Richard Mentor Johnson Richard Mentor Johnson ( October 17 , 1780 or 1781 – November 19 , 1850 ) was the ninth Vice President of the United States , serving in the administration of Martin Van Buren ( 1837 – 1841 ) . He is the only vice president ever elected by the United States Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment . Johnson also represented Kentucky in the U . S . House of Representatives and Senate ; he began and ended his political career in the Kentucky House of Representatives . Johnson was elected to the U . S . House of Representatives in 1806 . He became allied with fellow Kentuckian Henry Clay as a member of the War Hawks faction that favored war with Britain in 1812 . At the outset of the War of 1812 , Johnson was commissioned a colonel in the army . He and his brother James served under William Henry Harrison in Upper Canada . Johnson participated in the Battle of the Thames . Some reported that he personally killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh , which he later used to his political advantage . Following the war , Johnson returned to the House of Representatives . The legislature appointed him to the Senate in 1819 to fill the seat vacated by John J . Crittenden . As his prominence grew , his interracial relationship with Julia Chinn , an octoroon slave , was more widely criticized . It worked against his political ambitions . Unlike other upper class leaders who had African American mistresses but never mentioned them , Johnson openly treated Chinn as his common law wife . He acknowledged their two daughters as his children , giving them his surname , much to the consternation of some of his constituents . The relationship is believed to have led to the loss of his Senate seat in 1829 , but his Congressional district returned him to the House the following year . In 1836 , Johnson was the Democratic nominee for vice - president on a ticket with Martin Van Buren . Campaigning with the slogan " Rumpsey Dumpsey , Rumpsey Dumpsey , Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh " , Johnson fell just short of the electoral votes needed to secure his election . Virginia ' s delegation to the electoral college went against the state ' s popular vote and refused to endorse Johnson . However , he was elected to the office by the Senate , which was dominated by Democrats . Johnson proved such a liability for the Democrats in the 1836 election that they refused to renominate him for vice - president in 1840 . Van Buren campaigned without a running mate . He lost to William Henry Harrison , a Whig . Johnson tried to return to public office but was defeated . He finally was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1850 , but he died on November 19 , 1850 , just two weeks into his term . Early life and education . Richard Mentor Johnson was born on October 17 , 1780 , the fifth of Robert and Jemima ( Suggett ) Johnson ' s eleven children . At the time , the family was living in the newly founded settlement of " Beargrass " , near present - day Louisville , Kentucky ; Kentucky was part of Virginia until made a state in 1792 . By 1782 , the Johnsons had moved to Bryan ' s Station , Kentucky in Fayette County . Johnson ' s mother was a heroine because of her actions during Simon Girty ' s raid on Bryan ' s Station in August 1782 . According to tradition , as Girty ' s forces surrounded the fort , the occupants discovered that they had almost no water inside to withstand a siege . Several Indians had concealed themselves near the spring outside the fort . The Kentuckians reasoned that the Indians would not show themselves until they were ready to attack . Jemima Johnson approved a plan that the women to go alone and collect water from the spring as usual . Many men disapproved of the plan , fearing they would be attacked and killed . However , faced with no other option they finally agreed . Shortly after sunrise , the women went to the spring and returned without incident . Not long after they had returned , the attack began . Indian warriors managed to set fire to several houses and stables , but a favorable wind kept the fires from spreading . Children used the water drawn by the women to put out the fires . A flaming arrow landed in baby Richard Johnson ' s crib , but it was doused by his sister Betsy . Help arrived from Lexington and Boone Station , and the Indians retreated . By 1784 , the Johnson family was at Great Crossing in Scott County , on land purchased by Robert Johnson from Patrick Henry and James Madison . As a surveyor , Johnson ' s father became successful through well - chosen land purchases . Richard Johnson did not begin his formal education until age fifteen , since there were no schools on the frontier . He then entered Transylvania University in Lexington , Kentucky . By 1799 , he was studying law as a legal apprentice with George Nicholas and James Brown . They were professors of Law at the University in addition to being in private practice . Career . Johnson was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1802 , and opened his office at Great Crossing . Later , he owned a retail store and pursued a number of business ventures with his brothers . Johnson often worked " pro bono " for poor people , prosecuting their cases against the rich . He also opened his home to disabled veterans , widows , and orphans . Marriage and family . Family tradition holds that Johnson broke off an early marital engagement because of his mother ' s disapproval . Purportedly Johnson vowed revenge for his mother ' s interference . After his father died , Richard Johnson inherited Julia Chinn , an octoroon slave ( seven - eighths European in ancestry ) . Johnson began a relationship with her and essentially treated her as his common - law wife , but as she was a slave they were prohibited by law from marrying . When Johnson was away from his Kentucky plantation , he authorized Chinn to manage his business affairs . She died in an epidemic of cholera in the summer of 1833 . Johnson and Chinn had two daughters , Adaline ( or Adeline ) Chinn Johnson and Imogene Chinn Johnson , who he acknowledged , and he provided for their education . Both daughters married white men , whereupon Johnson gave them large tracts of land from his own holdings . Adaline Chinn had no children , and died in 1836 . Although Johnson treated Imogene as his daughter , she was prevented from inheriting his estate , as the court considered her illegitimate and without rights . Upon Johnson ' s death , the Fayette County Court ruled that " he left no widow , children , father , or mother living . " It divided his estate between his living brothers , John and Henry . Following his wife ' s death , Johnson began a relationship with another family slave . When she left him for another man , Johnson had her captured and sold at auction . He then began a relationship with her sister . 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 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 . War of 1812 . The War of 1812 was extraordinarily popular in Kentucky ; Kentuckians depended on sea trade through the port of New Orleans and feared that the British would stir up another Indian war . After the election of 1808 , Johnson was one of the War Hawk s , a group of legislators who clamored for war with the British . Congress declared war in June 1812 , and following its adjournment , Johnson returned to Kentucky to recruit volunteers . So many men responded that he chose only those with horses , and raised a body of mounted rifles . Johnson recruited 300 men , divided into three companies , who elected him major . They merged with another battalion , forming a regiment of 500 men , with Johnson as colonel . Johnson ' s force was originally intended to join General William Hull at Detroit , but Hull surrendered Detroit on August 16 and his army was captured . Johnson reported to William Henry Harrison , Territorial Governor of Indiana , then in command of the entire Northwest frontier . He was ordered to relieve Fort Wayne in the northeast of the Territory , which was already being attacked by the Indians . On September 18 , 1812 , Johnson ' s men reached Fort Wayne in time to save it , and turned back an Indian ambush . They returned to Kentucky and disbanded , going out of their way to burn Potawatomi villages along the Elkhart River . Johnson returned to his seat in Congress in the late fall of 1812 . Based on his experience , he proposed a plan to defeat the mobile , guerilla warfare of the Indians . American troops moved slowly , dependent on a supply line . Indians would evade battle and raid supplies until the American forces withdrew or were overrun . Mounted riflemen could move quickly , carry their own supplies , and live off the woods . If they attacked Indian villages in winter , the Indians would be compelled to stand and fight for their own winter supplies , and could be decisively defeated . Johnson submitted this plan to President James Madison and Secretary of War John Armstrong , who approved it in principle . They referred the plan to Harrison , who found winter operations impracticable . Johnson was permitted to try the tactics in the summer of 1813 ; later the US conducted Indian wars in winter with his strategy . Johnson left Washington , D . C . just before Congress adjourned . He raised one thousand men , nominally part of the militia brigade under Kentucky Governor Isaac Shelby , but largely operating independently . He disciplined his men , required that every man have arms in prime condition and ready to hand , and hired gunsmith s , blacksmiths , and doctors at his own expense . He devised a new tactical system : when any group of men encountered the enemy , they were to dismount , take cover , and hold the enemy in place . All groups not in contact were to ride to the sound of firing , and dismount , surrounding the enemy when they got there . Between May and September , Johnson raided throughout the Northwest , burning Indian villages , surrounding Indian units and scattering them , and killing some Indian warriors each time . In September , Oliver Hazard Perry destroyed most of the British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie , taking control of the lake . This put the British army , then at Fort Malden ( now Amherstburg , Ontario ) out of supply , and threatened to cut it off from the rest of Canada by a landing to the east . The British , under General Henry Procter , withdrew to the northeast , followed by Harrison , who had advanced through Michigan while Johnson kept the Indians engaged . Tecumseh covered the British retreat , but was countered by Johnson , who had been called back from a raid on Kaskaskia that had taken the post where the British had distributed arms and money . Johnson ' s cavalry defeated Tecumseh ' s main force on September 29 , took British supply trains on October 3 , and was one of the factors inducing Procter to stand and fight at the Battle of the Thames on October 5 , as Tecumseh had been demanding he do . At the battle itself , Johnson ' s forces were the first to attack . One battalion of five hundred men , under Johnson ' s elder brother , James Johnson , engaged the British force of eight hundred regulars ; simultaneously , Richard Johnson , with the other , now somewhat smaller battalion , attacked the fifteen hundred Indians led by Tecumseh . There was too much tree cover for the British volleys to be effective against James Johnson ; three quarters of the regulars were killed or captured . The Indians were a harder fight ; they were out of the main field of battle , skirmishing on the edge of an adjacent swamp . Richard Johnson eventually ordered a suicide squad of twenty men to ride forward and draw the Indians ' fire , planning to charge with the rest as they reloaded . But the ground before the Indian position was too swampy to support many cavalry . Johnson had to order his men to dismount and hold until Shelby ' s infantry came up . But eventually they broke , and fled into the swamp . At some point in that fight Tecumseh was slain . Richard Johnson was credited later with killing Tecumseh personally . Indian reports were that Tecumseh was killed by a man on horseback , and Johnson was one of the few mounted men at that side of the battle . ( His own men had dismounted , and Shelby ' s were infantry . ) Furthermore , Johnson , who had been wounded four times already , had been shot in the shoulder by an Indian chief who was advancing to tomahawk Johnson , when he shot back and killed the Indian instantly with a single pistol shot . A nineteenth - century source asserts that Tecumseh ' s body was found , near Johnson ' s hat and scabbard , shot from above ( as from horseback ) , and wounded with Johnson ' s usual load of two buckshot and a pistol ball . Johnson fell unconscious after this duel and was dragged from the battlefield ; in addition to his five wounds , twenty other bullets had hit his horse and gear . But the war in the Northwest was over . Although there was no organized resistance to his presence in Canada , Harrison withdrew to Detroit because of supply problems . ( The Canadians would not feed his men . ) Johnson eventually recovered , except for a crippled hand , but he was still suffering from his wounds when he returned to the House in February 1814 . In August 1814 , British forces attacked Washington , D . C . and burned the White House . The Federalists , who had opposed the war , now proposed moving the capital to Columbia , Kentucky , a decision which Johnson opposed . The measure was defeated , and Congress instead formed a committee to investigate the circumstances that allowed Washington to be captured . Johnson chaired this committee , and delivered its final report . Following the sacking of Washington , the tide of battle turned against the British , and the Treaty of Ghent ended the war even as Johnson prepared to return to Kentucky to raise another military unit . With the end of the war , he turned his legislative attention to issues such as securing pensions for widows and orphans and funding internal improvements in the West . Post - war career in the House . Johnson believed that Congressional business was too slow and tedious , and that the " per diem " system of compensation encouraged delays on the part of members . To remedy this , he sponsored the Compensation Act of 1816 . The measure proposed paying annual salaries of $ 1 , 500 to congressmen rather than a $ 6 " per diem " for the days the body was in session . ( At the time , this had the effect of increasing the total compensation from about $ 900 to $ 1500 . Johnson noted that congressmen had not had a pay increase in 27 years , and that $ 1500 was less than the salaries of the 28 clerks employed by the government . ) Johnson ' s bill provided that if a congressman was absent , his salary would be reduced proportionally . The bill passed the House and Senate quickly and was made law on March 19 , 1816 . But , the measure proved extremely unpopular with voters , in part because it applied to the current Congress . Many legislators who supported the bill lost their congressional seats as a result , including Johnson ' s colleague Solomon P . Sharp from Kentucky . Johnson ' s popularity in other matters helped him retain his seat . Two days into the next session , he recanted his support for the law . It was repealed in that session , and in its place , legislators passed an increase in the " per diem " salary . Johnson declined to serve as Secretary of War before President Monroe choose John C . Calhoun . In 1817 , Congress investigated General Andrew Jackson ' s execution of two British subjects during the First Seminole War . Johnson chaired the inquiry committee . The majority of the committee favored a negative report and a censure for Jackson . Johnson , a Jackson supporter , drafted a counter report that was more favorable to Jackson and opposed the censure . The ensuing debate pitted Johnson against fellow Kentuckian Henry Clay . Johnson ' s report prevailed , and Jackson was spared censure . This disagreement between Johnson and Clay , however , marked the beginning of a political separation between the two that lasted for the duration of their careers . President James Monroe seriously considered Johnson for the position of Secretary of War after Henry Clay declined the office , but the post ultimately went to John C . Calhoun . Johnson wielded considerable influence over defense policy as chair of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War during the Fifteenth Congress . In 1818 , Calhoun approved an expedition to build a military outpost near the present site of Bismarck , North Dakota on the Yellowstone River ; Johnson awarded the contract to his brother James . Although the Yellowstone Expedition was an ultimate failure and expensive to the U . S . Treasury , the Johnsons escaped political ill will in their home district because the venture was seen as a peacekeeping endeavor on the frontier . Senator . Johnson announced his intent to retire from the House in early 1818 . In December 1818 , the $ 3 was to elect a replacement for outgoing senator Isham Talbot . Johnson lost the election by twelve votes to William Logan despite the fact that he never officially declared his candidacy . It was reported in the local newspapers that Johnson ' s friends intended to nominate him for governor in the 1820 election . Johnson ' s term in the House expired March 3 , 1819 , but by August , he had returned to the state legislature where he helped secure passage of a law that abolished imprisonment for debtors in Kentucky . In December 1819 , he resigned his post in the state legislature to fill the Senate seat vacated by the resignation of John J . Crittenden . He was re - elected to a full term in 1822 , so that in total , his Senate tenure ran from December 10 , 1819 to March 4 , 1829 . In 1821 , he introduced legislation chartering Columbian College ( later The George Washington University ) in Washington , D . C . There had been inflation after the War of 1812 , and the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States . In these times , when paper currency was privatized , this took the form of wildcat bank s . Johnson , like many other Kentuckians , was caught in the ensuing financial collapse , the Panic of 1819 . He therefore took a strong part in the politically popular struggle for debt relief , and some form of bankruptcy legislation , called the Relief War , which would help his own problems and those of his neighbors . Part of Johnson ' s campaign for relief was the abolition of the practice of debt imprisonment nationwide . It would take him nearly ten years to see this goal accomplished . He first spoke to the issue in the Senate on December 14 , 1822 , introducing a bill to end the practice , and pointing to the positive effects its cessation had effected in his home state . The bill failed , but Johnson persisted in re - introducing it every year . In 1824 , it passed the Senate , but was too late to be acted upon by the House . It passed the Senate a second time in 1828 , but again , the House failed to act on it , and the measure died for some years , owing to Johnson ' s exit from the Senate the following year . Already known for securing government contracts for himself , as well as his brothers and friends , he established the Choctaw Academy , a school devoted to the education of the Indians , on his farm in Scott County in 1825 . Although he never ran afoul of the conflict of interest standards of his day , some of his colleagues considered his actions ethically questionable . Another pet project Johnson supported was prompted by his friendship with John Cleves Symmes , Jr . , who proposed that the Earth was hollow . In 1823 , Johnson proposed in the Senate that the government fund an expedition to the center of the Earth . The proposal was soundly defeated , receiving only twenty - five votes in the House and Senate combined . Johnson served as chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses . Near the end of his term in the Senate , petitioners asked Congress to prevent the handling and delivery of mail on Sunday because it violated biblical principles about the Sabbath . These petitions were referred to Johnson ' s committee , and in response , Johnson , a practicing Baptist , drafted a report now commonly referred to as " The Sunday Mail Report " . In the report , presented to Congress on January 19 , 1829 , Johnson argued that government was " a civil , and not a religious institution " , and as such could not legislate the tenets of any particular denomination . The report was applauded as an elegant defense of the doctrine of separation of church and state , but again Johnson did not escape charges of conflict of interest due to his having friends who were contracted to haul mail , and who would have suffered financially from the proposal . Johnson was an unsuccessful candidate for re - election in 1828 , owing in part to his relationship with Julia Chinn . Although members of his own district seemed little bothered by the arrangement , slaveholders elsewhere in the state were not so forgiving . In his own defense , Johnson contended " Unlike Jefferson , Clay , Poindexter and others , I married my wife under the eyes of God , and apparently He has found no objections . " Return to the House . Following his failed Senatorial re - election bid , Johnson returned to the House , representing Kentucky ' s Fifth District from 1829 to 1833 , and Thirteenth District from 1833 to 1837 . During the Twenty - first and Twenty - second Congresses , he again served as chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads . In this capacity , he was again asked to address the question of Sunday mail delivery . He drew up a second report , largely similar in content to the first , arguing against legislation preventing mail delivery on Sunday . The report , commonly called " Col . Johnson ' s second Sunday mail report " , was delivered to Congress in March 1830 . Some contemporaries doubted Johnson ' s authorship of this second report . Many claimed it was instead written by Amos Kendall . Kendall claimed he had seen the report only after it had been drafted and said he had only altered " one or two words . " Kendall speculated that the author could be Reverend O . B . Brown , but historian Leland Meyer concludes that there is no reason to doubt that Johnson authored the report himself . Johnson chaired the Committee on Military Affairs during the Twenty - second , Twenty - third , and Twenty - fourth Congresses . Beginning in 1830 , there arose a groundswell of public support for Johnson ' s " pet project " of ending debt imprisonment . The subject began to appear more frequently in President Jackson ' s addresses to the legislature . Johnson chaired a House committee to report on the subject , and delivered the committee ' s report on January 17 , 1832 . Later that year , a bill abolishing the practice of debt imprisonment passed both houses of Congress , and was signed into law on July 14 . Johnson ' s stands won him widespread popularity and endorsement by George H . Evans , Robert Dale Owen , and Theophilus Fisk for the presidency in 1832 , but Johnson abandoned his campaign when Andrew Jackson announced he would seek a second term . He then began campaigning to become Jackson ' s running mate , but Jackson favored Martin Van Buren instead . At the Democratic National Convention , Johnson finished a distant third in the vice - presidential balloting , receiving only the votes of the Kentucky , Indiana , and Illinois delegations ; William B . Lewis had to persuade him to withdraw Election of 1836 . Following the election of 1832 , Johnson continued to campaign for the Vice Presidency which would be available in 1836 ; he was endorsed by the New York labor leader Ely Moore on March 13 , 1833 , nine days after Jackson and Van Buren were inaugurated . Moore praised his devotion to freedom of religion and his opposition to imprisonment for debt . William Emmons , the Boston printer , published a biography of Johnson in New York dated July 1833 . Richard Emmons , from Great Crossing , Kentucky , followed this up with a play entitled " Tecumseh , of the Battle of the Thames " and a poem in honor of Johnson . Many of Johnson ' s friends and supporters – Davy Crockett and John Bell among them – encouraged him to run for president . Jackson , however , supported Vice - President Van Buren for the office . Johnson accepted this choice , and once again turned his sights on a nomination for vice - president . Emmons ' poem provided the line that became Johnson ' s campaign slogan : " Rumpsey Dumpsey , Rumpsey Dumpsey , Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh . " Jackson supported Johnson for vice - president , thinking that the war hero would balance the ticket with Van Buren , who had not served in the War of 1812 . Johnson ' s loyalty and Jackson ' s anger at Johnson ' s primary rival , William Cabell Rives also played into his decision . Despite Jackson ' s support , the party was far from united behind Johnson . Van Buren himself preferred Rives as a running mate . In a letter to Jackson , Tennessee Supreme Court justice John Catron doubted that " a lucky random shot , even if it did hit Tecumseh , qualifies a man for the vice presidency " . Although he was now a " widower " , there was still some dissension due to Johnson ' s relationship with a slave . The 1835 Democratic National Convention , in Baltimore , in May 1835 , was held under the two - thirds rule , largely to demonstrate Van Buren ' s wide popularity , and , although Van Buren himself was nominated unanimously , Johnson barely obtained the necessary two thirds of the vote . ( A motion was made to change the rule , but it obtained only a bare majority , not two thirds . ) Tennessee ' s delegation did not attend the convention , so Edward Rucker , a Tennessean who happened to be in Baltimore , was picked to cast its 15 votes , so that all the states would endorse Van Buren . Senator Silas Wright , of New York , prevailed upon Rucker to vote for Johnson , giving him just more than twice the votes cast for Rives , and the nomination . Jackson ' s faith in Johnson to balance the ticket proved misplaced . In the general election , Johnson cost the Democrats votes in the South , where his relationship with Chinn was particularly unpopular . He also failed to garner much support from the West , where he was supposed to be strong due to his reputation as an Indian fighter and war hero . He even failed to deliver his home state of Kentucky for the Democrats . Regardless , the Democrats still won the popular vote . When the electoral vote was counted in Congress on February 8 , 1837 , it was revealed that while Van Buren received 170 votes for president , Johnson had received only 147 for vice - president . Although Virginia had elected electors pledged to both Van Buren and Johnson , the state ' s 23 " faithless elector s " refused to vote for Johnson , leaving him one electoral vote short of a majority . For the only time , the Senate was charged with electing the Vice President under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment . The vote divided strictly along party lines , with Johnson becoming vice - president by a vote of 36 to 16 for Whig Francis Granger , with three senators absent . Vice Presidency . Johnson served as Vice President from March 4 , 1837 , to March 4 , 1841 . His term was largely unremarkable , and he enjoyed little influence with President Van Buren . His penchant for wielding his power for his own interests did not abate . He lobbied the Senate to promote Samuel Milroy , whom he owed a favor , to the position of Indian agent . When Lewis Tappan requested presentation of an abolitionist petition to the Senate , Johnson , who was still a slaveholder , declined the request . As presiding officer of the Senate , Johnson was called on to cast a tie - breaking vote fourteen times , more than all of his predecessors save John Adams and John Calhoun . Despite the precedent set by some of his predecessors , Johnson never addressed the Senate on the occasion of a tie - breaking vote ; he did once explain his vote via an article in the " Kentucky Gazette " . Following the financial Panic of 1837 , Johnson took a nine - month leave of absence , during which he returned home to Kentucky and opened a tavern and spa on his farm to offset his continued financial problems . Upon visiting the establishment , Amos Kendall wrote to President Van Buren that he found Johnson " happy in the inglorious pursuit of tavern keeping – even giving his personal superintendence to the chicken and egg purchasing and water - melon selling department " . In his later political career , he became known for wearing a bright red vest and tie . He adopted this dress during his term as vice - president when he and James Reeside , a mail contractor known for his drab dress , passed a tailor ' s shop that displayed a bright red cloth in the window . Johnson suggested that Reeside should wear a red vest because the mail coaches he owned and operated were red . Reeside agreed to do so if Johnson would also . Both men ordered red vests and neckties , and were known for donning this attire for the rest of their lives . Election of 1840 . By 1840 , it had become clear that Johnson was a liability to the Democratic ticket . Even former president Jackson conceded that Johnson was " dead weight " , and threw his support to James K . Polk . President Van Buren stood for re - election , and the Whigs once again countered with William Henry Harrison . Ironically , it was now Van Buren who was reluctant to drop Johnson from the ticket , fearing that dropping the Democrats ' own war hero would split the party and cost him votes to Harrison . A unique compromise ensued , with the Democratic National Convention refusing to nominate Johnson , or any other candidate , for vice - president . The idea was to allow the states to choose their own candidate , or perhaps return the question to the Senate should Van Buren be elected with no clear winner in the vice - presidential race . Undaunted by this lack of confidence from his peers , Johnson continued to campaign to retain his office . Although his campaign was more vigorous than that of Van Buren , his behavior on the campaign trail raised concern among voters . He made rambling , incoherent speeches . During one speech in Ohio , he raised his shirt in order to display to the crowd the wounds he received during the Battle of the Thames . Charges he leveled against Harrison in Cleveland were so poorly received that they touched off a riot in the city . In the end , Johnson received only forty - eight electoral vote s . One elector from Virginia and all eleven from South Carolina voted for Van Buren for president but selected someone other than Johnson for vice - president . Johnson again lost his home state of Kentucky and added to the embarrassment by losing his home district as well . Later life and death . Following his term as vice - president , Johnson returned to Kentucky to tend to his farm and oversee his tavern . He again represented Scott County in the Kentucky House from 1841 to 1843 . In 1845 , he served as a pallbearer when Daniel Boone was re - interred in Frankfort Cemetery . Johnson never gave up on a return to public service . He ran an unsuccessful campaign for the U . S . Senate against John J . Crittenden in 1842 . He briefly and futilely sought his party ' s nomination for president in 1844 . He also ran as an independent candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 1848 , but after talking with the Democratic candidate , Lazarus W . Powell , who had replaced Linn Boyd on the ticket , Johnson decided to drop out and back Powell . Some speculated that the real object of this campaign was to secure another nomination to the vice - presidency , but this hope was denied . Johnson finally returned to elected office in 1850 , when he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives . By this time , however , his physical and mental health was already failing . On November 9 , the " Louisville Daily Journal " reported that " Col . R . M . Johnson is laboring under an attack of dementia , which renders him totally unfit for business . It is painful to see him on the floor attempting to discharge the duties of a member . He is incapable of properly exercising his physical or mental powers . " He died of a stroke on November 19 , just two weeks into his term . He was interred in the Frankfort Cemetery , in Frankfort , Kentucky . Notes . Emmons and Langworthy , contemporary sources , give 1781 , and Pratt and Sobel accept this date ; this has the effect of making him born in Kentucky , which would be a reason to invent it . < br >