Samuel Johnston, Continental Congress, North Carolina Governor & US Senator

Samuel Johnston (1733-1816)

Johnston was born in Dundee, Scotland and came to America with his father in 1736. They settled in North Carolina. He was educated in New England and read law in North Carolina. He became a planter in Chowan County, gained admission to the bar, and began a law practice in Edenton.

He served in the North Carolina House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1775.

A strong supporter of independence, Johnston was a delegate to the first four provincial congresses and presided over the third and fourth in 1775 and 1776.

He represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress in 1780 and 1781, and though elected as the first president of the Confederation Congress, he declined to serve.

Johnston served as Governor of North Carolina from 1787 to 1789 and presided over both conventions to ratify the U.S. Constitution, the second of which ratified the document. He served as one of North Carolinas first two U.S. Senators from 1789 to 1793.

From 1800 until retiring in 1803, he served as a judge in the Superior Court of North Carolina.