Born
March 19, 1734, in Chester County, son of William McKean and Letitia
Finney of Presbyterian and Scotch-Irish ancestry, Thomas McKean
rose through the influence of his mother's family. He was educated
at the New London Academy, became prothonotary of New Castle County,
Delaware, at the age of eighteen, and was admitted to the bar in
New Castle in 1754. He became deputy attorney general for Sussex
County, and then sat in the Delaware Assembly from 1762-1779-the
assembly's Speaker 1772-73- while also serving as a judge and a
customs collector. In 1763, he married Mary Borden and they were
the parents of two sons and four daughters. Mary died in 1773 and
McKean married Sarah Armitage in 1774. McKean then fathered three
more daughters and two more sons.
At the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, McKean stressed the rights of
the Colonies. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence
and the Articles of Confederation, a colonel in the Revolutionary
War, and a member of the Continental Congress, 1774-1783, serving
briefly as its president in 1781, and worked for the adoption of
Delaware's state constitution in 1776. On July 28, 1777, he was
appointed Pennsylvania's Chief Justice, a position he held until
1799, and had a strong influence in setting rules of justice for
revolutionary Pennsylvania. In the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention
of 1789-1790, he argued for a strong executive and was himself at
that time a Federalist. But in 1796, dissatisfied with Federalist
domestic policies and compromises with England, he became an outspoken
Jeffersonian Republican (or Democratic Republican). McKean defeated
the Federalists' nominee, James Ross, for governor in 1799, and
again more easily in 1802. At first, McKean ousted Federalists from
state government positions. However, in seeking a third term in
1805, McKean was at odds with factions of his own Republican Party
and the General Assembly instead nominated Speaker Simon Snyder.
Governor McKean forged an alliance with Federalists, called "the
Quids," and defeated Snyder. Afterwards, he began removing
Jeffersonians from state positions.
McKean also opposed increased powers for justices of the peace because
he felt it undermined the constitutional right to trial by jury.
With strong support of the public and the General Assembly, McKean
saw to the removal of many corrupt and incompetent justices of the
peace. Conversely, he opposed the impeachment of learned judges,
many of whom had Federalist views.
The governor's beliefs in strong executive and judicial powers
were bitterly denounced by the influential Aurora newspaper publisher,
William Duane, and the Philadelphia populist Dr. Michael Leib. After
they led public attacks calling for impeachment, McKean filed a
partially successful libel suit against Duane in 1805. The House
of Representatives impeached the governor in 1807, but his friends
prevented a trial for the rest of his term and the matter was dropped.
When the suit was settled after McKean left office, his son Joseph
angrily criticized Duane's attorney for alleging out of context
that McKean referred to the people of Pennsylvania as "Clodpoles"
(clodhoppers).
Some of McKean's other accomplishments included expanding free education
for all and, at age eighty, leading a Philadelphia citizens group
to organize a strong defense during the War of 1812. McKean retired
to Philadelphia where he spent the remainder of his life writing
and discussing political affairs. McKean died June 24, 1817 and
is interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. On March 26,
1804, McKean County was created and named in honor of the governor.
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