Editing Richard Mentor Johnson (section)

====Adams opponent (1825–1829)====
The [[congressional nominating caucus]] system for choosing presidential and vice presidential candidates was unpopular by 1824, though a caucus did choose [[William H. Crawford]] of Georgia. State legislatures chose the other presidential candidates: Clay, Jackson and [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[John Quincy Adams]]. Johnson supported Clay, his fellow Kentuckian, and Clay gained the state's electoral votes. Jackson led in both the popular and electoral vote for president, but did not have a majority, so [[1824 United States presidential election|the election]] for president was thrown into the House of Representatives, though Calhoun gained a majority of the electoral vote for vice president. Clay had finished fourth in electoral vote, and as the Constitution limits the House's choice to the top three finishers, he was eliminated.<ref>Petriello, pp. 74–75.</ref> Johnson supported Jackson, and there were rumors Johnson would be Secretary of War in a Jackson administration. Clay threw his support to Adams, who was elected, and many believed Clay (who became Secretary of State) and Adams had made a [[Corrupt Bargain]]. Johnson was the one who informed Jackson of this. Many of Jackson's supporters were enraged by the outcome,<ref>Petriello, p. 75.</ref> including Johnson, who promised to oppose the Adams administration: "for by the Eternal, if they act as pure as the angels that stand at the right hand of the throne of God, we'll put them down".<ref>Meyer, p. 221.</ref> Johnson opposed Adams's policies, and became a member of the faction, later the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], that New York Senator [[Martin Van Buren]] was forming to promote Jackson's candidacy in 1828.<ref>Smith 2013, pp. 218–219.</ref>

Already known for securing government contracts for himself, as well as his brothers and friends, he offered land to establish the [[Choctaw Academy]], a school devoted to the European-American education of Indians from the Southeast tribes. Johnson had tried to establish an Indian school at Great Crossings in 1818, partnering with the Kentucky Baptist Society, but the school folded in 1821 after it failed to gain the support of the federal government or private donors.<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 50–51.</ref> The new academy would come into being a few years later. The academy, sitting on his farm in Scott County in 1825, was overseen by Johnson; and not only was part of treaty negotiations with the [[Choctaw]] Nation but appealed to his colleagues as a form "peaceful conquest" or "expansion with honor" as [[Henry Knox]] put it.<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 38–40, 69.</ref><ref name=foreman>Foreman, ''The Choctaw Academy''</ref> Although he never ran afoul of the [[conflict of interest]] standards of his day, some of his colleagues considered his actions ethically questionable.<ref name=stillman/> Johnson was paid well for the school by the federal government, which gave him a portion of the annuities for the Choctaw. It was promoted by the [[Baptist Missionary Society]] as well.<ref name="mcmillan">[ Ethel McMillan, "FIRST NATIONAL INDIAN SCHOOL: THE CHOCTAW ACADEMY"], ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'', accessed November 12, 2013</ref> Some European-American students also attended the academy, including his nephew [[Robert Ward Johnson]] from Arkansas.<ref name="ark">[http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=1682 "Robert Ward Johnson (1814–1879)"], ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'', accessed November 12, 2013</ref>

Another pet project Johnson supported was prompted by his friendship with [[John Cleves Symmes Jr.]], who proposed that the [[Hollow Earth|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.<ref name=mcqueen19 />

Johnson served as chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Post Roads|Committee on Post Office and Post Roads]] during the [[19th United States Congress|Nineteenth]] and [[19th United States Congress|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 [[Bible|biblical]] principles about not working on the [[Sabbath in Christianity|Sabbath]].<ref name=stillman /> These petitions were referred to Johnson's committee. In response, Johnson, a practicing [[Baptist]], drafted a report now commonly referred to as ''The Sunday Mail Report''.<ref name=stillman /><ref name=langworthy39>Langworthy, p. 39</ref> 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 [[Religious denomination|denomination]].<ref name=hatfield /> The report was applauded as an elegant defense of the doctrine of [[separation of church and state]]. But Johnson was criticized for conflicts of interest in his defense, as he had friends who were contracted to haul mail, and who would have suffered financially from such a ban.<ref name=stillman />

In 1828, Johnson was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election, owing in part to his relationship with the biracial slave Julia Chinn, with whom he lived in a common-law marriage.<ref name=hatfield /> Although residents of his own district seemed little bothered by the arrangement, slaveholders elsewhere in the state were not so forgiving.<ref name=hatfield /> The Democratic Party in Kentucky was split, with enough dissidents to be able to join with the opposition to block Johnson's re-election. Johnson's managers withdrew his name and proposed [[George M. Bibb]], who was elected.<ref>Meyer, pp. 251–254.</ref> In his own defense, Johnson said, "Unlike [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]], Clay, [[George Poindexter|Poindexter]] and others I married my wife under the eyes of [[God]], and apparently He has found no objections."<ref name=burke>Burke, ''Window to the Past''</ref> (The named men were suspected or known to have similar relationships with slave women.)<ref name=burke /> According to Henry Robert Burke, what people objected to was Johnson trying to introduce his daughters to "polite society". People were used to planters and overseers having relationships with slave women, but they were expected to deny them.<ref name=burke />