John McLean

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American jurist and politician (1785–1861)

"Justice McLean" redirects here. For the Mississippi Supreme Court justice, see William Campbell McLean .

For other people named John McLean, see John McLean (disambiguation) .

John McLean (March 11, 1785 – April 4, 1861) was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress , as U.S. Postmaster General , and as a justice of the Ohio and United States Supreme Courts . He was often discussed for the Whig Party nominations for president, and is also one of the few people who served in all three branches of government.

Born in New Jersey , McLean lived in several frontier towns before settling in Ridgeville, Ohio . He founded _The Western Star _, a weekly newspaper, and established a law practice. He won election to the United States House of Representatives , serving from 1813 until his election to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1816. He resigned from that position to accept appointment to the administration of President James Monroe , becoming the U.S. postmaster general in 1823. Under Monroe and President John Quincy Adams , McLean presided over a major expansion of the United States Postal Service . In 1829, President Andrew Jackson appointed McLean as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

On the court, McLean became known as an opponent of slavery, and he was frequently mentioned as a presidential candidate for various parties. McLean received the support of delegates at the 1848 Whig National Convention , the 1856 Republican National Convention , and the 1860 Republican National Convention . He was the sole dissenter in the fugitive slave case of _Prigg v. Pennsylvania _ and one of two justices to dissent in the landmark case of _Dred Scott v. Sandford _. McLean served on the court until his death in 1861.

Early years

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McLean was born in Morris County, New Jersey , the son of Fergus McLean and Sophia Blackford. After living in a succession of frontier towns, namely Morgantown, Virginia , Nicholasville, Kentucky , and Maysville, Kentucky , his family settled in Ridgeville , Warren County, Ohio , in 1797. There, McLean received his formal education and developed his interest in law, later graduating from Harvard in 1806. It can be argued that his anti-slavery views also began to form at this time, given his upbringing as an evangelical Methodist with a focus on egalitarianism. His brother William was also a successful Ohio politician.

McLean studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1807. That same year, he founded _The Western Star _, a weekly newspaper at Lebanon , the Warren County seat. In 1810, Mclean transferred ownership of the Star to his brother Nathaniel and hung up his shingle, beginning to practice law as an individual lawyer for the first time. He was elected to the U.S. House for the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses , serving from March 4, 1813, until he resigned in 1816 to take a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court , to which he had been elected on February 17, 1816, replacing William W. Irvin .

The State of Ohio v. Thomas D. Carneal

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State v. Carneal, which occurred during McLean's tenure on the Ohio Supreme Court , foreshadowed McLean's future dissent in an important fugitive slavery case, _Dred Scott v. Sandford _ (1857). In it, a black man named Richard Lunsford, a Kentucky slave, applied for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain freedom from his owner, Thomas D. Carneal. The Ohio Constitution of 1802 forbade slavery in the state, and at issue was whether slaves owned by a man traveling in Ohio became free once they traveled to Ohio and whether a slave who resided in Kentucky could be sent to work in Ohio without gaining his freedom. Lunsford, as a slave who was regularly sent to work in Ohio, sued on the grounds that, by having him travel to work in Cincinnati for periods of over a week, Thomas Carneal forfeited his property rights in Lunsford. The Court ruled, with McLean issuing its opinion, that since Carneal sold Lunsford to a Mr. James Riddle, the man who sent Lunsford to Cincinnati, he did in fact forfeit his right to be Lunsford's owner. The most notable portion of this case was McLean's opinion, which highlighted his personal distaste for the institution of slavery: "Were it proper to consider it, the Court, as well as from the principles recognized by our Constitution and Laws, could not hesitate in declaring that SLAVERY [emphasis in original], except for the punishment of crimes, is an infringement upon the sacred rights of man: Rights, which he derives from his Creator, and which are inalienable."

Executive branch service

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Portrait of John McLean

He resigned his judgeship in 1822 to take President James Monroe 's appointment to be Commissioner of the United States General Land Office , serving until 1823, when Monroe appointed him United States Postmaster General . McLean served in that post from December 9, 1823, to March 7, 1829, under Monroe and John Quincy Adams , presiding over a massive expansion of the Post Office into the new western states and territories and the elevation of the Postmaster Generalship to a cabinet office.

During Adams' administration McLean supported Vice President John C. Calhoun , who was estranged from the president, but Adams declined to remove McLean despite Secretary of State Henry Clay asking for his removal.

Supreme Court appointment and tenure

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