Herschel Vespasian Johnson
Herschel Vespasian Johnson ( born September 18, 1812 Burke County, Georgia; † August 16, 1880 in Louisville, Georgia ) was an American politician and governor of Georgia.
Early years
The young Johnson studied at the University of Georgia law and made in 1834 with a degree. Then he opened offices in Augusta, Louisville and Georgia's former capital of Milledgeville. As a member of the Democratic Party in 1844 he was one of the electors of James K. Polk in the presidential election. In 1847 he competed unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for the upcoming gubernatorial election. In 1848 he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to finish the term of office of Senator Walter T. Colquitt, who had given up his seat in favor of a judicial office in Georgia. His term lasted only 13 months, from February 1848 until March 1849. Until 1853, he was then judge on the Court of Ocmulgee, but produce more politically active. So it was 1852 again elector of the Democrats in the presidential election of Franklin Pierce.
Political rise
In December 1850, the Acting Governor of Georgetown had convened a meeting that was to decide the withdrawal of Georgia from the Union. Background was the Compromise of 1850 and the associated restriction of slavery in the newly acquired U.S. territories. Johnson assisted in this matter Towns and campaigned for the secession of Georgia. However, this proposal was no majority. Towns and Johnson had to admit defeat. The 1850s were significant for Johnson's future career. In 1853 he was elected to succeed Howell Cobb to the Governor of Georgia and confirmed two years later in this post. Being in the middle of the decade again voices were raised demanding a secession of Georgia from the Union, Johnson changed his previous stance and gave all separatists a rejection. He remained in this moderate position in the following years, even after the end of his term in 1857, at. This led to a rapprochement with the north wing of the Democratic Party, which nominated him for the Presidential election of 1860 to its candidate for vice-president, while Stephen A. Douglas was erected for the presidency. However, the elections ended with the victory of Republican Abraham Lincoln.
Johnson and the American Civil
As in most Southern states congress was also held in Georgia after the election of 1860, set up to advise on the withdrawal of the state from the Union. Johnson spoke out vehemently it to remain the State in the Union. His change of heart, which he had taken place since the first Congress in 1850, but it must not be understood as turning to the views of the North, or even the Republican Party. He was still a supporter of slavery and only saw a better chance of this questionable institution within the Union to defend than outside. He could not prevail upon the Congress and Georgia decided to join the Confederacy. Johnson accepted the new conditions and was from 1862 to 1865 Senator in the Senate of the Confederate States.
End of life and death
After the war he was elected in 1866 according to the reconstruction plan of President Andrew Johnson in the U.S. Senate. Due to the political wrangling in Washington between the president and the radical wing of the Republican President Johnson's plan could not be realized and Herschel Johnson and the other elected representatives and senators from the defeated South was denied membership in the Congress. He then moved back to Louisville and was re- worked as a lawyer. Since 1873, he held back from the office of a judge. In 1880, he died in Louisville.