James Johnson (Georgia)

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James Johnson (February 12, 1811 - November 20, 1891) was a U.S. Representative from Georgia and served as provisional governor of Georgia between June and October of 1865.

He was born in 1811 in Robeson County, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1832 and moved to Columbus, Georgia where he started his law practice after passing the bar in 1835. In 1851, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Unionist and opposed secession. After the Civil War, he was appointed as Governor of Georgia by U.S. President Andrew Johnson (unrelated), and tasked primarily with reorganizing the state government, which had collapsed with the Confederacy. He served until a constitution Convention was held in Milledgeville in October of 1865; at that convention, the Secession Ordinance was repealed, a new constitution was adopted, and the State's war debt was repudiated. He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1866. He died in 1891 in Chattahoochee County, Ohio.

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Preceded by
Marshall J. Wellborn
U.S. Representative from the 2nd District of Georgia
18511853
Succeeded by
Alfred H. Colquitt
Preceded by
Joseph E. Brown
Governor of Georgia
1865
Succeeded by
Charles J. Jenkins