Samuel Johnson (pamphleteer)
English political writer
Samuel Johnson (1649–1703) was an English clergyman and political writer, sometimes called "the Whig Johnson" to distinguish him from the author and lexicographer of the same name, who was a Tory in politics and lived after him. He is one of the best known pamphlet writers who developed Whig resistance theory.
Life
From a humble background, Samuel Johnson was educated at St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took orders. He attacked James, Duke of York in Julian the Apostate (1682).
Johnson was illegally deprived of his orders, flogged, and imprisoned. He continued, however, his attacks on the Government by pamphlets, and did much to influence the public mind in favour of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Dryden gave him a place in Absalom and Achitophel as "Benjochanan". After the Revolution he was restored to his orders and received a pension, but considered himself insufficiently rewarded by a deanery, which he declined. He was married for many years and suffered from many illnesses.
The public source identifies “Samuel Johnson (pamphleteer)” as english political writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Samuel, Johnson and pamphleteer.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7411864. VIAF identifies the subject as 74195905. The Library of Congress control number is n84133089. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1649, 1703, 1682 and 1688.
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This entry incorporates text from “Samuel Johnson (pamphleteer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.