John Middleton Vining (December 23, 1758 – February 1802) was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware.

His father was a prominent and successful lawyer and landholder, who had been a Speaker of the Colonial Assembly and Chief Justice of Delaware.

He was also the good friend of Caesar Rodney, who stood as godfather for his son John, the subject of this article.

Vining's father died when his son was eleven years old, and from him John and his sister inherited a large fortune.

She fit well into Vining's social circle, and they had four sons, John, William, Benjamin and Charles, but she died prematurely in 1800.

Although he arrived weeks late for every session, he was an energetic and conscientious legislator, consistently voting in support of the administration, particularly favoring a strong executive.

In the debate over the location of a national capital, he sought consideration for Wilmington, Delaware, but once that lost, supported an immediate move to Philadelphia, and the later construction of a city on the Potomac River.

Elizabeth Montgomery in her Reminiscences in Wilmington wrote: "His brilliant talents, not nourished by application, withered in the bud.