Johannes Petrus "John Peter" Van Ness (November 4, 1769 – March 7, 1846) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1801 to 1803 and Mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1830 to 1834.

[3] His father was an officer during the American Revolution and a New York politician, who owned land and a brick mansion in Columbia County.

[2] Van Ness was elected as a Democratic-Republican to New York's 6th congressional district for the 7th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Bird and took his seat on October 6, 1801.

[6] On January 17, 1803, Van Ness's seat was declared vacant, because in 1802 he had been appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as a major in the District of Columbia militia and under the U.S. Constitution no member of Congress could hold another federal office.

[7] He also recommended keeping members of the militia on federal active duty so they could respond to a British attack if necessary, but John Armstrong Jr., the Secretary of War, declined.

[7] In the period leading up to the August 1814 Battle of Bladensburg and subsequent Burning of Washington, Van Ness was prevented from serving in active field command because he would have outranked William H. Winder, who had been assigned as the overall U.S.

[7] Instead, Van Ness took the initiative to organize a group of volunteers who dug trenches for U.S. forces prior to the Bladensburg fight.

[11] Van Ness, along with John Tayloe III and Charles Carnan Ridgely and the support of Dr. William Thornton, G. W. P. Custis, John Threlkeld of Georgetown, and George Calvert of Riversdale, the contests were moved to Meridian Hill, south of Columbia Road between Fourteenth and Sixteenth Streets, and were conducted at the Holmstead Farm's one mile oval track.