Washington and resumed his seat in Congress. On the road and at the national capital he received that enthusiastic greeting which evinced the gratitude of his fellowcountrymen. Even his political opponents could not raise their voices in anything but praise of his patriotism and valor, but with one accord they applauded the man who, with such sacrifices, had given such services to his country. Congress by joint resolution placed upon record its acknowledgment of his valor, and presented him with a medal in commemoration of his services. In 1819 he voluntarily retired from Congress, carrying with him the love and respect of the whole nation. Upon his return home he was elected to the legislature, which immediately sent him to the United States Senate, where he remained from 1819 to 1829, which, with his services in the house of representatives from 1807 to 1819, and from 1829 to 1837, gave him one of the longest terms in the national legislature with which Kentucky has ever honored any of her sons. In 1836 he was elected by Congress Vice-President of the United States, where he presided over the senate with the greatest impartiality and fairness for four years, and from which he returned to his farm in Scott County. Twice again, in 1841 and 1842, he was sent by his fellow-countrymen to the legislature, of which he was a member at the time of his death at Frankfort in 1850. Distinguished honors were accorded him in his burial. The State claimed as its own the ashes of this heroic statesman and patriotic citizen, and in its lot at Frankfort on the beautiful hill overlooking the splendid scenery which surrounds the Capital City, a grateful Commonwealth has erected a monument on which is the following inscription: RICHARD MENTOR JOHNSON, BORN AT BRYANT'S STATION IN Kentucky ON THE 17TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1781, DIED IN Frankfort, Kentucky, ON THE 19TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 1850. (On the opposite side.) TO THE MEMORY OF COLONEL RICHARD M. JOHNSON. A faithful public servant for nearly half a century, as a member of the Kentucky Legislature, and Representative and Senator in Congress; Author of the sundry mail report and of the laws abolishing imprisonment for debt in Kentucky and in the United States; Distinguished by his valor as colonel of a Kentucky Regiment at the Thames; for four years Vice-President of the United States-Kentucky, his native State, to mark the scene of his eminent services in the cabinet and in the field, has erected this monument in the resting-place of her illustrious dead. |