The nation’s ninth vice president had an enslaved wife Julia Chinn died nearly four years before Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky took office, but because of controversy over her, Johnson is the only vice president in American history who failed to receive enough electoral votes to be elected. By Ronald G. ShaferThe Washington Post Share She was born enslaved and remained that way her entire life, even after she became Richard Mentor Johnson’s “bride.” Johnson, a Kentucky congressman who eventually became the nation’s ninth vice president in 1837, couldn’t legally marry Julia Chinn. Instead the couple exchanged vows at a local church with a wedding celebration organized by the enslaved people at his family’s plantation in Great Crossing, according to Miriam Biskin, who wrote about Chinn decades ago.