible for the unrest. Thereupon he was defeated in the gubernatorial elections that year, albeit very narrowly, against the Democrat William Bigler .

Another résumé

After the end of his governorship, Johnston remained politically active. In 1856 he was nominated for the office of vice president by the short-lived American Party. Johnston resigned from this nomination during the election campaign. Then he went to Kittanning. There he got into various businesses such as B. iron smelting, oil refining or salt production. He also became President of the Allegheny Railroad Railway Company. After the Civil War he was named Head of Customs at the Port of Philadelphia by President Andrew Johnson . He had to give up this post after a few months because it was not confirmed by the US Congress. That was not due to him, but to the conflict between President Johnson and the radical Republicans in Congress, who fought primarily over reconstruction policy. William Johnson died in 1872. He was married to Mary Montieth, with whom he had seven children.

literature

  • Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4, Meckler Books, Westport 1978. 4 volumes.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Johnston, William Freame
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician, governor of Pennsylvania
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Greensburg , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1872
Place of death Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania