Early Life and Revolutionary Politics
Johnston was born in Dundee, Scotland, but came to America when his father (Samuel, Sr.) moved to Onslow County, North Carolina in 1736. Samuel Sr. became surveyor-general of the colony where his brother, Gabriel Johnston, was Royal Governor. Young Samuel was educated in New England, then read law in Carolina. He moved to Chowan County and started his own plantation, known as Hayes near Edenton.
Johnston was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Edenton. In 1759 he was elected to the colony's general assembly and would serve in that body until it was displaced in 1775 as a part of the Revolution. As a strong supporter of independence, he was also elected as a delegate to the first four provincial congresses and presided over the Third and Fourth congresses in 1775 and 1776. In the time after the Royal Governor Josiah Martin abdicated in 1775, he was the highest ranking official in the state, until Richard Caswell was elected president of the Fifth Provincial Congress.
Johnston is frequently cited as having served in the North Carolina Senate in 1779, but this is not confirmed by a careful perusal of the Senate Journals. He may have been elected but he certainly did not attend. In Johnston's own words, after 1777 he "had nothing to do with public business" during the Revolution except for his later service in the Continental Congress. Under the new state Government, Johnston was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1783 and 1784.
Read more about this topic: Samuel Johnston
Famous quotes containing the words revolutionary politics, early, life and/or politics:
“Revolutionary politics, revolutionary art, and oh, the revolutionary mind, is the dullest thing on earth. When we open a “revolutionary” review, or read a “revolutionary” speech, we yawn our heads off. It is true, there is nothing else. Everything is correctly, monotonously, dishearteningly “revolutionary.” What a stupid word! What a stale fuss!”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“...he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea.”
—Bible: New Testament, Mark 6:48.
“The Troubles are a pigmentation in our lives here, a constant irritation that detracts from real life. But life has to do with something else as well, and it’s the other things which are the more permanent and real.”
—Brian Friel (b. 1929)
“Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process. It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits. So much emphasis has been placed upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)