Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnston, Samuel
JOHNSTON, SAMUEL (1733–1816), American statesman and judge, born on 15 Dec. 1733, was the son of John Johnston of Dundee. His father emigrated to America in 1736, became a surveyor-general there, and acquired large landed estates. Samuel was clerk of the superior court in Chowan county from 1767 to 1772, and was also naval officer under the crown. His abilities as a lawyer and politician won him admission on the popular side to the assembly of 1769. In 1773 he became one of the standing committee of inquiry and correspondence, was an active member of the first two provincial congresses, and presided over the third and fourth. On 3 Aug. 1775 he was made chairman of the provincial council; in September following he was chosen treasurer for the north district of North Carolina; during 1781–2 he was a member of the continental congress, and in 1788–9 governor of the state, presiding over the convention which rejected the federal constitution, though he himself supported it with all his influence. The measure was adopted by the convention of 1789, over which he again presided. He was a United States senator from 1789 to 1793, and judge of the supreme court from February 1800 to November 1803. In 1815 New Jersey College conferred on him the degree of LL.D. He died near Edenton, North Carolina, on 18 Aug. 1816.
[Drake's Dict. of Amer. Biog. p. 493; Irving's Book of Eminent Scotsmen, p. 243.]