John Smith Chipman (August 10, 1800 – July 27, 1869) was a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.
He attended the rural schools and graduated from Middlebury College in 1823.
In 1838, he moved to Centreville in St. Joseph County, Michigan, where he held several local offices including serving as a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives in 1842.
He moved to San Jose, California, in 1869 and lived in retirement there until his death.
Bingham writes that "listening to one of his speeches was like reading one of Cooper's novels."