William Johnson
William Johnson (1771-1834) served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1804 to 1834.
Portrait
Albert Rosenthal, William Johnson, n.d., print: etching, United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs, D'Angelo Law Library Rare Book Room, University of Chicago Library.
Signed by the artist, Albert Rosenthal.
Signature
Detail from William Johnson to Dr. David Hosack, 30 June 1823, United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs, D'Angelo Law Library Rare Book Room, University of Chicago Library.
The Document
William Johnson to Dr. David Hosack, 30 June 1823, United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs, D'Angelo Law Library Rare Book Room, University of Chicago Library.
Transcription of the Letter:
Charleston June 30th 1823
My dear Sir
Permit me to introduce to your acquaintance my friend The Hon'ble Mr. Colcock one of our state judges.
Your friendly attention to him will confer a favour on
Your Sincere Friend
William Johnson
Dr. David Hosack
William Johnson to Dr. David Hosack, 30 June 1823, United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs, D'Angelo Law Library Rare Book Room, University of Chicago Library.
Transcription:
Dr. David Hosack
New York
Hon'ble Charles Jones Colcock
William Johnson to Dr. David Hosack, 30 June 1823, United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs, D'Angelo Law Library Rare Book Room, University of Chicago Library.
Transcription:
at the Franklin House
About this Document
About Dr. David Hosack
At the time he received this letter, Dr. David Hosack was a New York physician, teacher, and botanist of great renown. He is known for his creation of the Elgin Botanic Garden in New York City, the first public botanic garden in the United States. But he is perhaps best known for having been the doctor requested by both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to attend their 1804 duel and who treated Hamilton after his fatal injuries. Dr. Hosack had also previously treated Hamilton's son Philip after his fatal duel in 1801.
For more about Dr. David Hosack, see:
- Christine Chapman Robbins, David Hosack, Citizen of New York (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1964).
- Alexander Eddy Hosack, A Memoir of the Late David Hosack (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1861).
- "David Hosack Collection," Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, accessed July 15, 2019, https://rbsc.princeton.edu/collections/david-hosack-collection.
- "Founders Online," National Historical Publications & Records Commission, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, accessed July 12, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/.
- Contains letters to and from Dr. Hosack in the searchable papers of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison (administered by the U.S National Archives and Records Administration).
About Charles Jones Colcock
Charles Jones Colcock was a judge on the South Carolina Court of Appeals and a member of a politically active family of cotton planters in South Carolina.
For more about Charles Jones Colcock, see:
- The Opinions of the Hon. Judges Colcock, Nott, Bay, and Grimke, on the act to amend the third section of the tenth article of the constitution and on the constitutionality of the act entitled An Act to Provide a More Expeditious Mode of Disposing of the Cases on the Dockets of the Constitutional Court in Charleston and Columbia (Columbia, SC: Printed by D. & J.J. Faust, 1817).
- "Colcock family papers, 1785-1982," Special Collections, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, accessed July 15, 2019, https://specialcollections.tulane.edu/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=253&q=&rootcontentid=106343#.
- "South Carolina Historical Society," South Carolina Historical Society, accessed July 15, 2019, https://schistory.org/.
- Archives of and publications about South Carolina history, including family histories of families like the Colcocks.
About William Johnson
At the time that he wrote this letter, William Johnson was serving as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated for the position in 1804 by Thomas Jefferson, and served until his death in 1834.
Before his service on the Court, Johnson was an attorney in private practice, a South Carolina state representative, and a judge of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas.
For more about William Johnson's life and career, see:
- Donald G. Morgan, Justice William Johnson, the First Dissenter: The Career and Constitutional Philosophy of a Jeffersonian Judge (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1954).
- William Johnson, Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene, Major General of the Armies of the United States, in the War of the Revolution (Charleston, SC: Printed for the author by A.E. Miller, 1822).
- "William Johnson papers in the Charles E. Feinberg collection, 1944-1945," Finding Aid, Library of Congress, accessed July 15, 2019, http://findingaids.loc.gov/db/search/xq/searchMfer02.xq?_id=loc.mss.eadmss.ms009081&_faSection=overview&_faSubsection=did&_dmdid=.
- "Founders Online," National Historical Publications & Records Commission, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, accessed July 15, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/.
- Contains correspondence between William Johnson and Thomas Jefferson in the searchable papers of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison (administered by the U.S National Archives and Records Administration).
- "Johnson, William, Jr.," Federal Judicial Center, accessed July 15, 2019, https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/johnson-william-jr.
- Lists background information on his professional career as well as a bibliography.