Johnson, Robert (1676-1735)

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Robert Johnson (1676-1735)

Early Life. Among his several marks of distinction Robert Johnson served both as a proprietary (1717–1719) and royal (1731–1735) governor in South Carolina. His father, Nathaniel Johnson, had served as South Carolina’s proprietary governor from 1702 to 1708. Robert was born in England in 1676. As a young child he and his parents went to the Leeward Islands where his father served as governor. After his term Nathaniel moved to South Carolina to develop property he held there. He sent his family back to England expecting to meet them shortly in South Carolina once he had made the necessary preparations. On the family’s voyage to England the French intercepted their vessel and held them as prisoners for a year. The children’s mother died while in captivity. Eventually the children were reunited with their father, who, apart from his original intentions to be a private planter in the colony, agreed to serve as governor. Pleased with Nathaniel Johnson’s service, the proprietors later (1717) selected his son to take the chief executive position.

Proprietary Governor. Robert Johnson had been characterized as “a person of Integrity and Capacity well affected to her Majestys Government and every way qualified for that Trust.” Upon this recommendation the Board of Trade agreed to his becoming governor provided he would swear an oath and provide a bond to ensure that he would uphold the Navigation Acts earlier imposed on the colonies. With Johnson’s oath and bond supplied, he was appointed. As capable a man as Johnson was, his first year in office reflected his inexperience. The proprietors had offered assemblymen a deal that if they would approve a new quitrent law (proprietors were losing money due to the ineffective implementation of the existing law) they would personally receive a two-year remission in past quitrent debts. The proprietors also directed Johnson to present before the assembly a plan to raise the price of land in South Carolina. The assembly completely rejected it. The young governor was furious and determined to retaliate by blocking their appointment for powder receiver. Johnson argued that as chief commander of the militia, he had the sole right for such an appointment. He eventually withdrew his demand but did scold the assembly by insisting that they should recognize the proprietors as their “masters.” The assemblymen responded that they did not recognize the proprietors as such. This small episode illustrates the growing frustration already existent between colonial leaders and proprietors. Although Johnson was able to eventually work harmoniously with the assembly on subsequent financial matters, the assembly’s determination to reject proprietary attempts at undue dominance remained a constant.

Road to Royal Rule. Provincial discontent intensified in the summer of 1718 when the proprietors began an assault on the assembly by disallowing many of its laws and by ordering Johnson to dissolve the assembly and make arrangements for new elections. Johnson recognized that the proprietors were out of hand, and he began to work with the assembly (which he did not dissolve) against proprietary prerogatives. Added to this was the refusal of the proprietors to help defend the colony against piracy. In that same summer pirate Edward Teach (Blackbeard) practically held Charleston captive for a week. When word spread that South Carolina’s shores were vulnerable, other pirates made similar attempts. For a period of five months the colony was periodically terrorized by various sea bandits, with no help from the proprietors. Eventually the piracy all but ceased on the Carolina coast when Governor Johnson himself led an expedition that captured pirate Stede Bonnet along with forty-eight others. The pirates were convicted and hanged in Charleston.

Resentments. The proprietors’ refusal to send aid during this crisis hardened the colonists’ attitude toward them even further. And if that was not enough to cause an antiproprietary revolt, the subsequent actions taken by the proprietors did. In 1719 the proprietors attempted to completely reorganize the council by replacing antiproprietors with men more apt to comply with their wishes. Also in that year they reintroduced the earlier efforts of land reform and assembly reelections. This time Governor Johnson, albeit reluctantly, complied with their wishes, dissolved the assembly, and called for new elections. But the new assembly, which had convened on 10 December 1719, refused to recognize the reorganized council. They requested that Governor Johnson rather than the proprietors assume governorship under the Crown. He refused and gave the reason of “my honor as being Intrusted by their Lordships.” On 21 December, the day of the militia muster in Charleston, Governor Johnson ordered the soldiers to go home; they refused. On that day the rebel factions were successful in dismissing Johnson from the governorship, replacing him with James Moore Jr. A revolution had occurred. Johnson made several efforts to regain control of the government. He had hoped to be named the first royal governor. Yet in 1721 the Board of Trade appointed sixty-six-year-old Francis Nicholson, the most tried and proven royal administrator available, as the first royal governor of South Carolina. But Johnson’s career was not over.

Royal Governor. From 1724 Johnson had been in London seeking a royal governorship. In 1729 his connections and past experience gave him the opportunity to mediate the negotiations between the proprietors (who wanted to sell the Carolinas) and the Crown. Johnson helped to successfully negotiate the deal, which also helped him to win his second appointment as governor of South Carolina. There were two major plans for South Carolina that Johnson presented to the Board of Trade. He and his friend Samuel Wragg, the South Carolina Assembly agent to London, convinced the Crown authorities, because of hard-money policy failures, to allow for a more flexible currency system in the colony. This would ease many of the cash-flow problems that had almost shut down any semblance of effective government. One of the most important elements in Johnson’s instructions from the Board of Trade was the authority to implement a new township system, a plan he had earlier introduced to the board. The system allowed for the formation of ten townships in the Carolina backcountry to be settled by exiled Protestants from Europe. As an inducement for settlement South Carolina would provide free land to the refugees. This would serve the colony in at least two important ways, Johnson argued. It would mean a greater balance between whites and blacks in the colony. Also, the presence of new settlements on the frontier would enhance the colony’s military defense. It is one thing to present new policy; it is another to successfully implement it.

Reasonable Harmony. Upon Johnson’s arrival in 1730 he found a much more conciliatory attitude among the colonists. As one Anglican missionary stated, “I think the People have done with their former animosities, and have been in an indifferent easy quiet condition.” South Carolina colonists had come to recognize the “futility of extremism.” This attitude also existed with Johnson. Although the province faced much graver financial problems than previously known, Johnson’s flexible interpretation of his instructions helped funnel necessary funds to pay off debts earlier than would have otherwise been possible.

Middle Ground. On other key issues Johnson compromised enough to bring most factions into a conciliatory position. For example, in accordance with his instructions he somehow convinced the assembly to allow the council to initiate and amend money bills. Albeit reluctantly, the assembly assented to the instruction; only once in Johnson’s administration did it challenge the council’s authority in this matter. The harmony that Johnson helped to bring about led to a more prosperous economy. Johnson and Wragg successfully gained concessions from Parliament for direct rice shipments to Europe, thus opening up a vast market for South Carolina planters. From 1732 to 1739 the rice economy in the province boomed. Also beginning in 1732 Johnson’s township plan began to pay off. By the year of Johnson’s death (1735) six of nine townships were populated with hundreds of productive Protestant immigrants from Europe. This was the beginning of a very large influx of Swiss, German, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish immigrants into the colony. Serving as buffers from Indians, the townships added to the already-growing harmony. The largest buffer against the Spanish in Florida, the new colony of Georgia, also materialized under Johnson’s leadership. Had it not been for South Carolina’s enthusiastic aid to James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, the new colony would not have succeeded. In addition to funds and supplies Johnson sent a very able councilor, William Bull, to assist Oglethorpe with Indian negotiations, militia establishment, surveying, and construction.

Land. Of course Robert Johnson’s royal governorship was not without its problems. He spent much of his time trying to work out land disputes that the transition from a proprietary to royal government created. Critics accused Johnson of showing favoritism to the wealthy landed elite by giving them more land than was allowed and by not charging quitrents to some. Others blamed Johnson’s instructions which outlined an incomplete quitrent law (1731). The new law left Johnson with a system of collection so incomplete that he had to improvise its execution. It is reasonable to lay the blame on both Johnson and the 1731 law. Wherever it should be laid, this failure in the land system was a blight in an otherwise successful administration.

The Good Governor. Johnson’s service ended with his death on 3 May 1735. He had been the governor both under proprietors and under the Crown. He had taken his political knocks, especially in his first term. His is a story of reasonable compromise, a quality necessary for any colonial governor’s success. He learned his lessons early, lessons that would win him another chance at leadership. The lessons learned helped him in no small way to lead the colony in transition from considerable tumult to reasonable harmony. For this he has long been known in South Carolina history as “the good Governor Johnson.”