He
completed his trade in the neighborhood in which he had been raised, and
from the year 1851 to 1864 spent his time about equally in teaching
school and working at his trade.
When the war of the rebellion broke out in 1861, Mr. Johnston, without
hesitation, took the side of the Union, and was, during all those dark
days, an ardent supporter of the Government, the intensity of his
convictions being no doubt increased by the result of his observations
during a business trip to Texas and through the South in the Winter of
eighteen hundred and sixty and sixty-one.
In the Constitutional Convention of this State in 1864 he served with
ability as committee clerk, having accepted the position at the
solicitation of the late David Scott (of John), who was a member of that
body. While acting as committee clerk, Mr. Johnston had the honor of
engrossing that section of the Constitution which abolished slavery in
the State of Maryland. Many years afterwards he presented the pen used
on that occasion to Frederick Douglass, then United States Marshal of
the District of Columbia.
Mr. Johnston's health, which had always been precarious, became so bad
in 1875 that he was obliged to abandon his trade and turn his attention
to another occupation.
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