Political Career
Johnson entered politics in 1804, when he was elected to represent Scott County in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He was twenty-three years old. Although the Kentucky Constitution imposed an age requirement of twenty-four for members of the House of Representatives, Johnson was so popular that no one raised questions about his age, and he was allowed to take his seat. He was placed on the Committee on Courts of Justice. During his tenure, he supported legislation to protect settlers from land speculators. On January 26, 1807, he delivered an address condemning the Burr conspiracy.
In 1806, Johnson was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives. At the time of his election in August 1806, he did not meet the U.S. Constitution's age requirement for service in the House (25), but by the time the congressional session began the following March, he met the required age. He was re-elected and served six consecutive terms. From 1807 to 1813, he represented Kentucky's Fourth District.
He secured one of Kentucky's at-large seats in the House from 1813 to 1815, and represented Kentucky's Third District from 1815 to 1819. He continued to represent the interests of the poor as a member of the House. He first came to national attention with his opposition to rechartering the First Bank of the United States.
Johnson served as chairman of the Committee on Claims during the Eleventh Congress (1809–1811). The committee was charged with adjudicating financial claims made by veterans of the Revolutionary War. He sought to influence the committee to grant the claim of Alexander Hamilton's widow to wages which Hamilton had declined when serving under George Washington. Although Hamilton was a champion of the rival Federalist Party, Johnson had compassion for Hamilton's widow; before the end of his term, he secured payment of the wages.
Read more about this topic: Richard Mentor Johnson
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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