Chapman Johnson

Johnson was born in Louisa County. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary in 1802.[1]

The Virginia Capitol at Richmond VA
where 19th century Conventions met

As an adult, Johnson lived in Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia. He was elected Mayor of Staunton in 1808, and then served in the Virginia state Senate beginning in 1811 through 1831 from a district made up of Augusta, Rockbridge and Pendleton Counties.[2]

In the War of 1812, Johnson was the elected captain of a volunteer company and was appointed aide to General James Breckinridge.[3] He was governor of the University of Virginia from 1819 to 1845, and rector from 1836 to 1845.[4]

Johnson was elected as a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830. There he was elected by the Convention to serve on the Legislative Committee. He was one of four delegates elected from the senatorial district made up his home district.[5]

During the debates, he was a floor leader for the White Basis Party in the Convention, seeking reapportionment of the state legislature to represent citizens only, without weighting the legislature by counting slaves held as property. The existing regime made the eastern slave-holding counties a permanent majority in the General Assembly opposing direct election of the Governor and internal improvements to connect the western and eastern regions of the state.[6]

Chapman Johnson died July 12, 1849, at Richmond, Virginia.[7]

political graveyard

• Pulliam, David Loyd (1901). The Constitutional Conventions of Virginia from the foundation of the Commonwealth to the present time. John T. West, Richmond. ISBN 978-1-2879-2059-5.
• "Chapman_Johnson". Swem Library. College of William and Mary. Retrieved December 25, 2016.