Reverdy JohnsonREVERDY JOHNSON.
In 1817, he removed to the city of Baltimore. In 1820, he was appointed chief commissioner of insolvent debtors. He held this office until 1821, when he was elected to the Senate of Maryland. In this body he served for two years, and was re-elected, and served nearly two years longer as a State Senator. He then resigned the office, in order to devote himself to a rapidly increasing practice, which he pursued until 1845, with distinguished ability and success, reaching, by general consent, the leadership of the Maryland bar. In 1845, he was elected a Senator in Congress. He retained this position until 1849, when he resigned it to accept the office of Attorney-General of the United States, tendered him by His distinguished services in the Senate, during the period of the rebellion, and his masterly and vigorous efforts to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws during the progress of the rebellion, and after its termination, are well known to the whole country. During the term of President Lincoln, he was sent to New Orleans, for the purpose of adjusting grave questions which had arisen with foreign governments, by reason of the alleged undue exercise of military and civil authority, by the general then commanding in Louisiana. His action in restraining and correcting the abuses, which he had been requested to remedy, was fully approved of by the Government at Washington. Since the close of the rebellion, Mr. Johnson has, with signal ability, manifested his devotion to the Constitution of the United States. He has uniformly insisted that this instrument was as binding upon ourselves as upon those who sought to violate it In 1861. His selection as a member of the joint select committee on reconstruction was most judicious, for no member of the Senate was more thoroughly informed on the subject, or more impartial.
In May, 1868, President Johnson nominated him for minister to the court of St. James, as successor to Hon. Charles Francis Adams, and he was confirmed by unanimous vote of the Senate. In the ensuing autumn Mr. Johnson negotiated a treaty with the British Government covering the Alabama Claims, the Northwestern boundary controversy, etc. This treaty was laid before the Senate in February 1869, and after discussion rejected, only one or two votes being recorded in its favor. In April, 1869, Mr. Johnson was recalled, and John Lothrop Motley, the historian, appointed his successor. Since his return to the United States he has devoted himself to his profession, of which he is esteemed one of the ablest members. He was consulted in reference to the Washington Treaty of 1871, and approved of its provisions. Notwithstanding his advanced age, neither mind nor body seems to have lost any portion of its vigor, and so far as we can judge, he may rival the English statesmen and jurists in maintaining his position up to his ninetieth year. Source: Source: Men of Our Day; or Biographical Sketches of Patriots, Orators, Statesmen, Generals, Reformers, Financiers and Merchants, Now on the state of Action: Including Those Who in Military, Political, Business and Social Life, are the Prominent Leaders of the Time in This Country, by L. P. Brockett, M. D., Published by Ziegler and McCurdy, Philadelphia Penna; Springfield, Mass; Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo., 1872
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