LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 

LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HON. THOMAS McKEAN, LLD,, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS FROM DELAWARE, 
 CHIEF JUSTICE AND GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDE 
 PENDENCE, AND PRESIDENT OF 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 COMPILED FOR THE GENEALOGY OF THE McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 BY ROBERDEAU BUCHANAN. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER 
 
 BY THE 
 
 HON. THOMAS F. BAYARD, LL.D., 
 
 ^wSSJ 
 
 OCT ~ 1390 
 
 LANCASTER, PA.: 
 
 INQUIRER PRINTING 
 1890. 
 O 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by ROBERDEAU 
 BUCHANAN, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 41428 
 
TO THE 
 
 HON. THOMAS F. BAYAKD, LL. D. 
 
 WHOSE DISTINGUISHED SERVICES 
 
 IN THE COUNCILS OP THE NATION AS A SENATOR, 
 AND 
 
 AS SECRETARY OF STATE 
 OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 HAVE REFLECTED ESPECIAL HONOR UPON THE STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
 ZTbte 
 
 OF 
 
 "THE LEADING DELEGATE FROM DELAWARE" 
 
 IN 
 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY HIS OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
o 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 THE AUTHOR TO THE HON. THOMAS F. BAYARD, LL. D. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., December 23, 1889. 
 To THE HON. THOMAS F. BAYARD, LL. D. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Having in course of publication a Life of the Hon. Thomas 
 McKean, LL. D., who for a number of years was the " leading 
 delegate from Delaware" in the Continental Congress, and also a 
 Signer of the Declaration of Independence ; it would give me 
 much pleasure if you will permit me to dedicate the same to you, 
 as a slight mark of my appreciation of the services you have in 
 later days rendered, in many important positions, not only to the 
 State of Delaware, but to our country at large. 
 
 I have the honor to enclose proof pages of the work as far as 
 yet printed ; and, with your approbation, will from time to time 
 send the succeeding pages as they are received from the printer. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with much respect, 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 KOBERDEAU BUCHANAN. 
 
 REPLY OF THE HON. THOMAS F. BAYARD. 
 
 WILMINGTON, DEL., March 25th, 1890. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Since receiving your letter of December 23d, the proof sheets- 
 of the "Life of Thomas McKean, LL.D.J* have been duly sent 
 me, and 1 now congratulate you upon the successful completion 
 of your labors. 
 
 I accept with pleasure the honor of your dedication, and as an 
 American, especially as a citizen of Delaware, I am justly proud 
 to be thus associated with the Memorial of a patriot, statesman, and 
 jurist, so distinguished as Thomas McKean. 
 
 In this State Mr. McKean commenced his professional and 
 public career ; as a Representative of this community he wa& 
 delegated, together with his compatriot, Caesar Rodney, to the 
 Stamp Act Congress of 1765 ; and from that time onward until 
 American liberty and independence were firmly secured, he was- 
 
VI INTRODUCTORY CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 continuously invested with the highest public trusts which the 
 people of this State could bestow ; all of which he executed with 
 a fidelity and ability which awakened the grateful admiration of 
 his constituents, and secured for him the highest popular esteem. 
 
 To him is due the high distinction of serving longer and more 
 continuously than any other member of the Continental Congress, 
 in the stormy and eventful years of the struggle for our indepen 
 dent National existence. 
 
 To this it may be added that his assiduity was equalled by his 
 courage, discretion and ability in the "times that tried men's souls." 
 
 In parliamentary bodies, declamatory vigor and selfish assertion, 
 contenting itself with sharp criticism upon the work of others, 
 may, and often do, give distinction and sometimes an undeserved 
 reputation with the public ; while the patient, self-controlled and 
 steady labor that formulates and constructs is recognized and ap 
 preciated only by the " singular few," who quietly take part in 
 the real work of State building, and to whom mankind are chiefly 
 indebted. 
 
 In this sober class of unselfish and conscientious constructors of 
 our republican system, Thomas McKean must be ranked among 
 the first. 
 
 As his kinsman and descendant, you have performed a pious 
 duty in compiling with simple accuracy, a full and faithful record 
 of the life-work of your ancestor ; and the picture you have given 
 of his private as well as of his public character and career is just 
 and true. 
 
 As a citizen, you have done public service in contributing an 
 important chapter in the veritable history of laying the founda 
 tions of the government whose blessings we now enjoy, and which 
 it is the duty of each of us to assist in transmitting unimpaired to 
 posterity. I am, dear sir, 
 
 Respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 T. F. BAYARD. 
 
 To Roberdeau Buchanan, Esq., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 As a contribution to the Revolutionary history of our country, 
 with which his life was so intimately connected in many exalted 
 positions during half a century, this biography of the Hon. 
 Thomas McKean is given to the public. As originally written, 
 it was accompanied by a genealogy of his descendants; but on 
 account of the prominent part that Governor McKean bore as 
 one of the framers of this government, his biography therefore be 
 comes of interest beyond the limited sphere of a genealogy, and 
 is now published separately. 
 
 In the biography of Governor McKean, the author began by 
 taking Sanderson's fine biography as a foundation, but soon re 
 jected that plan, and quoted the work with other authors ; he has 
 reluctantly been obliged to transpose Sanderson's biography and 
 rearrange it so as to place the facts in chronological order, as well 
 as to bring together all the writers upon one topic before taking 
 up the next. This comparison of various authors has been the 
 means of correcting several mistakes in Sanderson which have 
 been copied by all succeeding biographers (Appendix II). By 
 the use of some extraneous matter, and explanations, have been 
 brought into a connected account, several topics that in Sander 
 son's biography seem to have no connection. Minute details, so far 
 as accessible, poetry, anecdotes, and other trivial matters often ne 
 glected by the severe historian, have been made use of; for it is 
 these unimportant matters which make us feel acquainted with 
 another, and give a clearer insight into his life and character. 
 
 Of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, an intri 
 cate subject, which has been discussed by many able men, includ 
 ing Peter Force, Webster, Winthrop, Bancroft, and lastly Judge 
 Chamberlain, it is belived that an abstract of all that has been 
 written upon the subject is here given. 
 
 Through the courtesy of the Assistant Secretary of State, and 
 
 (vii) 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 the other gentlemen, the author has been accorded the especial 
 privilege of photographing the original Manuscript Journals of 
 Congress in the handwriting of Charles Thomson an especial 
 favor, since these Journals are among the most valuable records in 
 the archives of the State Department, and have never before been 
 reproduced in fac-simile. Doubtless but few historians have seen 
 the originals, since permission from the Secretary of State is re 
 quired even to inspect them ; and trusting to the inaccurate pub 
 lished copies, many writers have been led into error, or else have 
 found discrepancies they could not explain. It is hoped, therefore, 
 that these fac-similes may help to elucidate matters, that long ago 
 should have been made clear. 
 
 Permission to photograph the Journals was given while pages 
 39 and 45 of the present work were being set in type ; and merely 
 a few verbal changes could be made in the text. It was found 
 subsequently that the negatives were too delicate to be photo-lith 
 ographed ; they were consequently reproduced by the Moss process 
 in New York. 
 
 The first fac-simile is the Rough Journal, with the Declaration 
 of Independence displayed, reduced three-eighths size. Here may 
 be seen the wafers attaching it to the page the names of John 
 Hancock and Charles Thomson in print and at the top of page 
 95 of the Journal, the following clauses omitted in the printed 
 copies : 
 
 " Ordered That the declaration be authenticated & printed 
 " That the committee appointed to prepare the declar 
 
 ation superintend & correct the press." 
 
 It will be noticed, that the names of the fifty-six Signers, and 
 the clause preceding them in the printed journals, are nowhere to 
 be found. Compare the fac-simile with the text opposite. 
 
 The second plate is a portion of the above on a larger size, and 
 from a second negative, half size. 
 
 The third plate is the page of the Secret Journal relating to the 
 engrossed declaration, half-size ; the interlineation is plainly seen. 
 By comparison with the printed journal, the latter will be found 
 faulty in the kind of type used, as well as in spelling. 
 
 Several offices and appointments held by Governor McKeaa, 
 and other facts not heretofore mentioned in his biographies, are 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 here given ; and at the cost of some repetition, the numerous 
 estimates of Governor McKean's character, by various authors, 
 have all been inserted ; but scattered through the biography to 
 avoid weariness to the reader. An apology may be due for the 
 long accounts of the impeachment trials, of Mr. McKean's seat in 
 Congress, and perhaps some other portions that may appear tedious. 
 They are retained here, hoping to make this biography of Gov 
 ernor McKean a standard, wherein may be found, in full, all in 
 formation that is known of him and that has appeared in print. 
 
 To the Hon. William F. Wharton, Assistant Secretary of State, 
 and to Frederick Bancroft, Esq., Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and 
 Library, the author is especially indebted for their concurrent 
 permission, to photograph the manuscript Journals of Congress, 
 for copies of letters, and for much other information officially fur 
 nished from the Department records. And in no less degree is 
 the author indebted to S. M. Hamilton, Esq., of the Bureau of 
 Rolls and Library, for facilities in making the above mentioned 
 photographic negatives ; and also for opening to the author's in 
 spection not only the original Articles of Confederation, but also 
 numerous letters and papers of the revolutionary period, in the ar 
 chives of the Department, and for much information, unofficially 
 and very cordially given. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., November, 1889. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dedication to the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard iii, v 
 
 LIFE OF GOVERNOR THOMAS McKEAN, LL.D 13 
 
 Studies law 13 
 
 The Delaware Assembly 15 
 
 His Marriage ; Borden Family 15 
 
 Minor appointments 17 
 
 STAMP ACT CONGRESS, 1765 a member 18 
 
 Minor offices anecdote 19 
 
 Speaker of House of Assembly 20 
 
 Second Marriage 21 
 
 CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1775 21 
 
 Committee of Inspection and Observation, and the Associators 
 
 in Penn 24 
 
 Resolution of the 15th of May, and Public Meeting of May 
 
 20, 1776 26 
 
 Convention of Deputies at Carpenter's Hall, 1776 28 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 29 
 
 McKean's services in favor of it, secures a unanimous vote . 30 
 How signed ; Conflicting statements of McKean, Jefferson and 
 Adams; Opinions of recent authors Force, Webster, Win- 
 throp, Frothingham, Bancroft, Lossing, Chamberlain, and 
 others ; The Journals of Congress, fac-similes of the origi 
 nals ; The Declaration not signed by any one on July 4, 1 776. 31 
 The engrossed Declaration ; The Secret Journals of Congress : 
 Fac-simile of one page; Signed Aug. 2, 1776; Anecdotes 
 at signing ; McKean the last one to sign ; Omission of his 
 
 name in print ; Early copies fac similes 45 
 
 War measures, July, 1776 49 
 
 Public meetings 50 
 
 Constitution of the State of Delaware ; Written by Mr. Mc 
 Kean in one night; Mr. Read's claim not established .... 51 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1777 54 
 
 Noted cases 57 
 
 Anecdotes Andre's Dream, Poetry, etc 61 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, 1777 , . . 63 
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION ; McKean one of the committee ; 64 
 
 A historical discrepancy 65 
 
 Difficulty with General Thompson 67 
 
 Public Meeting, May 24-25, 1779 67 
 
 High Court of Errors and Appeals 68 
 
 Judge McKean's residence 69 
 
 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, 1781 70 
 
 Three remarkable incidents in McKean's life 72 
 
 Publishes the Laws of Pennsylvania 73 
 
 (xi) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Convention to ratify the Constitution of U.S., 1787; McKean 
 
 moves to ratify ................ . 74 
 
 Case of Oswald and attempt to impeach the Supreme Court ; 
 
 Chief Justice McKean's judgment on contempts ...... 77 
 
 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1789 ....... 79 
 
 Minor matters ...................... 79 
 
 Commentary on the Constitution by McKean and Wilson ... 81 
 
 Commotions caused by Jay's Treaty ............ 81 
 
 , A Presidential Elector .................. 82 
 
 Heated Political Affairs; Peter Porcupine's Lawsuits ..... 82 
 
 GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1799; McKean's 1st election ... 85 
 His election opposed by Cobbett ; McKean's election the first 
 
 triumph of the Democratic party ........... 85 
 
 McKean takes the oath of office ; His removals from office 
 not only for political purposes, but for the good of the State; 
 
 Cobbett's remarks .................. 88 
 
 McKean's 2d election ; Conflicts with the Legislature ; Anec 
 
 dotes ........................ 93 
 
 Solicited to become candidate for Vice President of U. S. ; 
 Declined ; His election greatly attributed to the election of 
 
 Jefferson to the presidency ............... 95 
 
 McKean's 3d election; Virulent party feeling; Impeachment 
 proceedings ; The charges purely political : The attempt 
 fails ; McKean's vigorous Replication ; He refutes all the 
 
 charges ....................... 96 
 
 Close of his term of office ; Retires to private life ...... 106 
 
 Fears of a British Invasion, 1814 ; Presides at a town meeting. . 107 
 
 Honorary degrees, diplomas, honors, etc ........... 108 
 
 His death and funeral ; Noble tribute by his former opponent, 
 
 Duane ........................ 110 
 
 His Life and Character ; John Adams' tribute ........ 113 
 
 His Will and seal thereto ................. 115 
 
 Coat of Arms, probably none ............... 116 
 
 List of Portraits, Historical Paintings and Engravings . . , . 118 
 
 McKean's Autograph and Letters ............. 121 
 
 Bibliography ...................... 123 
 
 Conclusion His Children ................ 123 
 
 Appendices. 
 
 I. List of works containing biographies of Thomas McKean . 125 
 II. List of Mistakes and Discrepancies in books and public 
 
 records ..................... 129 
 
 Addenda and Corrigenda ............... 131 
 
 Index of Principal Subjects .............. 133 
 
THOMAS McKEAN, 
 
 THE subject of this biography 1 was the son of William 
 McKean and Letitia Finney, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He 
 was born in New London township, Chester county, Pennsyl 
 vania, March 19, 1734, old style. After an elementary in 
 struction in reading, writing arid arithmetic, Thomas and his 
 elder brother Robert were, at the ages of nine and eleven 
 years respectively, placed under the tuition of the Rev. Francis 
 Allison, D. D., a man of character and reputation. 
 
 STUDIES LAW. , 
 
 After passing through the regular course of instruction here, 
 and acquiring a knowledge of the practical branches of mathe 
 matics, rhetoric, logic, and moral philosophy, Thomas went to 
 Newcastle in Delaware, and entered the office of his relative 
 David Finney, as a law student. Some months after, he en 
 gaged as clerk to the prothonotary of the Court of Common 
 Pleas; a situation which enabled him to learn the practice 
 while he was studying the theory of the law. 
 
 So great was the reputation that Mr. McKean acquired in 
 his youth by his industry and talents, that before he had at- 
 tained the age of twenty-one years, he was admitted 2 as an 
 
 1 The basis of this biography is Sanderson's Biography of the Signers, 2d 
 edition, Philadelphia ; published by Brown and Peters, 1828. Robert Wain, 
 Jr., is the author of many of the biographies in Sanderson, including that 
 of Thomas McKean. The author is much indebted to Sanderson's Lives, 
 yet the extracts from that work form but a small portion of the pres 
 ent biography, in which are quotations from about two hundred other 
 works. Several mistakes in Sanderson are here corrected. Robert Wain, 
 Jr., above mentioned, was the son of Robert Wain, of a Quaker family, 
 member of Congress 1*798-1801, and was born in 1*797. He was an author 
 and poet, and died at an early age in 1824. 
 
 3 1754, J. Hill Martin, Bench and Bar of Philadelphia. 1883, and Penn. Maa., 
 v., 489. 
 
 2 (13) 
 
14 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 attorney at law in the Courts of Common Pleas for the counties 
 of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, and also in the Supreme 
 Court. Before the expiration of a year he obtained a con 
 siderable share of business, and in May, 1755, 1 was admitted to 
 practice in the courts of his native county of Chester. He waa 
 also admitted to the courts of the city and county of Phila 
 delphia. In 1756, the Attorney-general, who resided in 
 Philadelphia, appointed him, not only without any solicitation, 
 but without any previous knowledge on his part, his deputy, to 
 prosecute the pleas of the crown in the county of Sussex. He 
 resigned this office after performing its duties for two years 
 with judgment and ability. In 1758, 2 April 17, he was ad 
 mitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the province of 
 Pennsylvania. The envy which the success of the young 
 lawyer occasioned among his professional brethren, merely 
 served as an additional spur to his industry, and increased his 
 assiduity in the pursuit of legal knowledge ; for though he had 
 become the eloquent advocate and able lawyer, he was still the 
 close and industrious student. 3 He afterwards went to Eng 
 land and studied at the Middle Temple, being admitted there 
 May 9, 1758. 4 
 
 As a recreation from his studies, in 1757, December 28, Mr. 
 McKean enrolled himself with about one hundred and twenty- 
 five others "in Richard Williams' company of foot, whereof 
 William Armstrong is colonel, in Newcastle county." 5 In the 
 same year he was elected clerk of the House of Assembly, an 
 honor of which he was unapprised until he received informa 
 tion of his appointment from Benjamin Chew, at that time 
 speaker. The following year he was again elected ; but after 
 serving that term he declined further appointment. In 1762, 
 he was selected by the legislature, together with Caesar Rodney, 
 to revise and print the laws passed subsequent to 1752; a duty 
 which they speedily and satisfactorily executed. 
 
 1 Penn. Mag., v., 139, 244, 489, xi., 249 ; and Hist. Chester, Del. Co., J. Hill 
 Martin. Not 1756, as given in Sanderson. 
 
 8 Penn. Mag., v., 489, and Bench and Bar ; not ITS'?, as in Sanderson. 
 
 8 Judson's Liven. 
 
 * Penn. Mag., v., 244-5, 489 ; xi., 249 ; Bench and Bar, p. 22. 
 
 6 The original paper in possession of J. Henry Rogers, Esq. See also 
 Life of George Read, W. T. Read, p. 48. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. ' 15 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF DELAWARE. 
 
 In the same year Mr. McKean first embarked in the stormy 
 sea of politics, which he continued to brave for nearly half a 
 century. In October, 1762, he was elected a member of the 
 Assembly from the county of Newcastle, and was annually 
 returned for seventeen successive years. So much attached to 
 him were the people of that county, that they continued to 
 elect him, although for the last six years of this time he was 
 residing in Philadelphia. He still however retained his house 
 in Newcastle, probably because his business frequently called 
 him to that city. Finally, on the 1st of October, 1779, on the 
 day of the general election in Delaware, he attended at New 
 castle, and in an address to his constituents, declined the honor 
 of further re-election. He was then waited upon by six gentle 
 men in the name of the electors, who asked him to name seven 
 persons suitable for representatives. He replied that he knew 
 not only seven, but seventy, whom he considered worthy of 
 their votes ; but the request being repeated, he acceded and 
 wrote down seven names. The election resulted in the choice 
 of the seven gentlemen whom he had named. 
 
 HIS MARRIAGE. 
 
 On Thursday the twenty-first of July, 1763, 1 Mr. McKean 
 was married to Miss Mary Borden , eldest child of Col. Joseph 
 Borden, of Bordentown, New Jersey. She and her sister 
 Ann, who married Francis Hopkinsori, were said to be two of 
 the most beautiful ladies in New Jersey. 2 Of her family and 
 ancestry I have found as follows : 
 
 THE BORDEN FAMILY. 3 
 
 RICHARD BORDEN, born 1601, married Joan (born 1604 ; 
 died July 5, 1688), settled with his wife in Portsmouth, R. I. 
 He purchased land in New Jersey in 1667, and died May 25, 
 1(571, leaving with other children: 
 
 BENJAMIN, born in May, 1649, at Portsmouth, R. I. He 
 
 1 Not July, 1762, as stated in Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 a E. M. Woodward, in Bordentown Register. 
 
 8 Compiled from Savage's Genealogical Diet, of First Settlers; Gen. Diet, 
 of R. I., John 0. Austin, 1887; Hist. Burlington and Mercer Cos., E. M. 
 Woodward and John F. Hageman ; Hist. Bordentown and Burlington, in Bor 
 dentown Register, 1876, E. M. Woodward ; Keith's Provincial Councillors, 
 1883, p. 269. 
 
16 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 was married at Hartford, Ct., September 22, 1671, 1 to Abi 
 gail Glover, born 1653 2 (daughter of Henry Glover, of Hart 
 ford, Ct., born about 1614; died 1689, and of Abigail his 
 wife), and removed to Shrewsbury, N. J. In 1716, he deeded 
 lands to his son Joseph, of Freehold. His Bible record is con 
 tained in a Concordance of the Holy Scriptures, etc., 1698, 
 now in possession of Oliver Hopkinson, Esq., of Philadelphia. 
 On the fly-leaf is written " Benjamin Borden, His book, 1706.'* 
 and below, "Abigal Borden died 8 of Geneyery in 66 year of 
 her age and year of our Lord 1720." The date of his mar 
 riage, and birth and death of his son Joseph, are verified as 
 here given in the text. Benjamin Borden died in 1718 or 
 later, leaving eleven children, of whom the seventh child was: 
 
 JOSEPH, born May 12, 1687, probably near Freehold, and 
 when about thirty years of age removed to Tamsworth's 
 Landing. He was married about the year 1717 to Ann Cono- 
 ver (formerly Covenhoven*), of Monmouth county, New Jer 
 sey. By deed, March 3, 1724, he purchased of Samuel Tarns- 
 worth one hundred amd five acres of land, and subsequently 
 more, and eventually owned the whole site of Bordentown. 
 He was thus possessed of very considerable means, and founded 
 and named the town of Bordentown. His wife died March 11, 
 1744-5, in her 58th year. He died September 22, 1765, 
 leaving one son and six daughters. His will is recorded in the 
 office of the Secretary of State at Trenton, N. J. His son 
 
 Colonel JOSEPH BORDEN, born August 1, 1719, was a patriot 
 of the Revolution. He was a member of the Stamp Act 
 Congress of 1765 ; a member of the first New Jersey Con 
 vention at New Brunswick, July 2, 1774; one of the Com 
 mittee of Observation of Burlington county, February, 1773; 
 entered the army as Colonel of the 1st New Jersey Regiment, 
 and became Colonel and Quartermaster of the State troops ; 
 Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, September 11, 1776 ; 
 reappointed September 28, 1781. He was a man of note in 
 his locality, and during the war his fine house was burned by 
 the British. 3 He was married September 22, 1743, to Eliza 
 beth Rogers, 4 who was born at Allentown, July 10,1725; 
 
 1 Gen. Diet, of R. I. gives the year wrongly, 1670. 
 
 3 According to the Borden Record, Savage is wrcng in giving this date 
 1651. 
 
 8 Penn. Mag., ix., 435. 
 
 4 From Robert McKean's family Bible, in possession of Mrs. Ann McKean 
 Kerr, which is verified (as to this name) by the will of Mrs. Rogers, recorded 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 17 
 
 (daughter 1 of Samuel and Mary Rogers. An old pedigree on 
 a modern sheet of legal foolscap, found between the leaves of 
 the old Borden Record above quoted, states that Samuel Rogers 
 was born 1692, died September 17, 1756 ; his wife, born 
 1690, died April 14, 1738, and verifies the dates of the 
 daughter's birth and death here given from other sources.) 
 Mrs. Borden died November 2, 1807. Judge Borden died 
 April 8, 1791. His will is recorded at Trenton, N. J. His 
 issue: 2 
 
 i. MARY, b. July 21, 1744, married July 21, 1763, Thomas McKean, 
 Signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 ii. ANN, b. Jan. 24, 1745-6, d. June 9, 1746. 
 
 iii. ANN, b. May 9, 1747, married Sept. 1, 1768, Francis Hopkinson, 
 Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and left 
 issue. 
 
 iv. AMY, b. Oct. 30, 1749 ; d. Aug. 31, 1751. 
 
 v. LJKTITIA, b. July 29, 1751 ; d. June 30, 1753 N. S. 
 
 vi. JOSEPH, b. June 23, 1755 ; m. Nov. 26, 1778, Mary Biles, daugh 
 ter of Langhorn Biles, and d. Oct. 16, 1788, leaving 
 one. child, Elizabeth, b. Nov. 13, 1779. 
 
 MINOR APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 In 1764, Mr. McKean was appointed one of the three trus 
 tees of the Loan Office of Newcastle county, for four years ; 
 which trust was renewed in 1768 and 1772 (1769, June 16 3 ). 
 This species of loan was one of the most happy expedients for 
 the encouragement of industrious settlers in a new country, 
 and for the improvement of lands, that was ever invented. 
 
 On the 10th of July, 1765, he was appointed by the Gov 
 ernor, John Penn, sole notary, and tabellion public, for the 
 lower counties on the Delaware ;* and in the same year was 
 appointed justice of the peace and justice of the court of 
 common pleas and quarter sessions, and of the orphans' 
 court for the county of Newcastle. In the November term of 
 1765, and February term of 1766, he sat on the bench, and 
 directed that all officers of the court should make use of un 
 stamped paper in their several duties ; and it is believed that 
 
 at Mt. Holly, N. J.; in which she mentions her brother Isaac Rogers. 
 E. M. Woodward, in the Hist. Burlington and Mercer Co.'s, is wrong in stat 
 ing that this Joseph Borden married a daughter of Marmaduke Watson. 
 He also states wrongly the first of the family, Benjamin instead of Richard. 
 
 1 Keith's Provinc. Counc., 1883, p. 269. 
 
 2 Robert McKean's Family Bible. 
 
 3 Penn. Archives, 2d series, Wm. H. Egle, ix., 643, et seq. 
 
 * Original in possession of J. Henry Rogers, Esq., of Newcastle, Del. 
 
18 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 this was the first court in the colonies that established such an 
 order. 
 
 MEMBER OF THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS AT NEW YORK. 
 
 The passage of the Stamp Act in 1705 aroused a storm of 
 indignation throughout the colonies. Had its measures been 
 carried out, it would have been ruinous to their prosperity. 
 "The sun of liberty is now set," said Charles Thomson, "you 
 must light up the candles of industry and economy." To 
 avert the threatened evils of this act, the legislature of Mass 
 achusetts proposed to the other colonies to appoint delegates 
 to a general congress, who might consult together, and in a 
 dutiful and loyal manner, represent the condition of affairs to 
 the king and parliament. To this distinguished body Thomas 
 McKean was elected a member from the three lower counties 
 on the Delaware. His father-in-law, Col. Joseph Borden, was 
 a member from New Jersey. 1 It met in New York, October 
 7, 1765, and brigadier Timothy Ruggles was elected presi 
 dent. James Otis, of Massachusetts, was one of the most 
 prominent delegates, and Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney 
 pillars of the cause from Delaware. 2 The congress passed a 
 Declaration of Rights, and appointed three committees to 
 prepare addresses to the king, the lords, and the commons; 
 the latter committee was composed of Thomas Lynch, James 
 Otis, and Thomas McKean. 3 The congress was dissolved on 
 the 24th of October. A few of the members were suspected 
 of being inimical to its designs, or of wishing to ingratiate 
 themselves with the British ministry ; and on the last day of 
 the session, when the business was concluded, the president 
 and three or four timid members refused to sign the proceed 
 ings. Mr. McKean then rose and addressing himself person 
 ally to the president, stated that as he had made no objections 
 to the proceedings, he should now state his reasons for refusing 
 to sign the petition. The president replied that he did not 
 consider himself bound to state his objections ; but upon being 
 pressed by Mr. McKean and others for an explanation, he 
 finally stated that "It was against his conscience." Mr. 
 McKean now rang the changes on the word conscience so long 
 and loud, that a plain challenge was given and accepted in 
 
 1 A list of delegates is given in Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 
 1860, i., 465.. 
 
 2 Rise of the Republic, Richard Frothingham, 1872. 
 
 8 Ibid., and Life of James Otis, William Tudor, 1823. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 19 
 
 presence of the whole congress ; but the president, who, how 
 ever, had no more courage to fight a duel than he had to sign 
 the proceedings, departed from New York the next morning 
 before dawn of day. 1 He afterwards joined the British, and 
 fought against the colonies. 2 
 
 Mr. Ogden, speaker of the house of Assembly of New Jer 
 sey, also refused to sign, although solicited by Mr. McKean 
 and others in private. He at the same time desired to conceal 
 his action from the people of New Jersey, who were zealous 
 for the cause of America ; Mr. McKean however would promise 
 nothing more than not to mention the matter as he passed 
 through New Jersey, unless the question was put to him. The 
 question was asked in several different towns, and Mr. McKean 
 stated the matter without hesitation. The speaker was burned 
 in effigy in his town, and at the next meeting of the Assembly 
 was removed from the office of speaker. 
 
 Upon reporting to the Assembly at Newcastle, Mr. McKean 
 and Mr. Rodney received a unanimous vote of thanks of that 
 house for their services. 
 
 Mr. McKean, writing to John Adams, 13th of June, 1812, 
 mentions that he is the only survivor of the Stamp Act Con 
 gress. 3 
 
 MINOR OFFICES. 
 
 During the next year, 1766, Mr. McKean was licensed by 
 the governor of New Jersey, upon the recommendation of the 
 judges of the supreme court, to practice as a solicitor in 
 chancery, attorney-at-law and councillor, in all the courts of the 
 province. On the 28th of October, 1769, he was appointed 
 justice of the peace for the province of Pennsylvania, and re- 
 appointed April 10, 1773, and October 24, 1774. 4 
 
 Of Mr. McKean's ability as a lawyer, and his ingenuity in 
 the defense of a client, an illustration is given by a distinguished 
 member of the Philadelphia bar, David Paul Brown, in his 
 work, The Forum (ii. 339). 
 
 In a suit brought by Myers Fisher, a lawyer of note, against 
 a person by the name of Buncom, in Chester court, for slander, 
 in the year 1774, the defamation having been clearly made out, 
 
 1 Sanderson. 
 
 'Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 1860, i., 465. 
 
 *Adam's Works, x., 14. 
 
 *Penn. Archives, 2d series, ix., 643 et seq. 
 
20 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Mr. McKean called some scores of witnesses, not to deny the 
 slander, but to show that his client was such a notorious liar 
 that no man in the county believed anything he said, and that 
 therefore no damages could possibly have been sustained by 
 the plaintiff. And so the jury found. 
 
 The early settlements upon the Delaware having been made 
 under the dominion of a government and courts sitting at New 
 York, it eventually became very inconvenient to consult the 
 original records ; hence Mr. McKean was selected by the As- 
 semby in 1769, to proceed to New York, and there obtain 
 copies of all documents relating to real estate in the Delaware 
 counties, prior to the year 1700. This duty he satisfactorily 
 performed, and the copies thus procured were established by law 
 as of equal authority with the original documents. 1 In 1771 
 he was appointed by the commissioners of his majesty's customs, 
 collector of the port of Newcastle. 
 
 SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. 
 
 In October 1772, Mr. McKean was unanimously elected 
 Speaker of the House of Assembly of Delaware. He writes 
 to Mr. Adams that he was unanimously elected, although only 
 six of the members were Whigs. 2 
 
 The "Tea Act," so known, which went into effect a year 
 later, aroused more indignation than the Stamp Act. The Del 
 aware House of Representatives referred the matter to a com 
 mittee, of whom Mr. McKean was chairman. The committee 
 reported October 28, 1773, recommending a committee of cor 
 respondence of five members, which report was adopted, and 
 Colonel Rodney the speaker, George Read, Thomas McKean, 
 John McKinly, and Thomas Robinson, were chosen to be "A 
 Committee of Correspondence and Communication." On De 
 cember 16th of this year, the tea was thrown overboard in 
 Boston. 3 When the Boston Port Bill was passed in March, 
 1774, closing the port of Boston, the colonies sent aid for the 
 sufferers in that city. The Delaware letter was signed by 
 Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, and GeorgeRead. 4 And at a 
 meeting of citizens held at Newcastle, June 29, 1774, a com 
 mittee of thirteen was appointed to solicit contributions for the 
 
 1 Armor's Lives of Governors of Penn., 1872. 
 7 Works of John Adams, C. F. Adams, x., 82. 
 'Scharfs Hist. Del., 1888, i., 215. 
 *Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, p. 387. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 21 
 
 sufferers, among the members being Thomas McKean, George 
 Read, and John McKinly. 1 
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 
 
 About this time, Mr. McKean met with a serious affliction 
 in the death of his wife, on Friday, the 12th of March, 1773, 2 
 at half-past eleven o'clock, in the 29th 3 year of her age, leav 
 ing two sons and four daughters, one of the latter being an 
 infant two weeks old. A notice of her death appears in the 
 Pennsylvania Gazette of March 17th. She was buried on 
 the Sunday following, in the burial ground of Immanuel Church, 
 Newcastle. 4 A crayon likeness of Mrs. McKean is in pos 
 session of Mrs. Sarah P. Wilson, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Not long after this event, either in the same year or more 
 probably in the following year, Mr. McKean removed his resi 
 dence to Philadelphia, although he also retained his house in 
 Newcastle. 
 
 On Saturday, September 3d, 1774, 6 Mr. McKean was mar 
 ried a second time, to Miss Sarah Armitage, of Newcastle. 
 They were married by the Rev. Joseph Montgomery, 6 who 
 was, as I have ascertained, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
 Church at Newcastle, from 1765 to 1777. No records of that 
 church are now in existence prior to 1842. 7 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 
 
 The political troubles of the colonies had been increasing to 
 such an extent, that a correspondence naturally arose among 
 the leading and influential characters throughout the continent; 
 public meetings were held in various places, and it was finally 
 agreed to call another general congress of the colonies to meet 
 
 l Life of Geo. Read, W. T. Read ; the name wrongly spelled McKinley. 
 
 2 Not February, 1*773, as stated in Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 * Gov. McKean's Bible record, in possession of H. P. McKean, Esq. 
 
 Mbid. 
 
 5 Ibid. Not Thursday, as given in Sanderson. Gov. McKean's record, 
 however, does not give the day of the week to this date. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 T I regret that I have been unsuccessful in finding anything about her 
 family or history. None of the name now live in Newcastle ; an old resi 
 dent there tells me that he knows nothing of the name. The church 
 records are also defective or destroyed. 
 
22 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 in Philadelphia on the first Monday in September, 1774. l 
 The three Delaware counties met in convention, August 1, 
 1774, of which Mr. McKean was a member from Newcastle 
 county. The credentials of the Newcastle delegates were 
 signed by Thomas McKean, chairman of the county committee. 
 This convention 2 elected Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean and 
 George Read as their delegates to Congress. " Thomas Mc 
 Kean," says Bancroft, "was the leading delegate from Dela 
 ware," 3 and on the 5th of September, took his seat in this au 
 gust assemblage, of which he became an invaluable ornament, 
 and from that day his country claimed him as her own. 4 San 
 derson states that he was annually elected a member until the 
 first of February, 1783, and is the only member who served 
 from its opening until after the preliminaries of peace of 1783 
 were signed. He was, however, not a member during 1777. 
 The delegates produced their credentials and took their seats 
 at very irregular times, and twice the state was not represented. 
 The Journals of Congress (Way and Gideon, 18*23), show 
 that the Delaware delegates took their seats as follows: 
 
 i. 1. Sept. 5, 1774. Cassar Rodney, Thomas McKean and 
 George Read are delegates at the opening of Con 
 gress. 
 50-2 May 10, 1775. C. Rodney, Thomas McKean, George 
 
 Read. 
 
 568. Dec. 2, 1776. George Read, John Dickinson and 
 John Evans. (George Read appears to have been 
 rather opposed to McKean politically. In Sander 
 son's Life of Caesar Rodney, it is stated that about 
 this time the royalist party and the lukewarm in the 
 lower counties contrived to come into a majority for 
 a while, "and one of their earliest acts was to remove 
 Mr. Rodney and Mr. McKean, two delegates who 
 had in every instance shown themselves the uncom 
 promising friends of liberty.") 
 ii. 22. Jan. 24, 1774. No delegates from Delaware. The 
 
 President directed to inform the State. 
 73. April 4, 1777. George Read, Nicholas Van Dyke, 
 
 and James Sykes. 
 
 368. Aug. 15, 1777. No delegates from Delaware. The 
 President directed to inform the State. 
 
 1 It met at Carpenter's Hall, dissolved itself in October, met May 10, 1775, 
 in the State House. Reminiscences of Carpenter's Hall. 
 
 a See Birth of the Republic, Daniel W. Goodloe, 1889, p. 234. 
 8 Hist. U. S., viii. 75. 
 4 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN". 23 
 
 423. Jan. 30, 1778. Caesar Rodney, Nicholas Vandyke 1 
 
 and Thomas McKean. 
 iii. 19. Aug. 15, 1778. Mr. McKean attended and resumed 
 
 his seat. 
 
 427. Jan. 27, 1780. Mr. Vandyke produced his creden 
 tials. 
 
 581. Feb. 26, 1781. Mr. McKean attended and pro 
 duced the credentials of the delegates from Dela 
 ware (names not given). 
 581. Feb. 27, 1781. Mr. Rodney attended and took his 
 
 seat. 
 
 592. March 2, 1781. Congress reorganized under the 
 Articles of Confederation. All the delegates' 
 names are entered on the Journal. From Dela 
 ware, Thomas Rodney and Thomas McKean. 
 651. July 26, 1781. Mr. Vandyke attended. 
 714. Jan. 28, 1782. Mr. T. Rodney and Mr. McKean 
 
 attended and took their seats. 
 
 718. Feb. 14, 1782. Mr. McKean produced the creden 
 tials of Thomas McKean, Philemon Dickinson, 
 Caesar Rodney and Samuel Wharton, delegates 
 for the present year. 
 725. Feb. 25, 1782. Mr. Wharton attended and took 
 
 his seat. 
 
 iv. 172-3. March 10, 1783. Eleazer M'Comb and Gunning 
 Bedford appeared and produced the credentials 
 of Csesar Rodney, James Tilton, Eleazer M' 
 Comb and Gunning Bedford, delegates from 
 Delaware, elected February 1, 1783. 
 The term of service of Thomas McKean here ends. 
 
 On the 20th of October, 1774, Congress, as a retaliatory 
 measure, entered into a "non-importation, non-consumption, 
 and non-exportation agreement or association," signed by fifty- 
 three members, including Thomas McKean and George Read, 
 of the lower counties. 2 
 
 Soon after taking his seat, Mr. McKean was appointed 
 one of the committee to state the rights of the colonies, the 
 various instances in which those rights had been violated, 
 and the means most proper for the restoration of them ; 
 also on hearing and determining appeals in libel cases in 
 the Court of Admiralty ; besides other less important com 
 mittees. He was, however, particularly useful in conducting 
 
 *A variation in spelling will be noticed. 
 
 2 Birth of the Republic, D. W. Goodloe, 1889, p. 80-5. Fac similes of sig 
 natures may be found in J. J. Smith's Am. Hist, and Lit. Curiosities, pi. liii. 
 
24 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 negotiations of the Secret Committee, charged with procur 
 ing arms and ammunition from abroad; and in managing 
 the monetary affairs of the new nation ; two of the most im 
 portant and difficult subjects with which Congress had to deal. 1 
 But the most important committee of all was that appointed 
 June 12, 1776, to prepare the Articles of Confederation be 
 tween the colonies, which will be recurred to in its proper place. 
 Of his subsequent services, it is mentioned in the papers of 
 James Madison, 2 that Mr. McKean proposed a conditional ex 
 change of Cornwallis for Col. H. Laurens, on condition that a 
 general cartel should be acceded to ; and that he advocated 
 coercion towards Vermont by moving to postpone the report of 
 a committee in the matter, to make way for a set of resolutions, 
 declaring Vermont in contempt of the authority of Congress, 
 in exercising jurisdiction over certain persons professing alle 
 giance to New York, that Vermont be required to make resti 
 tution for property taken from them, and in the event of refusal, 
 Congress to enforce it; and, on the part of Delaware, he in 
 sisted on an equality of representation among the States. 
 
 THE COMMITTEE OF INSPECTION AND OBSERVATION, AND THE 
 ASSOCIATORS. 
 
 In the troublous times now approaching, the people through 
 out the colonies elected Committees of Inspection and Observa 
 tion, Committees of Correspondence, Committees of Safety, 
 etc., and enrolled themselves in military organizations. 
 
 The Committees of Correspondence 3 were chosen during the 
 winter of 1773-4 by the several Assemblies, upon recommen 
 dation of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. Thomas McKean 
 was one of the Delaware Committee, as related on a previous 
 page. The Philadelphia Committee of Inspection and Cor 
 respondence, consisting of forty-three members, was appointed 
 June 18, 1774. A new committee of sixty-seven members for 
 the city, and forty-two for the county, was appointed in May, 
 1775, but Mr. McKean's name does not appear in these lists;* 
 and it is not known when he joined. This is certain, however, 
 that he did join, for he was a member in November 1775 or 
 
 1 Armor's Lives of the Govs. of Penn. 
 
 2 Purchased by Congress, and published by Henry D. Gilpin, 1841, pp. 
 18*7-99, 206-14-20, 751-2. 
 
 'See Frothingham on this subject, p. 312 et seq. 
 *Scharf and Westcott, i, 289-92. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 25 
 
 earlier, and subsequently became chairman. It may be con 
 jectured that as Delaware was in a measure considered " the 
 Three Lower Counties of Pennsylvania," the Delaware Com 
 mittees was merged in with the Philadelphia Committee. 
 There were six sub-Committees of Inspection and Observation 
 in Philadelphia. 1 
 
 The Committee of Safety in Pennsylvania was constituted by 
 the Assembly June 30, 1775, composed of some of the most 
 prominent men in the colony ; Henry Wynkoop, Anthony 
 Wayne, Edward Biddle, Thomas Willing, Benjamin Franklin, 
 Daniel Roberdeau, John Cadwallader, Robert Morris, Thomas 
 Wharton, and others, in all twenty-five, of whom seven con 
 stituted a quorum. 
 
 As early as May 1, 1775, a list was made out of persons in 
 the middle ward of Philadelphia, (lying west of Fourth street, 
 and between Market and Chestnut streets,) " able and willing to 
 bear arms," in which appears the name of Thomas McKean. 2 
 Under this date the " roll call of Captain John Little's com 
 pany, 2d battalion" gives about seventy-four names, among 
 whom Daniel C. Clymer is first lieutenant, and Thomas McKean 
 one of the privates, chiefly enrolled from the middle ward of 
 the city. 3 
 
 The military organization in Pennsylvania called itself the 
 Associators; and being at first voluntary, became afterwards 
 compulsory. They were governed by a board of officers, and 
 a board of privates. Of the former Colonel Daniel Roberdeau 
 of the 2d battalion was elected president. Their Code of 
 Rules was approved by the Council of Safety ; and soon after, 
 on the 8th of November, 1775, was enforced by the Assembly, 
 in an act enrolling all white males between the ages of sixteen 
 and fifty, fining those who would not bear arms. While this 
 bill was pending, the Quakers, a large and influential body in 
 Pennsylvania a majority of whom were Tories protested 
 against its passage.* To neutralize the effect of this, the Com 
 mittee of Correspondence directed Thomas McKean, George 
 Clymer, Jonathan Bayard Smith, Benjamin Jones, Sharpe 
 Delaney, John Wilcox, and Timothy Matlack, to prepare a re- 
 
 1 Scharf and Westcott, i, 290-3. 
 
 2 Hist. Berks and Lebanon Cos., Pa., I. D. Rupp, 1844, p. 401, quoting 
 the papers of Col. D. C. Clymer. 
 
 3 MSS. of D. C. Clymer. See Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family, pp. 66. 
 130. 
 
 4 Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family, 1876, p. 60-1. 
 
 
 
2f> McKKAN FAMILY. 
 
 monstrance, and with it the committee marched to the State 
 House. 1 The board of officers, through its chairman Colonel 
 Daniel Roberdeau, likewise presented a remonstrance to the 
 Assembly. 
 
 About May, 1776, two more battalions were added to the 
 Associators ; the 4th, Colonel Thomas McKean, and the 5th, 
 Colonel Timothy Matlack, with Daniel C. Clymer as lieutenant 
 colonel. 2 
 
 RESOLUTION OF THE 15TH OF MAY, AND MEETING OF 
 
 MAY 20TH, me. 
 
 The disagreement between England and the colonies con 
 tinued to increase ; the king and ministry made no reply to 
 overtures of reconciliation that had been made by the colonies, 
 until at last, weary of vain efforts, Congress, on the 15th of 
 May passed an important act the first of a series of events, 
 which culminated in the Declaration of Independence recom 
 mending to the Colonies, that where no government sufficient 
 to the exigencies of their affairs had been established, to adopt 
 such government, and that all authority under the crown should 
 be suppressed, and all powers be under the authority of the 
 people. Some members in Congress opposed this, but Mr. 
 McKean was strongly in favor., and said, " that the step must 
 be taken, or liberty, property and life be lost." 3 
 
 On the 23d, an address signed by William Hamilton, chair 
 man, asked the Assembly to adhere to its instructions to the 
 Pennsylvania delegates in Congress against independence. 
 To oppose the influence of this petition, the next day the 
 Committee of Inspection and Observation came together, 
 with Mr. McKean as chairman, and addressed a memorial 
 directly to Congress, that the Assembly did not possess the 
 confidence of the people. 4 
 
 " Pennsylvania was now fairly alive with the idea of independ 
 ence. Nowhere had the question been more thoroughly discussed 
 than in its press, and nowhere was the opposition more strongly 
 intrenched, for it had on its side the proprietary government. 
 The tories could point to the instructions of the Assembly as 
 
 Ubid., and Scharf and Westcott, Hist. Phila., p. 302. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, p. 307, and Penn. in War of Rev., W. H. Egle, 1887, 
 i, 556. Thos. McKean is, however, referred to as colonel as early as April 
 22, 1776. Col. Rec., x., 548. 
 
 'Bancroft, Hist. U. S., 1860, viii, 368. 
 *Ibid., viii, 386-7. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 27 
 
 the voice of one-eighth of the inhabitants of America. On this 
 well-prepared soil fell the resolution of the fifteenth of May. 
 The principle it embodied was accepted by the popular party 
 as their rule of action. To give expression to the public sen 
 timent, a great public meeting was held on the 20th of May, at 
 the State House, which was called to order by Major John 
 Bayard, a man of singular purity of character, brave and de 
 vout, in which Colonel Daniel Roberdeau, a gallant soldier of 
 the Revolution, presided, and Thomas McKean, an eminent 
 civilian, took part." 1 The resolution of the loth of May was 
 read and approved. A protest was drawn up, and agreed to, 
 against the Assembly forming a new government (as that should 
 emanate from the people). The protest was presented to the 
 Assembly on the 22d, and laid on the table. The meeting was 
 held in the rain, nevertheless four thousand people were pres 
 ent. 2 A very full account of this meeting, with the resolutions 
 and protest, is given in Force's American Archives. (Ser. IV, 
 vi., 517-19-845.) 
 
 This great demonstration was felt throughout the province. 
 The position it took was responded to by local committees, 
 public meetings, and military battalions. Following only five 
 days after the passage of the resolution of Congress, its prompt, 
 firm and decided action very greatly paved the way for the 
 Declaration of Independence six weeks later. 
 
 The people having thus approved the resolution of Congress, 
 " that all powers should be under the authority of the people," 
 and having protested against the Assembly forming a new gov 
 ernment, the Committee of Observation of Philadelphia, the 
 next day, issued a call to the committees of the several counties, 
 to send deputies to a Provincial Convention. 3 Thomas Mc 
 Kean, as chairman of the committee, then presented a memorial 
 to Congress, stating that the instructions of the Pennsylvania 
 Assembly to their delegates have a tendency to withdraw the 
 province from its union with the other colonies, and this com 
 mittee has called a meeting of all the committees of the prov 
 ince to take action in the matter. 4 
 
 On the 6th of June, the 4th battalion, Colonel McKean, 
 
 1 Rise of the Republic, Richard Frothingham. See also Genealogy of the 
 Roberdeau Family, 62, and Scharf and Westcott, p. 312. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, p. 312. Also Diary of Christopher Marshall, William 
 Duane, 1877. 
 
 3 Frothingham, 522. 
 
 * Force's American Archives, IV., vi, 560, 689. 
 
28 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 unanimously agreed to support the resolution of Congress of 
 the 15th of May and the proceedings of the meeting of May 
 20th. 1 Other battalions likewise passed similar resolutions. 
 
 In June also, on the 14th, the Delaware Assembly, at the in 
 stance of Mr. McKean, unanimously approved the resolution of 
 Congress of the 15th of May, overturning the proprietary gov 
 ernment within her borders. 2 
 
 CONVENTION OF DEPUTIES AT CARPENTER'S HALL. 
 
 This important convention, which commenced on the 18th of 
 June 1776, was the immediate result of the meeting of May 
 20th, and is that referred to above in the memorial of Thomas 
 McKean to Congress. Deputies, to the number of 104, at 
 tended from all the committees in the province ; Colonel Mc 
 Kean, chairman of the City Committee, called the meeting to 
 order, and stated its object. In its organization, Colonel 
 McKean was made president, Colonel Joseph Hart, vice- 
 president, Jonathan Bayard Smith and Samuel Cadwallader 
 Morris, secretaries ; Benjamin Franklin, Colonel John Bay 
 ard, Timothy Matlack, and Dr. Benjamin Rush were among 
 those present. The resolution of the 15th of May was read, 
 and it was resolved " that the present government of the 
 province was not competent to the exigencies of our affairs." 
 Afterwards the convention provided for a general Provincial 
 Convention from the whole province, to be elected by the 
 people, to form a government for the state. This present 
 convention in the interim seems now to have taken upon itself 
 the general management of most of the affairs of the province ; 
 it is appealed to to settle disputes, takes action to raise a Fly 
 ing Camp ; and on the 23d the chairman, Colonel McKean, 
 Dr. Rush, and Colonel James Smith 3 are a committee to pre 
 pare a Declaration, which was agreed to on the 24th ; that the 
 deputies are willing to concur in a vote of Congress " declaring 
 the united colonies free and independent states.' 9 The con 
 vention then adjourned, and this Declaration, signed by Thomas 
 McKean, president, was by him delivered the next day directly 
 to Congress.* 
 
 Ubid., 784. 
 
 * Bancroft, viii., 436; Life of George Read, W . T. Read, 1870, p. 245; 
 Birth of the Republic, Goodloe, 242. 
 
 Not Franklin, as stated in Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 * Force's American Archives, IV, vi, 951-66, 1721 ; Frothingham's Rise of 
 the Republic, 522-3 ; Bancroft's History, viii., 445 et seg.; Niles' Principles and 
 Acts of the Revolution, 252 ; Diary of Chr. Marshall, Duane, p. 78 ; Scharf and 
 Westcott, Hist. Phil., 321 et seq.; Hickey's Constitution, 1853, p. 194. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 29 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Following close upon the convention at Carpenter's Hall, 
 and encouraged by their fearless Declaration, Congress on the 
 1st of July resumed the debate upon the resolution before that 
 body which had been postponed from the 10th of June ; and 
 on the 2d of July, 1776, 1 agreed to the resolution reported 
 from the Committee of the Whole, " That these United Colo 
 nies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and independent 
 States. . . . ." The committee asked leave to sit again, and 
 likewise made the same request on the 3d. On the 4th of 
 July, 1776, the committee reported the DECLARATION to Con 
 gress, when it was unanimously agreed to. 3 There is no ac 
 count of the debates on Independence : Adams spoke, as did 
 McKean, but we have no report of what they said. 3 R. H. 
 Lee, Wythe, Gerry, Jefferson, and Samuel Adams also gave 
 their voices in favor.* " Did the able and indomitable Mc 
 Kean remain silent?" says Randall, in his "Life of Thomas 
 Jefferson.'' 5 
 
 When the vote was taken on the 2d of July in Committee of 
 the Whole, Mr. McKean voted for, and Mr. Read against the 
 resolution: the vote of Delaware was thus divided and lost 
 (all votes being taken by States). Every State, except Penn 
 sylvania and Delaware, had voted in favor of the measure ; 
 and it was of great importance to secure a unanimous vote. 
 Mr. McKean, therefore, without delay dispatched an express, 
 at his own expense, for Mr. Rodney, who was then in Dela 
 ware. That gentleman hastened to Philadelphia, and arrived 
 at the State House, in his boots and spurs, just in time on the 
 morning of the 4th to cast his vote in favor, and the vote of 
 Delaware was secured. Two Pennsylvania delegates absented 
 themselves, and that State was also united with the majority, 
 making the vote unanimous. 6 
 
 These circumstances are related by Mr. McKean in a letter 
 to Governor Thomas Rodney, dated August 22, 1813, 7 and 
 
 1 Not 1st, as stated in Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 2 Journals of Congress, ed. It 1 ? 1 ?. See also Rickey's Constitution, p. 195 et 
 seq. 
 
 3 Frothingham, 534-7. 
 
 * Historic Account of Old State House, F. M. Etting, p. 96. 
 6 1. 183. 
 
 6 Sanderson's Lives : Lives of McKean and of Rodney. 
 
 7 In possession of T. M. Rodney, Esq., pub. in fac-simile in Brotherhead's 
 Book of the Signers, Phila., 1861, and also a portion, not the whole, in Harp. 
 Mag., vol. Ixvii., p. 208 et seq. 
 
 3 
 
80 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 again in a letter to John Adams, January 7, 1814, quoted 
 nearly in full on a subsequent page. 
 
 Recent historians are of opinion that Mr. McKean is mistaken 
 as to a day or two ; that his patriotic and successful endeavor 
 to bring Rodney up from Delaware, was that he might vote on 
 the main question the Resolution of Independence on the 2d 
 of July. 1 
 
 The incident just related forms the subject of a poem by the 
 well-known writer George Alfred Townsend. 2 Thomas Mc 
 Kean' s soliloquy, as he waits upon the State House steps for 
 Mr. Rodney, and the concluding stanzas, are as follows : 
 
 " Read is skulking ; Dickinson is 
 
 With conceit and fright our foeman, 
 Wedded to his Quaker monies," 
 
 Mused the grim old rebel Roman ; 
 " Pennsylvania, spoiled by faction, 
 
 Independence will not dare ; 
 
 Maryland approves the action ; 
 
 Shall we fail on Delaware ? " 
 
 In the tower the old bell rumbled, 
 
 Striking slowly twelve o'clock. 
 Down the street a hot horse stumbled, 
 
 And a man in riding frock, 
 With a green patch on his visage, 
 
 And his garments white with grime. 
 " Now praise God !" McKean spoke grimly, 
 '* Caesar Rodney is on time." 
 
 Silent, hand in hand together, 
 
 Walked they in the great square hall ; 
 To the roll with "Aye" responded 
 
 At the clerk's immortal call ; 
 Listened to the Declaration % 
 
 From the steeple to the air : 
 "Here this day is made a nation, 
 
 By the help of Delaware ! " 
 
 MR. McKEAN'S SERVICES IN FAVOR OF THE DECLARATION. 
 
 Let us now briefly recapitulate Mr. McKean's services in 
 favor of the Declaration, as above related : First, as a member 
 of Congress, he assisted in passing the resolution of the 15th 
 
 1 Mellen Chamberlain's Authentication. 
 
 ^Poetical Addresses, Bonaventure & Co., N. Y., 1881 ; Csesar Rodney's 4th 
 of July. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 31 
 
 of May. Next as an "eminent civilian," he was the chief 
 speaker at a meeting of citizens which ratified the resolution. 
 As chairman of the Philadelphia Committee, he issues a call for 
 a meeting of deputies of all the committees in the State, and 
 also reports this to Congress. As Colonel of a battalion he 
 joins his command, and the resolution is again ratified ; he 
 takes the chair as Speaker of the Assembly of Delaware, and 
 at his instance the resolution is again ratified ; he calls to or 
 der the meeting of deputies at Carpenter's Hall, who have met 
 together in answer to his call, and is made chairman. The 
 meeting agrees to support a vote of Congress, that these colo 
 nies are/r<?e and independent States. As a privileged dele 
 gate from this meeting, he walks into Congress and lays the 
 report before that body. He votes for the Declaration in 
 Committee of the Whole, but his vote is neutralized by Mr. 
 Read, who votes against him ; he sends an express at his own 
 expense for Mr. Rodney, and on the 2d, and on the memorable 
 4th of July, with Mr. Rodney outvotes Mr. Read, and secures 
 a unanimous vote. 
 
 Had it not been for Mr. McKean's exertions, the engrossed 
 Declaration could not have been headed as it now is The 
 UNANIMOUS Declaration of the Thirteen United States. For 
 tunate for the country was it that Mr. McKean held so many 
 offices to give him these opportunities ; and fortunate, too, that 
 he was a man of sufficient energy and activity to make use of 
 them to the best advantage, 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. HOW SIGNED. 
 
 It is a general popular belief that the Declaration of In 
 dependence was signed on the 4th of July, 1776, as it now 
 appears by those whose names are inseparably a part of it. 
 The engrossed Declaration implies this, strengthened by the 
 printed journals of Congress. The first to challenge this com 
 monly received opinion, according to Judge Chamberlain in his 
 Authentication, was Mr. McKean; and since his day many 
 eminent writers have discussed the subject. Even the signers 
 themselves McKean, Jefferson and Adams, give conflicting 
 accounts of the matter. 
 
 The question as stated by Judge Chamberlain is this : " Was 
 the draught of the Declaration of Independence, which, after 
 various amendments, was finally agreed to on the afternoon of 
 July 4th, forthwith engrossed on paper, and thereupon sub 
 scribed by all the members then present except Dickinson 1" 
 
32 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 A secondary question : " Was the Declaration signed by any 
 one on July 4th, 1776?" seems to be an issue not heretofore 
 raised by any historian ; but tacitly accepted in the affirmative 
 as an established fact. The author has discussed this question 
 on a subsequent page. 
 
 Mr. McKean explicitly denies in four separate letters, that 
 the Declaration was generally signed on July 4th : First, in 
 a letter to Alexander J. Dallas, dated September 26, 1796, 
 and published in " Sanderson's Lives ; " secondly, in the above 
 mentioned letter to Governor Rodney of August 22, 1813 ; 
 thirdly, in the letter to Mr. Adams of January, 1814, 1 also 
 above mentioned these two letters last named are almost 
 identical, word for word, in the portions relating to this matter 
 under discussion ; &n&, fourthly , in a letter of June 16, 1817 
 (eight days before his death), to William McCorkle and Son, 2 
 in which the letter to Mr. Dallas is largely quoted. 
 
 In the first named letter, September 26, 1796, in speaking 
 of the printed journals, Mr. McKean says : 
 
 " By the printed publications referred to, it would appear as if 
 the fifty-five gentlemen whose names are there printed, and none 
 other, were on that day personally present in congress and as 
 senting to the Declaration ; whereas the truth is otherwise. . . . 
 
 " Modesty should not rob any man of his just honor, when by 
 that honor his modesty cannot be offended. My name is not 
 in the printed journals of congress as a party to the Declaration 
 of Independence; and this, like an error of the first concoction, has 
 vitiated most of the subsequent publications ; arid yet the fact is, 
 that I was then a member of congress for the state of Delaware, 
 was personally present in congress, and voted in favor of independ 
 ence on the fourth of July, 1776, and signed the declaration 
 after it had been engrossed on parchment, where my name in my 
 own handwriting still appears. 
 
 4< I do not know how the misstatement in the printed journals 
 has happened. The manuscript public journal has no names an 
 nexed to the Declaration of Independence, nor has the secret jour 
 nal ; but it appears by the latter, that on the nineteenth day of 
 July, 1776, the congress directed that it should be engrossed on 
 parchment and signed by every member, and that it was so pro 
 duced on the second of August, and signed. This is interlined in 
 the secret journal, in the handwriting of Charles Thomson, esquire, 
 
 1 Niks' Reg., July 12, 1817, xiL, 305 et seq. ; Adams' Works, C. F. Adams, 
 x., 87 ; Mass. Hist.Col., 5th Ser., iv., 505, and partly quoted in Judge Cham 
 berlain's Authentication, Dec. Ind. 
 
 * Niks' Reg., xii., 278 ; Duane's Diary of Christopher Marshall; The Port 
 folio, Sept., 1817, p. 246, quoting Freeman's Journal. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 33 
 
 the secretary. The present secretary of state of the United 
 States and myself have lately inspected the journals, and seen this." 
 
 In the letter to Mr. Adams, after speaking of other matters, 
 Mr. McKean continues as follows : 
 
 "On the 1st July, 1776, the question was taken in the com 
 mittee of the whole of Congress, when Pennsylvania, represented 
 by seven members then present, voted against it four to three; 
 among the majority were Robert Morris and John Dickinson ; 
 Delaware (having only two present, namely, myself and Mr. Read) 
 was divided ; all the other states voting in favor of it. The re 
 port was delayed until the 4th ; and, in the mean time, I sent an 
 express for Cassar Rodney to Dover, in the county of Kent in 
 Delaware, at my private expense, whom I met at the state-house 
 door, on the 4th of July, in his boots. He resided eighty miles 
 from the city, and just arrived as congress met. The question 
 w r as taken, Delaware voted in favor of independence; Pennsyl 
 vania (there being five members present, Messrs. Dickinson and 
 Morris absent) voted also for it; Messrs. Willing and Humphreys 
 were against it. Thus the thirteen states were unanimous in 
 favor of independence. Notwithstanding this, in the printed pub 
 lic journal of congress for 1776, Vol. 2, it appears that the decla 
 ration of independence was declared on the 4th of July, 1776, by 
 the gentlemen whose names are there inserted, whereas no person 
 signed it on that day ; and, among the names there inserted, one 
 gentleman, namely, George Read, Esq,, was not in favor of it, and 
 seven W 7 ere not in Congress on that day, 1 namely, Messrs. Morris, 
 
 1 Willis P. Hazard, in his edition of Watson's Annals, iii, 222, corrects this 
 sentence : Morris should be Messrs., but Hazard is still wrong. The sen 
 tence is correct, as shown by what follows : Morris was " not in Congress on 
 that day," because he was absent, as Mr. McKean says above ; the five 
 others were not, because they had not then been elected, as he says below. 
 In the early part of this letter, in speaking of the vote, Mr. McKean names 
 Morris and Dickinson as absent ; here, in speaking of the signers, he properly 
 names Morris only. 
 
 After the publication of a letter of Mr. McKean in Potter's American 
 Monthly (vols. iv.-v., 1875), a controversy sprang up, whether Mr. McKean 
 should not have mentioned nine instead of seven members of Congress ; but 
 the editors as well as the contributors of that magazine are still mistaken in 
 going back to December, 1774, for the election of delegates. A later elec 
 tion, November 6, 1775 (Journals of Cong.}, returned nine members Mor 
 ton, Dickinson, Morris, Franklin, Humphreys, Biddle, Willing, Allen and 
 Wilson. Mr. McKean mentions seven; the other two are Biddle, who was 
 sick and died during the session, and Allen, a British sympathizer (Scharf 
 and Westcott, L, 317). The latter abandoned his seat, June 14th, and Mr. 
 McKean knew that two seats were permanently vacated, so that Pennsylva 
 nia was represented by seven only. Of the above, Morton, Morris, Franklin 
 and Wilson signed in August ; their election did not hold over, for they 
 were re-elected July 20, 1776, together with Ross, Clymer, Rush, Smith 
 and Taylor, nine in all, who signed in behalf of Pennsylvania. I think this 
 matter is now clearly and correctly stated. 
 
34 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Rush, Clymer, Smith, Taylor and Ross, all of Pennsylvania, and 
 Mr. Thornton of New-Hampshire ; nor were the six gentlemen 
 last named, members of congress on the 4th of July. The five 
 for Pennsylvania were appointed delegates by the convention of 
 that State on the 20th July, and Mr. Thornton took his seat in 
 Congress, for the first time, on the 4th November following ; 
 when the names of Henry Wisner, of New York, 1 and Thomas 
 McKean, of Delaware, are not printed as subscribers, though both 
 were present in Congress on the 4th of July and voted for inde 
 pendence. 
 
 Here false colors are certainly hung out ; there is culpability 
 somewhere: what I have heard as an explanation is as follows: 
 When the declaration was voted, it was ordered to be engrossed 
 on parchment and then signed, and that a few days afterwards a 
 resolution was entered on the secret journal that no person should 
 have a seat in congress during that year until he should have 
 
 signed the declaration of independence After the 4th 
 
 July I was not in Congress for several months, having marched 
 with a regiment of associators as colonel, to support general 
 Washington, until the flying camp of ten thousand men was com 
 pleted. When the associators were discharged, I returned to 
 Philadelphia, took my seat in Congress and signed my name to 
 the Declaration on parchment. This transaction should be truly 
 stated, and the then secret journal should be made public. In the 
 manuscript journal, Mr. Pickering, then secretary of state, and 
 myself saw a printed half sheet of paper, 2 with the names of the 
 members afterward in the printed journals stitched in. We ex 
 amined the parchment where my name is signed in my own hand 
 writing." 
 
 Mr. McKean then turns to other subjects, and concludes : 
 
 " My sight fades very fast, though my writing may not dis 
 cover it. God bless you. 
 
 Your friend, THO'S McKEAN. 
 His Excellency JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 1 Some authors have thought Mr. McKean was mistaken that Mr. Wisner 
 voted for independence, because the New York delegates had not been so 
 instructed, and since but twelve States voted on July 2d. Franklin Burdge, 
 however, published in 1878 a memorial of Henry Wisner, quoting letters of 
 his to show that he did vote for independence, and was the only New 
 Yorker who so voted. 
 
 2 There is no "printed half-sheet of paper " now in the journals. Mr. Mc 
 Kean saw the journals when Mr. Pickering was Secretary of State, 1*795- 
 1800, about seventeen years before writing this letter, and may confound 
 the printed Declaration wafered in, with some other paper, real or imagin 
 ary, not now known. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 35 
 
 Mr. Jefferson holds the contrary side of the question in his 
 memoranda, as follows r 1 
 
 " 'The Declaration thus signed on the 4th, on paper, was en 
 grossed on parchment, and signed again on the 2d of August." 
 
 And again, in a letter of May 12, 1819, to Samuel Adams 
 Wells: 
 
 " It was not till the 2d of July, that the Declaration itself was 
 taken up ; nor till the 4th, that it was decided, and it was signed 
 by every member present, except Mr. Dickinson " 
 
 Mr. Adams takes the same side of the question with Mr. 
 Jefferson. In transmitting the above letter of Mr. McKean to 
 Mercy Warren for her reading, he writes under date of 
 Quincy, February 2, 1814 : 2 
 
 " Dear Madam: I send you a curiosity. Mr. McKean is mis 
 taken in a day or two. The final vote of independence, after the 
 last debate, was passed on the 2d or 3d of July, and the Declara 
 tion prepared and signed on the 4th. 
 
 " What are we to think of history, when, in less than forty years, 
 such diversities appear in the memories of living persons, who were 
 witnesses?" 
 
 These conflicting statements should now be carefully criti 
 cised. Mr. Adams here, in his old age, contradicts what he 
 himself said thirty-eight years before in a letter to Samuel 
 Chase. On July 9th, five days after the passage of the Dec 
 laration, he writes : u As soon as an American seal is pre 
 pared, I conjecture that the declaration will be subscribed by 
 all the members." 3 From which we may infer that the Dec 
 laration had not then been signed. The earlier letter as 
 contemporary evidence is deserving of more credit than the 
 later one. 
 
 As to Mr. Jefferson, Judge Chamberlain has shown in his 
 Authentication, p. 8-9, that Mr. Jefferson's Notes were not 
 made at the time alleged, but subsequently, and aided by the 
 printed journals. "Hence his notes lose the authority of con 
 temporaneous entries." 
 
 George Washington Greene says :* " Mr. Jefferson's memory 
 failed him singularly in his history of that document, important 
 as the part he bore in it was." 
 
 1 Jefferson's Writings, H. A. Washington, Washington, D. C., i, 26, 120-2, 
 vii., 124; Randall's Life, i., 171. 
 
 *Mass. Hist. Collections, 5th Ser., ir., 505. 
 
 *Adams' Works, ed. 1860, ix., 421 ; Scharf and Westcott, Hist., i., 319. 
 
 *Histor. View Amer. Rev., 379. 
 
36 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 And after the appearance of Mrs. Morris' article on the 
 Declaration in Potter's American Monthly, several others 
 wrote expressing their opinions. Among whom, William Duane 
 writes: 1 "Mr. Jefferson was so clearly wrong in stating that 
 Pennsylvania's vote for Independence was secured by the ap 
 pearance of new members on the fourth of July, that we have 
 a right to suspect him in error in other points." Another 
 writer, 2 name unknown, in an article, The Declaration of In 
 dependence, The statements of Thomas McKean and Thomas 
 Jefferson compared, gives their statements in full, and says: 
 " A gentleman of good repute, as a historical and antiquarian 
 scholar, disagrees with Mrs. Morris, and writes us as follows : 
 ' Mr. Jefferson, at the time he wrote his autobiography, was 
 very old ; and we all know that the memory is the first of the 
 mental faculties to show signs of decay. He confused what 
 was done in Congress in August, with what was done in July. 
 He had forgotten the Mecklenburg Declaration of Indepen 
 dence. His account cannot be compared with the clear and 
 positive statements of Governor Thomas McKean." 1 
 
 Mr. McKean's first statement on this subject was made 
 twenty years after the Declaration was signed. Age had not, 
 at this time or any other time, impaired his mental faculties ; 
 witness his subsequent vigor ten years later, while Governor of 
 Pennsylvania, and the letter to William McCorkle and son, 
 eight days before his death. His first statement, he reiterated 
 during the next twenty-one years. In the main facts, his 
 statements have not been impeached, although in some col 
 lateral matters of minor importance he may be in error. 
 
 Among recent writers, the opinion is almost unanimous that 
 the Declaration was not generally signed on the 4th July, but 
 was subscribed or authenticated by John Hancock president, 
 and Charles Thomson secretary. 
 
 In his recent history, Justin Winsor 3 states distinctly that 
 it was signed by the president and secretary. "The best 
 investigators of our day are agreed that the president and 
 secretary alone signed it on that day." 
 
 Daniel Webster,* Robert C. Winthrop, 5 and George Wash- 
 
 . iv.-v., for 1875, p. 785. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 651. 
 
 3 Narrative and Crit. History of Amer., 1888-9, v., 231 et seq. 
 *ForAr, Boston, 1872, i., 129. 
 
 6 Oration, July 4, 1876, Boston, 1876, p. 29. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 37 
 
 ington Greene, 1 hold that it was authenticated by the signa 
 tures of the president and secretary. 
 
 Peter Force, 2 the most thorough and reliable investigator of 
 revolutionary history, George Bancroft 3 and Richard Frothing- 
 ham 4 rather vaguely and perhaps cautiously state that it was 
 authenticated by the president and secretary. 
 
 Benson J. Lossing formerly stated 5 that the Declaration was 
 signed by the president alone, but has since changed his opin 
 ion, and has now come to the conclusion that it was signed by 
 the members on the paper on which it had been written. 6 
 
 Hildrith's History of the United States (iii, 137) and Wil 
 liam L. Stone 7 hold that some or a few of the members signed 
 on July 4th. 
 
 William T Read, in his life of his grandfather George Read 
 (p. 229), is assuredly mistaken in saying it was signed on 
 July 4th " by all present in Congress on that day except Mr. 
 Dickinson." Force flatly contradicts this statement (origin 
 ating with Jefferson) contained in Lord Mahon's History. 8 
 
 Philadelphia's noted historian, Watson, quotes Mr. McKean's 
 letter, that " the Declaration of Independence was not actually 
 signed on the 4th of July." 9 
 
 Mrs. Nellie Hess Morris, in a magazine article on the Decla 
 ration, regards it " as a question I cannot venture to decide." 10 
 
 The latest, and most thorough and searching investigator of 
 this subject is Judge Mellen Chamberlain, of Boston, in his 
 Authentication of the Declaration of Independence , n wherein 
 he shows that it was not generally signed on July 4th ; but he 
 does not touch upon any other phase of the question. 
 
 One naturally now turns to the printed journals of Congress, 
 to see what evidence is there recorded, which can be construed 
 so variously ; but, as will be seen below, the printed journals 
 are inaccurate and misleading, and have doubtless been the 
 
 l llislor. View of Amer. Rev., N. Y., 1872, p. 101, 379. 
 
 *The Dec. Ind., or Notes on Lord Mahon's Hist., London, 1855, p. 61. 
 
 3 Hist. U. S., ed. 1885, iv., 452 ; 1879, v., 332. 
 
 4 Rise of the Republic, p. 544. 
 
 *Field Book of Rev., 1860, ii., 79, and Harp. Mag., xlvii., 258. 
 
 ^Potter's Am. Monthly, Phila., iv.-v., for 1875, 754-7. 
 
 ''The Dec. of Ind. in a New Light, Harp. Mag., Ixvii., 210. 
 
 *The Dec. Ind., London, 1855, p. 63. 
 
 9 Annals, Phila. ed., 1884, 3 vols., i., 400. 
 
 ^Potter's Am. Monthly, iv.-v., 498. 
 
 11 Cambridge, 1885; reprinted from Mass. Hist. Coll., November, 1884. 
 
38 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 cause of much of this confusion. The journal (for 1776) was 
 first printed by order of Congress by Robert Aitken, Philadel 
 phia, 1777 (vols. 1 and 2). The whole Journal is in thirteen 
 volumes, printed from time to time by Aitken, D. C.Claypoole, 
 John Dunlap, and J. Patterson. 
 
 The Journal was reprinted in 1777, vols. 1 and 2 only ; 
 again in 1800 by Folwell in thirteen volumes ; and in 1823 by 
 Way and Gideon in 4 vols. These are all the earlier editions 
 mentioned in B. P. Poore's Catalogue of Government Publica 
 tions. 
 
 The proceedings of July 4th, 1776, according to the printed 
 Journal, 1st edition (1777), are as follows literatim-. 
 
 "Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved itself, 
 into a committee of the whole, to take into their farther consider 
 ation the declaration, and after some time the president resumed 
 the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported, that the committee have 
 agreed to a declaration which they desired him to report. 
 
 "The declaration being read, was agreed to, as follows ; 
 
 "A DECLARATION by the Representatives of the UNITED 
 STATES of AMERICA in Congress assembled. 
 
 \_Here follows the Declaration.] 
 
 "The foregoing declaration was by order of Congress engrossed 
 and signed by the following members : 
 
 \_Herefollow the names in groups, against the names of their re 
 spective States.'] 
 
 Resolved, That .copies of the declaration be sent to the several 
 assemblies, conventions and committees, or councils of safety, and 
 to the several commanding officers of the continental troops ; that 
 it be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of 
 the army." 
 
 In the editions of 1777 and 1800 there are printed but fifty- 
 five names subscribed Mr. McKean's being omitted. In the 
 later edition of 1823 this omission is corrected, and his name is 
 printed with the others. The discovery of this omission of Mr. 
 McKean's name (and which will be referred to more fully under 
 the signing of the Declaration on parchment,) was one of the 
 causes which led to this discussion as to the signing. 
 
 Wishing to settle the matter if possible, I obtained permis 
 sion from the Secretary of State to examine the original manu 
 script journals of Congress. After a perusal of them, I came 
 into possession (through the kindness of the author,) of Judge 
 Mellen Chamberlain's Authentication of the Declaration of 
 
M CO N ORE] 
 
 A D E C L A 
 
 By THE-R-E.P R E S EN 
 
 UNITED STATE 
 
 IN C E N E R A L C O N 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY ROBERDEAU BUCHANAN. 
 
1 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 39 
 
 Independence ; and found that in this investigation, I had un 
 knowingly been pretty much treading in his footsteps. 
 
 It may be explained here, that there are three original manu 
 script journals, which are almost wholly in the handwriting of 
 Charles Thomson: 1st. The Rough Journal, so called, con 
 sisting of entries made probably while Congress was sitting, 
 which is the standard. 2d. The Smooth Journal, a copy of 
 the previous, the entries being somewhat amplified and punctu 
 ated. The 3d is the Secret Journal, which is not a daily 
 record, the consecutive dates of a portion in 1776 being June 
 24; July 8, 11, 17, 19; August 2; then November 27. There 
 is consequently in the Secret Journal no entry under July 4, 
 1776. 
 
 In the manuscript Smooth Journal, the declaration is wholly 
 in writing, with no attesting clause, and no names attached, 
 either in writing or in print. 
 
 Upon examining the Rough Journal, much to my surprise, 
 I found no written names appended to the Declaration, not 
 even Hancock's, and the Declaration itself, with the attesta 
 tion, is in print on a large folded sheet of paper, attached by 
 four red wafers. These facts do not appear to have been gen 
 erally known, or at least have not appeared in print, before the 
 publication of Judge Chamberlain's pamphlet. 
 
 The page of the journal of July 4th is towards the left hand, 
 and is 12J by 8 inches with a margin of 2J inches, on the edge 
 of the page at the left, not separated by any line. In the 
 margin is a duplicate date, and in th6 body of the page the 
 writing covers slightly more than half of the page ; the lower 
 part being left blank, undoubtedly to receive the printed 
 broadside now found there. This page of the journal is here 
 reproduced in fac-simile, a photo-lithograph, and reduced one- 
 half size of the original. For this especial favor, the first 
 time that any portions of these journals have been reproduced 
 in fac-simile, the author is indebted to the Hon. William F. 
 Wharton, Assistant Secretary of State, and to Frederick Ban 
 croft, Esq., Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library. 
 
 The Declaration is on paper 18 inches long by 14| inches 
 wide ; the print covering a space 17 J by 11 f inches. It is 
 folded upwards at the bottom of the page (where it is at the 
 present time worn away and torn completely across,) and 
 folded a second time in closing the book. It begins and ends 
 as follows, the positions of the wafers being also shown: 
 
40 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 00 O 
 
 IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. 
 
 A DECLARATION 
 
 BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 IN GENERAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 
 "HEN in the courfe of human events, it becomes necefsary 
 
 [Here follows the Declaration] 
 
 Signed by ORDER and in BEHALF of the CONGRESS, 
 JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT. 
 
 ATTEST. 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP. 
 
 Lossing states that the Declaration was passed about two 
 o'clock. 1 It was printed during the day and evening ; and the 
 next day sent forth to the world. 2 On the 8th, by order of 
 the Committee of Safety, it was publicly read by John Nixon 
 from the State House steps. In Judge Chamberlain's Authen 
 tication, a letter from Theodore F. D wight, librarian of the 
 State Department, states that this first publication is the one 
 wafered in the journal, and that among the papers of Washing 
 ton is another copy, the same which he read, or caused to be 
 read, to the army. 
 
 The Declaration was also published in the JEvening Post of 
 of July 6th, signed by the President and Secretary, and later 
 it appeared in other papers. 
 
 The reader has now before him all the facts upon which the 
 foregoing diversified opinions are based. It is seen that there 
 is no copy of the Declaration signed in the handwriting of 
 any one on July 4th, the only attestation being in print ; and 
 no paper is known such as mentioned by Jefferson, signed by 
 all the members. It cannot be denied that such a paper ever 
 existed, for " it may have lost," says Judge Chamberlain, 
 
 1 Field Book, 1860, ii., 78. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, i., 317 ; Frothingham, 544. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 41 
 
 " but there are facts making it far more probable that it never 
 existed." 1 
 
 The responsibility of inserting the names in the printed 
 journal cannot now be determined, and it is reasonable to sup 
 pose that there was no intention to mislead. The Secret Jour 
 nal had not then been printed ; and since the only entry as to 
 the engrossing and signing of the Declaration is contained in it, 
 the names were probably inserted in the public journal for the 
 information of the public. 2 It is unfortunate, for it makes the 
 printed journal assert facts on July 4th which did not take 
 place until August or later. 
 
 Since there is no Declaration known, in or out of the jour 
 nals of Congress, containing the written signatures of the 
 president and secretary affixed on the 4th of July, and not a 
 scrap of evidence that such a paper ever existed, the author 
 considers it very doubtful whether even Hancock or Thomson 
 signed on the 4th. 
 
 In the first place it was not the custom of the Continental 
 Congress that resolutions in general should be signed by any 
 one. When passed, they were entered on the journal. Sub 
 sequently, copies of resolutions that were sent to General Wash 
 ington and others, were authenticated by the written signature 
 of John Hancock ; but such papers were copies, and not original 
 records. There are no signed resolutions among the miscel 
 laneous papers of Congress preserved by Charles Thomson. 
 This volume of papers was shown to me when making inquiries 
 at the Department of State, where the facts in this paragraph 
 were ascertained. In answer to a further inquiry as to whether 
 there are any resolutions of the Continental Congress signed 
 in writing by the President, or by the President and Secretary, 
 the following letter states the matter officially : 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
 WASHINGTON, October 21, 1889. 
 
 ROBERDEAU BUCHANAN, ESQR., 
 
 The Clarendon, Washington City. 
 
 Sir : In reply to the enquiry contained in your letter of the 
 3d instant, I have to say that there are not in the Archives of the 
 Continental Congress in this Department any resolutions or 
 other papers signed in writing by the President or by the Presi 
 dent and Secretary prior to their entry on the journals. 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. FENNER LEE, Chief Clerk. 
 
 1 Authentication, p. 15. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 20, Letter of T. F. Dwight. 
 
42 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Is it likely that John Hancock would violate the usual cus 
 tom of Congress by signing the Declaration unless especially 
 authorized to do so ? And the question may also be asked : 
 If it required a formal resolution to prepare and sign the en 
 grossed Declaration on the 2d of August, would it not likewise 
 have required a similar resolution for Hancock to sign the 
 Declaration on the 4th of July ? No such resolution appears 
 on the journal, and we may therefore doubt such alleged sign 
 ing. In accordance with custom, the entry on the journal is 
 a sufficient attestation of the fact that the Declaration had 
 passed Congress. 
 
 No argument can be drawn from the wording of the attest 
 ing clause Signed by order and in behalf of that it presup 
 poses a resolution of Congress ; because these words, and others 
 of similar import, have several times been made use of in other 
 documents, showing the phrase to be one of common use in 
 those days, but perhaps obsolete at the present time. 1 
 
 As no Declaration bearing the written signature of John 
 Hancock on July 4th is known ever to have been in existence, 
 we have only the printed Declaration from which to infer the 
 signing. This signing, if it was done, was not the vital act, 
 giving life and force to the Declaration ; but merely the attesta 
 tion of that act already consummated ; and, judging by the 
 printed broadside, performed wholly for the satisfaction of the 
 public. It was therefore a matter of secondary importance. 
 This written copy itself was not intended to go before the pub 
 lic, or to be used in any legal proceeding ; it was simply a 
 printer's copy, and the printed Declaration made from it would 
 be the same whether printed from genuine signatures or from 
 the same names written by another person. And from these 
 considerations, the author hazards the conjecture that no one 
 properly signed on July 4th. But in preparing a copy of the 
 
 1 In support of this statement, the following may be found in Force's 
 American Archives: IV., vi., 1136, Address to Gen. Washington, June 29, 
 1776, "By desire, and in behalf of the several Regiments in the Second 
 Brigade ;" IV., vi., 847, Petition of Gen. Daniel Roberdeau to the Assembly, 
 May 20, 1776, "Signed in behalf of, and by the desire of the inhabitants," 
 etc.; V., L, 170, Address to Gen. Roberdeau, July 10, 1776, "Signed by or 
 der and in behalf of the Battalion ;" V., ii., 1075, Address of inhabitants of 
 New Jersey to Governor Try on,. October 16, 1776, "Signed by desire and 
 in behalf of the inhabitants ;" V., iii., 484, Address by a meeting of citizens, 
 November 2, 1776, " Signed by order and in behalf of, the meeting." These 
 were found by casually turning over the pages of Force's Archives ; doubt 
 less there are others. See also Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family, pp. 61, 
 62, 63, 68. This same wording much amplified is also made use of in the 
 Articles of Confederation. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 43 
 
 Declaration for the printer, some one, perhaps Charles 
 Thomson, used the customary attesting phrase, and wrote his 
 own name as secretary, and that of John Hancock as president. 
 And this paper being no part of the public records was not pre 
 served. Thus these two names might have appeared in print, 
 with no manuscript as their authority, to turn up at a later day 
 for the satisfaction of investigators. 
 
 This view presented itself to me upon reading the broad ex 
 pression authenticated, made use of by George Bancroft and 
 others, as though they did not feel warranted by the facts to 
 employ the unequivocal word signed. Hancock could " au 
 thenticate" the Declaration by directing Charles Thomson to 
 write his name for him in the printer's copy, although that act 
 would not be signing. 
 
 This opinion is admitted to be a mere inference, but it is a 
 simple inference, and a natural one to be drawn when there is 
 no evidence. It stands upon grounds certainly as firm as the 
 opposite side of the question, which is based upon a complex 
 inference ; that because there are printed signatures there must 
 have been written ones. The simple and plain inference here 
 is, that because there are printed signatures there may have 
 been written names; but to go farther, and infer again that 
 those written names were genuine signatures, is a double in 
 ference not warranted. 
 
 Considered under the theory of probabilities, if we assume 
 the chances to be equal, whether there were written names or 
 not, the probability that there were, is J. And if the chances 
 are equal that the written names were signatures, the proba 
 bility of this being so, is J of J, or J. The probability that 
 they were not signatures, is also J (because we suppese the 
 chances to be the same), and these two fourths together make 
 up the half first obtained. Suppose now, to further illustrate 
 this, we make a new condition, and ask, whether the names 
 were written with a pen or a pencil; if one is just as likely to 
 occur as the other, the probability is J of J of J, or J-. 
 
 We see, therefore, that like a pair of scales, there is a bal 
 ance kept up; the more we weigh down one side with con 
 ditions the higher does the other side ascend, and the lighter 
 or less is the probability of the occurrence. The degree of 
 probability may be different in each step, but the reasoning 
 will be the same ; for example, the probability of there having 
 been written names may be greater than J ; and persons may 
 differ in their estimates of these quantities. However they 
 
44 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 may be varied, the more steps we take from known facts the 
 less the probability ; the probability of the first step (that there 
 were written names) must necessarily be greater than the 
 second step (that these names are genuine signatures), because 
 the latter is represented by the product of two proper fractions, 
 which product must necessarily be less than either fraction. 
 The second step may equal, but can never exceed the former 
 in probability. Therefore we conclude that it is more probable 
 that there were written names, than that they were genuine 
 signatures. 
 
 Another aspect of the question is this: It being a legal 
 maxim that it is impossible to prove a negative, the burden of 
 proof is thrown upon those who hold the affirmative of any 
 question to bring forward evidence to support it ; and that has 
 not been done in this case, for an inference is not proof; there 
 fore the negative side of this question should stand until over 
 thrown by some evidence; and we must hold that the names 
 were not genuine signatures. 
 
 Why it is, that in preference to this simple negative infer 
 ence, the far-fetched affirmative side should be generally held, 
 can easily be explained if we examine the facts as they suc 
 cessively became known. The copies of the Declaration sent 
 to the States, the published journals of Congress, and the en 
 grossed Declaration itself, all point to the 4th of July as the 
 date of the general signing. Mr. McKean alone held the cor 
 rect opinion, and he was contradicted by Jefferson and Adams. 
 This opinion generally obtained for forty-five years, until the 
 Secret Journals were published in 1821. So strong a hold 
 has it taken upon the public mind, that like many popular fal 
 lacies it has gained the impress of truth. It is still held by the 
 vast majority of people, and doubtless will also be till the end 
 of time. When the Secret Journals were published, and it 
 was found that the general signing did not take place on July 
 4th, this popular idea of signing, still holding possession of 
 the minds of investigators, warped their judgment; and imbued 
 with the idea that somebody signed on the 4th, if not the fifty- 
 six, they naturally turned to the first printed copies of the 
 Declaration, and from them inferred that John Hancock and 
 Charles Thomson were those who signed on that day. 
 
 The main question having now been considered in the light 
 of the custom of Congress, demonstrated by mathematics, 
 judged by legal maxims, and examined with our minds not 
 warped by pre-conceived notions, we are constrained to the 
 
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THOMAS McKEAN. 45 
 
 conclusion that no one properly signed the Declaration of In 
 dependence on July 4th, 1776. 
 
 THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION. 
 
 As to the signing of the Declaration on parchment there is 
 no uncertainty. The record is contained in the Secret Journal, 
 first published by order of Congress by Thomas B. Wait in 
 1821. In this publication the record stands as follows, litera 
 tim : 
 
 "July 19, 1776. Resolved, That the declaration passed on the 
 4th be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and style of 
 ; THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED 
 STATES OF AMERICA;' and that the same, when engrossed, be 
 signed by every member of Congress." 
 
 " August 2, 1776. The Declaration of Independence being en 
 grossed, and compared at the table, was signed by the members." 1 
 
 This page of the original manuscript Secret Journal is 12J 
 by 7} inches, ruled with a red line forming a margin of 1J- 
 inches on the left side. The whole entry is seen to be a post 
 entry, and interlined. It is in ink decidedly lighter colored than 
 the rest of the page. This page reduced one-half size, is also 
 here reproduced as a photolithograph. 2 For this privilege we 
 are indebted, as in the former case, to the Hon. William F. 
 Wharton, Assistant Secretary of State, and to Frederick Ban 
 croft, Esq., Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library. 
 
 In accordance with the vote of Congress, the engrossed Decla 
 ration was signed on the 2d of August by the fifty-four mem 
 bers then present; Mr. McKean and Thornton signed later, 
 making the fifty-six. This document is now in the Department 
 of State ; the signatures are arranged in six columns of 3, 7, 
 12 headed by Hancock, 12, 9 and 18 names, the delegates of 
 each State in groups except Hancock, the president, and 
 Thornton who signed later but without the names of the 
 States (which are improperly printed in the published jour 
 nals). Mr. McKean's name is the last in the fourth column, 
 with the names of the other delegates from Delaware. 
 
 It is related that Hancock, the president, as he affixed his 
 huge signature, exclaimed, " There ! John Bull can read my 
 
 1 See also Force's American Archives, V., i., 1584-97. 
 
 2 This is the first time that any portion of these Journals has been liter 
 ally reproduced in fac-simile, although portions have been very accurately 
 printed by Judge Chamberlain from the letter of Theodore F. Dwight. The 
 word Declaration, line 2 of proceedings of July 4th (Authentication, p. 18, 1. 
 17), should commence with a capital. 
 5 
 
46 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 name without spectacles, and may double the reward of .500 
 for my head. That is my defiance." 1 Dickinson, who op 
 posed the Declaration, said, " We are not ripe," to whom 
 Witherspoon replied : " Not ripe, sir ! In my judgment we are 
 not only ripe, but rotting. Almost every colony has dropped 
 from its parent stem, and your compromise, sir, needs no sun 
 shine to mature it. 2 " There go a few millions," said one, as 
 Carroll, of Carrollton, the wealthiest member, attached his 
 name. " We must all hang together now," remarked Hancock ; 
 "Yes," replied Franklin, "or else we shall hang separately." 
 
 There were in Congress on the 4th of July, 1776, seventy 
 members, of whom about fifty-one were in their seats. Some 
 of these seventy afterwards joined the British, and the terms 
 of others expired before the 2d of August, so that on that day 
 only forty-seven of these seventy signed, Mr. McKean, the 48th, 
 was the last of all to sign. During the interval, however, seven 
 new members were elected as follows: Rush, Ross, Clymer, 
 J. Smith, and Taylor, all of Pennsylvania ; Carroll and Chase, 
 of Maryland. Besides these, Thornton of New Hampshire was 
 subsequently elected, and took his seat November 4th. He 
 also received permission to sign, making up the fifty-six names. 3 
 
 Immediately after the passage of the Declaration on the 4th 
 of July, Mr. McKean obtained leave of absence to march with 
 his battalion, and was not present when the engrossed copy was 
 signed August 2d. As late as August 8th, 1776, Caesar Rod 
 ney writes to Thomas Rodney that Mr. McKean is still in the 
 Jerseys, and not likely soon to return.* On the 27th of August 
 Mr. McKean was present at the opening of the Delaware Con 
 stitutional Convention at Newcastle. 5 And according to Mr. Mc- 
 Kean's letter to Thomas Rodney above mentioned, and quoted 
 on a subsequent page, and also the letters to Mr. Adams on a 
 previous page, it would appear that he signed the Declaration 
 between these two dates, and not as late as October, as stated 
 in " Sanderson's Lives." 
 
 There are circumstances, however, which render this infer 
 ence doubtful. Congress, on January 18th, 1777, directed that 
 copies of the Declaration, with the names then subscribed, 
 should be authenticated and sent to each State. The names 
 
 1 Watson's Annals, 1884, i., 399. 
 2 Lossing, Harp. Mag., iii., 155. 
 3 Scharf and Westcott, i., 317 et seq. 
 4 Force, Am. Archives, V., i., 833. 
 6 Journal, pub. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 47 
 
 were then accordingly printed for the first time, 1 and these 
 copies were transmitted to the States by Hancock about Janu 
 ary 31, 1777. Mr. McKean's name does not appear upon 
 these copies, although Thornton's name is there ; from which 
 it seems evident that Mr. McKean did not sign until after Jan 
 uary 18th or 31st, 1777. William L. Stone, in his article, 
 The Declaration of Independence in a New Light? says, 
 " Thomas McKean from Delaware, as he says himself, did not 
 sign till January, 1777." Bancroft states in his History, 3 that 
 Mr. McKean signed in 1781, which is in itself preposterous, 
 from the nature of the instrument. Peter Force, who knew 
 more of Revolutionary history than any man living in later days, 
 does not appear to have known the exact date ; he says,* " The 
 signing by the members was discontinued at the close of the year 
 
 1776 One signature only, that of Thomas McKean 
 
 was afterwards added to the Declaration of Independence." 
 
 Mr. McKean in the letter to Mr. Adams, already quoted, 
 says, "After the 4th of July I was not in Congress for several 
 months." He repeats this in the letter to Mr. Rodney ; but 
 after the Delaware convention had dissolved, September 21st, 
 he was probably in Congress on the 25th and 27th, for on 
 those days he was appointed on certain committees. His name 
 does not appear again in the journal during this year. From 
 December 2, 1776, to January 30, 1778, he was not a member 
 of Congress, though he was undoubtedly in Philadelphia or 
 wherever Congress was in session during that time, arid might 
 have signed during this interval. 
 
 In the earlier publications of the Journals of Congress, as 
 already remarked, Mr. McKean's name was omitted from the 
 list of signers of the Declaration. "The error," says he, in 
 the letter to William McCorkle and Son, June 16, 1817, 5 re 
 mained uncorrected until 1781,' when I was appointed to print 
 the laws of Pennsylvania." In 1796, Alexander J. Dallas, 
 also in printing the laws of Pennsylvania, discovered the dis- 
 
 1 Journals ; also Winsor s Nar. and Grit. Hist.] vi., 268. 
 
 2 Harp. Mag., Ixvii., 211. Mr. Stone kindly informs the author that he 
 gathers this statement only from Mr. McKean's four letters on this subject. 
 
 3 Ed. 1886, ix., 60 ; ed. 1885, v., 16. Justin Winsor, in his History, yi., 
 268, and Judge Chamberlain, in his Authentication, p. 21, as collateral mat 
 ter have quoted this date of Bancroft's. 
 
 * The Dec. Jnd., etc., London, 1855, p. 65. 
 
 ^Niles 1 Reg., xii., 278, and Diary of Christopher Marshall, Duane, 1877, p. 
 291 et seq. 
 
 6 This expression and date may have misled Mr. Bancroft. 
 
48 McKP^AN FAMILY. 
 
 crepancy and investigated it. Mr. McKean's reply to Mr. 
 Dallas, dated September 26, 1796, gives this explanation : 
 "The journal was first printed by Mr. John Dunlap in 1778, 1 
 and probably copies, with the names then signed to it, were 
 printed in August 1776, and that Mr. Dunlap printed the 
 names from one of them."* Mr. McKean's name is omitted in 
 the Journals of Congress, by Aitken 1777, and by Folwell in 
 1800. In the copies of the Declaration sent to the several 
 states by Congress in January 1777 ; 3 and in The Constitu 
 tions of the Several /States, William Jackson, London, 1783, 
 and in the Laws of Delaware, 1797, [by George Reed]. 
 His name first appeared with those of the other signers, in 
 McKean's Laws 1782, which he had been appointed to publish 
 in 1781 ; also in Dallas' Laws, 1797 ; in The Constitu 
 tions of the United States, William Duane, 1806 ; in the 
 published Journals of the Pennsylvania Senate, December 2, 
 1807, under an order that the Declaration be read and inserted 
 in the Journal ; (This copy is peculiar, by reason of its having 
 the name of Charles Thomson inserted under that of John 
 Hancock, and before the names of the other signers.) In 
 Tyler's fac simile of the Declaration 1818 ; Journals of Con 
 gress, Way and Gideon, 1823, and probably in all subsequent 
 publications of the Declaration. 
 
 Of early official printed copies of the Declaration, the first 
 was that of Dunlap, July 4-5,1776; the next was by Mary 
 Katharine Goddard in Baltimore, which is the publication at 
 tested by Hancock and Thomson, in their own hands, and sent 
 to the States. 4 
 
 Of fac-similes, the earliest was that of Benjamin Owen Tyler, 
 styling himself "professor of penmanship," in 1818; it is in 
 Italian script with fac similes of signatures, and certified to, 
 by Richard Rush, acting Secretary of State. 5 This has been 
 engraved on copper and published on vellum, and on paper. A 
 fac-simile is published in Force's American Archives, 1848, 
 Y. i, 1597, bearing the imprint " W. J. Stone, Sc. Washn." 
 One was published in New York in 1865 ; and another in The 
 
 A John Dunlap printed some of the later volumes, and Mr. McKean, with 
 out looking in the earlier volumes, may have assumed that Dunlap printed 
 them all. 
 
 2 Sanderson, where the letter is given in full. 
 
 3 One of these has found its way to the Boston Public Library ; a copy of 
 another is given in Hist. Mag., Netes and Queries, IV., 2d Ser., Nov., 1868. 
 
 4 Winsor's Hist., vi., 268. 
 
 5 A copy is in the State House at Annapolis. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 49 
 
 Declaration of Independence, Boston, 1876. 1 A photolith- 
 ograph, half size, by N. Peters, Washington, D. C., in 1873, 
 certified by C. Delano, Secretary of the Interior, and M. D. 
 Leggett, Commissioner of Patents. Another by A. G. Ged- 
 ney, Washington, 1883, photographed, half size, from the 
 original parchment ; below this are fac-sfmile of the signatures 
 with the imprint " Restoration of signatures, from a copper 
 plate engraving in fac-simile, made by order of President 
 Monroe in 1823. " 2 Fac similes of the signatures alone, are 
 given in Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 1860, pp. 
 80-1 ; in Winsor's History already quoted, vi., 263-6 ; 
 Harper's Magazine, iii., 158-9 ; and in numerous other works. 
 
 The famih r of Commodore McKean, in Binghamton, N. Y., 
 is in possession of what is probably a fac simile of the Declara 
 tion on parchment. The author not having seen it is unable 
 to identify it with such as have been described. 
 
 It is unfortunate that at the present day the signatures can 
 with difficulty be made out on the engrossed Declaration, which 
 is in the State Department. A recent writer has said that the 
 ink was stolen! that some one obtained permission to make a 
 fac simile of the Declaration, and passed the parchment between 
 heavy rollers which took up most of the ink, causing the writ 
 ing to become faint, and many of the signatures wholly illegible. 
 
 WAR MEASURES. 
 
 On the day the Declaration was passed, Congress resolved 
 that the delegates in Congress from New York, New Jersey, 
 and Pennsylvania, the Council of Safety, the Committee on Ob 
 servation and Inspection for Philadelphia, and the field officers 
 of the Pennsylvania battalions, should be a committee to take 
 measures for the safety of New Jersey. This committee met 
 the next day, the oth, and Colonel McKean was called to the 
 chair. It was ordered that all the military march without delay 
 to Trenton, except three battalions which go to New Brunswick. 3 
 
 In consequence of the above order, Colonel McKean marched 
 at the head of his battalion to Perth Amboy,* in New Jersey, to 
 
 1 Winsor's Hut., vL, 266. 
 
 2 While this page is in press, Mr. Gedney states that this copper plate 
 is the one bearing the imprint of W. J. Stone, and the same which caused 
 the ruin of the parchment Declaration ; that a damp paper was placed over 
 the signatures to transfer them, blotting out nearly all the writing. 
 
 8 Force, American Archives, Ser. V., i., 14 et seq. 
 
 4 See also Historic Mansions of Phil., Thompson Westcott, p. 488. 
 
50 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 support General Washington. The Pennsylvania Associators 
 were under command of General Daniel Roberdeau, who had 
 been elected to the command of the Pennsylvania militia. 1 A 
 letter from Colonel McKean, published in Sanderson's Lives, 
 gives an account of his battalion being under fire. After the 
 flying camp of 10,000 men had been completed, the Associators 
 were relieved. In the Pennsylvania Evening Post- of August 
 13, 1776, is published a resolution of the convention for the 
 State of Pennsylvania, that such battalions as shall furnish their 
 quota of the flying camp, may return home if the generals and 
 field officers shall judge it to be expedient. And about this 
 time Colonel McKean returned to his seat in Congress, and 
 perhaps at that time signed the engrossed Declaration, as already 
 related. 
 
 PUBLIC MEETINGS. 
 
 A new Constitution for the State, proposed by Franklin, was 
 considered in a public meeting at the State House, October 
 21, at which Colonel John Bayard was chairman ; about 1500 
 persons attended. The Constitution proposed was generally 
 objectionable on account of certain religious qualifications, as 
 well as for various other reasons. Thomas McKean, John 
 Dickinson and others, opposed it ; James Cannon, Timothy 
 Matlack, Dr. Young, and Col. James Smith, favored it. 2 
 
 Not long after this, November 25, 1776, Mr. McKean pre 
 sided at a meeting at the Indian Queen, 3 to counteract the in 
 fluence of the Tories. It appears that they were in the habit 
 of meeting aj taverns, and singing God save the King.* These 
 trifles show the earnestness of Mr. McKean, and the great in 
 terest he had in the cause of independence. Although filling 
 the exalted position of a delegate in Congress, he deemed noth 
 ing too insignificant to receive his aid, when it led towards 
 independence. He endured the privations of a soldier's life, 
 speaks at one meeting, presides at another, meets with the 
 Council of Safety, presides at the Delaware Assembly, and we 
 next find him in quite another sphere. 
 
 1 Elected at Lancaster, Pa., July 4th, 1776, by representatives of the 57 
 battalions in the State. Thomas McKean was one of the candidates voted 
 for, and received a few votes. (Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family, p. 67.) 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, i., 324 ; Diary of Christopher Marshall, Duane, p. 98. 
 
 3 Described in Pa. Mag., xi., 103, 503. 
 
 * Scharf and Westcott, i., p. 326. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 51 
 
 WRITES THE CONSTITUTION FOR THE STATE OF DELAWARE. 
 
 During his absence in -the army, Colonel McKean was 
 elected a member of the convention for forming a constitution 
 for the state of Delaware. No sooner had he resumed his 
 seat in congress, than his attendance was required at New 
 castle l as a member of this convention. He reached that place 
 in a single day. Immediately upon his arrival, after a fatigu 
 ing ride, he was waited upon by a committee of gentlemen, 
 members of the convention, who requested that he would pre 
 pare the constitution for them. He retired to his room at the 
 public inn, sat up all night, and wrote that constitution with 
 out the aid of a book or the least assistance. At ten o'clock 
 the next morning, it was presented to the convention, by whom 
 it was unanimously adopted. 2 Understanding the wants and 
 feelings of the people, well versed in law and the principles of 
 republicanism, and a ready writer, he was able to perform in 
 a few hours, a work that in modern times requires the labors 
 of an expensive assembly for months. 3 
 
 Mr. McKean relates this remarkable incident in the letter 
 to Governor Rodney, dated August 22, 1813, already alluded 
 to as published in fac-simile, in Brotherhead's Book of the 
 Signers; the paragraph is as follows: 
 
 " When, the associators were discharged I returned to Phila 
 delphia, took my seat in Congress, and signed the declaration on 
 parchment. Two days after I went to Newcastle, joined the 
 Convention for forming a constitution for the future government 
 of the State of Delaware (having been elected a member for 
 Newcastle county,) which I wrote in a tavern without a book or 
 any assistance." 
 
 This has been justly regarded as the greatest act of Mr. Mc- 
 Kean's life ; requiring not only a profound knowledge of law 
 and politics, but a quick perception, a good memory, clear dis 
 criminating judgment, and a ready pen, to accomplish so much 
 in so short a time. It will be remembered that this was 
 mainly original work, there being few or none other constitu 
 tions in those days to serve as a guide. This constitution 
 may be seen in The Federal and State Constitutions, B. P. 
 Poore, 1877. 
 
 1 Sanderson and others give this wrongly, Dover ; Mr. McKean states it 
 correctly in his letter quoted below. 
 
 2 Sanderson, Goodrich and other biographies. 
 
 3 Judson's Lives. 
 
52 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Mr. McKean's claim to be the author of this constitution 
 has been disputed in favor of George Read, and although the 
 counter-claim rests upon very untenable grounds, yet it would 
 not be quite fair to wholly ignore it in this biography. Fifty- 
 seven years after Mr. McKean wrote the statement just quoted, 
 William T. Read, Esq., claimed that his grandfather wrote the 
 constitution, because a copy was found in that gentleman's 
 handwriting a very untenable argument, for he may have 
 copied it. Such a writing might be used in corroboration to 
 strengthen other evidence ; but it has no force as evidence 
 when used alone. The statement in full is as follows : 
 
 u Among Mr. Read's papers I find a document in his hand 
 writing indorsed ' Original Draft of the System of Government of 
 the Delaware State, with Amendments,' which makes it certain 
 that lie wrote this first constitution of Delaware." 1 
 
 Not quite so certain, for the very caption of this paper is 
 fatal to such claim. This heading, Original Draft, etc., with 
 amendments never could have been written until after the 
 amendments had been proposed ; that is, long after the original 
 draft had been submitted to the convention ; consequently this 
 paper in Mr. Read's handwriting can not be that original 
 draft of the constitution. The true original draft would not 
 have been entitled the draft with amendments. 
 
 Mr. Read, so far as we know, did not claim this honor for 
 himself ; nor is any mention made of such claim in his biogra 
 phy in " Sanderson's Lives," written by William T. Read. 2 
 It first appears in Allibone's Dictionary of Authors, in 1854, 
 by whom written is unknown, but presumed to be by William 
 T. Read, who was a member of the Delaware Historical Soci 
 ety, and therefore a very likely person to have supplied this 
 biography to Dr. Allibone. And it was not until 1870, nearly 
 sixty years after Mr. McKean's Rodney letter was written, 
 that the grounds for the claim were made public. Why such 
 delay in making known a historical matter, if Mr. Read really 
 were the author ? 
 
 In a note to the passage above cited, William T. Read then 
 attacks Mr. McKean's statement. After quoting the paragraph 
 upon this question in " Sanderson's Lives," he alludes to it as 
 " this fine specimen of glorification," notwithstanding the fact 
 that he has just made a similar claim in behalf of his own grand 
 father. Whether this latter should also be considered a fine 
 
 l Life and Corresp. Geo. Read, William T. Read, 1870, p. 186. 
 Ibid., p. 159, authorship so stated. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 53 
 
 specimen of glorification, he has apparently left to the judgment 
 of the reader. However this may be, Mr. Read then goes on 
 further to criticise the several statements in " Sanderson's 
 Lives," that the convention was held at Dover (which should 
 be Newcastle), that Mr. McKean himself presented the con 
 stitution to the convention, and that it was adopted the next 
 morning. Although these criticisms are just, yet the mis 
 takes are not Mr. McKean's, but Sanderson's, caused by am 
 plifying Mr. McKean's simple statement, " which I wrote in a 
 tavern without a book or any assistance." In attacking col 
 lateral statements, Mr. Read seems to overlook the fact that 
 the main question still stands uncontradicted. 
 
 It seems to be more than anything else, either carelessness 
 or an error of judgment on Mr. Read's part to advance this 
 claim for his grandfather ; since he has neither refuted Mr. 
 McKean's claims, nor substantiated a claim for George Read. 1 
 
 Mr. McKean's character for integrity is sufficiently well es 
 tablished by his acts, and fully made known by the concurrent 
 testimony of impartial historians, to warrant the statement that if 
 Mr. McKean says he wrote that constitution, it is so. Lossing, 
 the historian, in his Biographical Sketches of the Signers 
 (1860f pp. 140-4), accredits Mr. McKean with the authorship, 
 and not Mr. Read. Scharf, in his History of Delaware (2 
 vols., 1888, i., 187, 203), accredits the authorship to each in 
 his biographical sketches, showing that he had not carefully 
 examined the question. 
 
 George Read as president of the convention, would natur 
 ally require a copy of the constitution under discussion, so as 
 to intelligibly direct the proceedings. The amendments on this 
 paper being u in a different handwriting, probably that of the 
 
 1 This is not the only mistake or inaccuracy in the volume. The name 
 McKinly is spelled wrongly throughout the volume. On page 344 Mr. 
 Read states that Mr. McKean died June 17th, and that he had eleven 
 children by his second wife both of which are wrong. Regarding this 
 convention he has several mistakes: He says in the text, page 182, that the 
 sub-committee reported on the 13th, the report read a second time, and re 
 committed on the 15th, reported again on the 16th; and in the note page 
 1 8 7, these dates are given 13th, 14th and 18th respectively, all of which are 
 wrong" except the second date named. Moreover, the two pages are not con 
 sistent with one another. May we not also suspect Mr. Read of carelessness 
 elsewhere ? These, however, are trifles compared with the grievous histor 
 ical mistake he makes on page 229 and elsewhere, in saying that "the 
 Declaration of Independence was signed July 4th, 1776, by all present in 
 Congress on that day except Mr. Dickinson" By this error of judgment he 
 charges his grandfather with the inconsistency of voting against the Decla 
 ration in the morning and signing it in the afternoon. 
 
54 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Secretary of the Convention," (as William T. Read himself 
 says in the above work, p. 186,) renders it still more probable 
 that this paper in George Read's handwriting is the identical 
 copy he had before him ; since the secretary is the proper one 
 to have supplied the presiding officer with copies of the changes 
 and amendments made from time to time. 
 
 A recent visit to Dover disclosed the fact that there are now 
 no manuscript records whatever in the archives of the state, 
 relating to this convention. Even the constitution itself can 
 not be found. All the records were probably destroyed many 
 years ago. Very likely the records were captured by -the 
 British at the time President McKinly was taken prisoner, as 
 related in a letter of Mr. McKean on a subsequent page. 1 The 
 journals of the convention were, however, published in 1776, 
 by which it appears that the convention met August 27, 1776, 
 George Read being elected president. On the 30th Mr. 
 McKean obtained leave of absence on account of the sickness 
 of his son and sister. He returned September 6th, and the 
 following day with George Read and others was placed on 
 the committee to draft the constitution. The committee re 
 ported on the 14th ; the matter was read a second time on the 
 15th, and recommitted ; reported again on the 17th. The 
 constitution was partly agreed to on the 18th, and fully ap 
 proved on the 20th. The convention was dissolved on the 
 21st. 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 On the 28th of July 1777, Mr. McKean received from the 
 Supreme Executive Council, the commission of Chief Justice 
 of Pennsylvania ; the duties of which high station he performed 
 with zeal and fidelity for twenty-two years. At the time of 
 his appointment, he was Speaker of the House of Ass^-nbly of 
 Delaware, and a delegate in Congress from that State. Six 
 weeks later he became President of Delaware. He took the 
 oath of office September 1st following ; and was subsequently 
 reappointed July 29, 1784, and July 29, 1791. 2 
 
 The period during which Mr. McKean exercised the func 
 tions of Chief Justice, was one of the most important and try 
 ing in the whole course of the jurisprudence of the common 
 wealth. It was at the time when the laws were unsettled, even 
 the constitutions of the states undefined, and national existence 
 
 also Appleton's Cyclop. Biog. McKinly, iv., 137. 
 Scharf and W^stcott, ii., 1559; Hazard's Penn. Archives, v., 621. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 55 
 
 itself in question. The country was in the midst of a revolu 
 tion when he came to the bench ; and for several years the 
 civil was necessarily subordinate to the military rule. Hence 
 the interpretation of organic and statute law had to be made 
 de novo; precedents had to be established, and the whole 
 practice of the courts adapted to the changed relations which 
 existed. The causes which were brought in his court were 
 many of them peculiar to a period of war and conquest ; causes 
 involving the most delicate questions, vital alike to the rights 
 of the subject, and the vindication of justice. Trials for high 
 treason, for attainder, for the confiscation of property, were 
 frequent. A case rarely transcended in importance and 
 amount involved, in any nation or in any age, was the forfeit 
 ure of the proprietary estates. The rulings of the chief jus 
 tice, through all this trying period, and in their different causes 
 were marked by great prudence and wisdom. 1 
 
 " Chief Jestice McKean," observes a late Judge of the Supreme 
 Court, " was a great man; his merit in the profession of the law 
 and as a judge, has never been sufficiently appreciated. It is only 
 since I have been upon the bench that I have been able to con 
 ceive a just idea of the greatness of his merit. His legal learning 
 was profound and accurate ; but in the words of the poet 
 
 Materiam superbat opus. 
 
 The lucidity of his explication, and the perspicuity of his language, 
 which is the first excellence in the communication of ideas, was 
 perfect ; but I never saw equalled his dignity of manner in deliv 
 ering a charge to a jury, or on a law argument to the bar. But 
 what is still more, his comprehension of mind in taking notes, so 
 as to embrace the substance, and yet omit nothing material, has 
 appeared to be inimitable." 2 
 
 "All subsequent decisions of the Supreme Court have sanctioned 
 his judicial fame, and even European judges yielded to him spon 
 taneous praise." 3 
 
 Having heard the opinions of a judge, let us now turn to 
 those of the advocate : David Paul Brown, who achieved an 
 enviable distinction at the Philadelphia bar, 4 writes that Chief 
 Justice McKean " was always considered a sound lawyer and 
 an upright judge ; . . he was a stern and arbitrary man. . . . 
 Though always deemed a very able lawyer, and a man of in- 
 
 1 Armor, Lives of the Governors of Perm. 
 
 2 Ibid., and also as quoted in Sanderson's Lives. Author unknown. 
 z The Supreme Court Bench of Pennsylvania, in Hazard's Reg., iii., 241, a 
 
 similar article to the previous, and probably by the same author. 
 *The Forum, i., 327, et seq. 
 
56 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 flexible honesty, was still a man of strong prejudices, jealous 
 of his authority, and rough and overbearing in its maintainance. 
 . . . Whatever may have been his deficiency in civility, he 
 was a judge of great decision and force of character. During 
 the course of his long judicial life, he never wavered in what 
 his duty seemed to require." 
 
 L. Carroll Judson, also a member of the Philadelphia bar, 
 says, in his beautifully written biography: 1 
 
 "No threats could intimidate, or influence reach him when 
 designed to divert him from the independent discharge of his duty. 
 His profound legal acquirements, his ardent zeal, his great justice, 
 his vigorous energy, and his noble patriotism enabled him to out 
 ride every storm, and calm the raging billows that often surrounded 
 
 him His legal opinions, based as they generally are, upon the 
 
 firm pillar of equal justice, strict equity, and correct law, given 
 as they were, when a form of government was changing, the laws 
 unsettled, our state constitutions justformed, the federal con 
 stitution bursting into embryo, are monuments of fame, enduring 
 as social order, respected and cononized." 
 
 " He was without exception one of the greatest legal minds in 
 our early history ; filling every station with distinguished zeal and 
 fidelity, a man of eminent learning, ability and integrity, whom 
 neither fear nor favor could bend from the stern line of duty." 2 
 
 With two more quotations I will close these extracts, my 
 purpose being to show that praise of the legal and judicial 
 fame of Thomas McKean is not confined to the writings of a 
 few; but is universally proclaimed by all his biographers. 
 The following is from another beautifully written biography by 
 David R. B. Nevin. 3 
 
 "Of McKean as a lawyer, we may safely say he was master of 
 that intricate profession. As a contemporary remarked of Tilgh- 
 man, we may appropriately say of McKean, * he took in at one 
 glance all the beauties of the most obscure and difficult litigations. 
 With him it was intuitive, and he could untie the knots of a con 
 tingent remainder, or an executive device, as familiarly as he 
 could his garter.' Of his career as a judge, it is unnecessary for 
 us to comment; for his judicial fame is the common property of 
 the world. Pennsylvania, however much she may have suffered 
 in many instances by irresponsible and unworthy political repre 
 sentatives in the councils of the nation, has always been justly 
 proud of her incorruptible and learned judiciary. Ross, Tilgh- 
 
 ^Biography of the Signers, 1839. 
 
 8 W. H. Egle, in Penn. Mag., xi., 250 ; The Fed. Const., Sketches, etc. 
 
 3 Continental Sketches of Distinguished Pennsylvanians, 1875. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 57 
 
 man, Ingersoll, Rawle, and Bradford, with a host of others, were 
 brilliant stars in the legal firmament of the old colonial times ; 
 and the lustre of the galaxy has not been dimmed by such modern 
 luminaries as Gibson and Black. But the peer of them all was 
 Chief Justice McKean. A faultless logician, fluent without the 
 least volubiliiy, wonderfully concise, with a naturally logical 
 mind, well disciplined by severe and systematic training, he was 
 a most brilliant advocate and attorney. As a judge he had few 
 equals in this or any other. land. When he assumed the judicial 
 ermine, the laws of Pennsylvania were crude and unsettled ; and 
 it devolved upon him to overcome all these difficulties, and bring 
 order out of comparative chaos. His decisions were remarkably 
 accurate, sometimes quite profound, and always delivered with a 
 grace of diction, and a perspicuity of language, which commended 
 them to the cultivated legal mind. His personal appearance on 
 the bench was a combination of proper affibility and great dig 
 nity." 
 
 We have heard the words of his friends it is but just to give 
 ear to one of his opponents, 1 who says of Chief Justice Mc 
 Kean : 
 
 u He was well qualified for the office of Chief Justice, by his 
 power to reason, discriminate and combine; his great learning, 
 and ready use of it; his courage, firmness, and inflexibility; but 
 little accessible to pleadings for mercy, and so much the slave of 
 party, (as appears by the authority cited in the sequel to this 
 sketch,) as to lend more than once, his judicial power to punish 
 its enemies and still more his own." 2 
 
 Other extracts may be found in the various biographies of 
 Chief Justice McKean, too numerous to be inserted here. 3 
 
 NOTED CASES. 
 
 The cases decided by Chief Justice McKean are contained 
 in Alexander J. Dallas' Reports of Pennsylvania cases, in 
 four volumes, 1754 to 180(3. The first volume was published 
 
 1 Of those writing since Judge McKean's death, I have found but two who 
 have written against him. See note at end of this biography. 
 
 *Life of Geo. Read, by his grandson, William T. Read, 1870, p. 335. The 
 fact that McKean sent an express for Caesar Rodney and outvoted Read on 
 the Declaration, seems to rankle in the heart of the grandson, who spares 
 no opportunity throughout the whole of his work to speak against Judge 
 McKean. This is to be regretted, as McKean and Read were friends, as 
 well as colleagues and compatriots. 
 
 3 The principle of which may be named : National Portraits, by Longacre 
 and Herring, 1839 ; Hazard's Reg. of Penn., 1829, iii., 241; Hist. Chester Co., 
 Penn., by John Smith Futhey (Judge of the Chester Co. Court) and Gilbert 
 Cope, besides other extracts in the various works already quoted. 
 
58 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 in 1790, and the series dedicated to Chief Justice McKean. 
 The other volumes appeared successively in 1798, 1799, and 
 1807. Lord Mansfield, then in his advanced years, upon re 
 ceiving the first volume from Judge McKean, in 1791, sent the 
 following in reply : " I am not able to write with my own 
 hand, and most therefore beg leave to make use of another, to 
 acknowledge the honor you have done me by your most 
 obliging and elegant letter, and sending me Dallas' reports. I 
 am not able to read myself, but have heard them all read with 
 much pleasure. They do credit to the court, the bar, and the 
 reporter. They show readiness in practice, liberality in prin 
 ciple, strong reason, and legal learning. The method too is 
 clear and the language pure." 1 
 
 Among the more prominent cases which came before Chief 
 Justice McKean may be mentioned the following : 
 
 Roberts and Carlisle (1 Dallas, 35, 39). When the Brit 
 ish took possession of Philadelphia, John Roberts enlisted in 
 the British army, and tried to induce others to do the same. 
 Abraham Carlisle was a carpenter, who received a commis 
 sion from Sir William Howe to watch and guard the gates of 
 the city, with power of granting passports. They were at 
 tainted for high treason, and the trial came in September, 1778. 
 Joseph Reed was the leading counsel on the part of the State. 
 The just performance of Chief Justice McKean's judicial func 
 tions during this time of war required not only the learning of 
 the lawyer, but the unyielding spirit of the patriot. Proclaim 
 ing from the bench the law of justice and his country, with 
 distinguished learning, ability and integrity, neither fear nor 
 power could bend him from the stern line of duty. Regardless 
 of the powers of the crown of Great Britain, he did not hesitate 
 to hazard his own life by causing to be punished, even unto 
 death, those who were proved to be traitors to their country. 2 
 
 The fate of these men caused great excitement generally, 
 and especially among the Quakers, to which sect they belonged. 
 The Supreme Executive Council was deluged with petitions for 
 clemency ; private citizens sent a score of petitions, the minis 
 ters of the gospel, the grand jury, the jury which tried them ; 
 even the judiciary, Chief Justice McKean and Judge Evans, 
 petitioned the Council for a postponement of the execution. 
 Chief Justice McKean's notes of the trial were sent to the 
 
 1 MSS. McKean family, Binghamton, and partly quoted in Hazard's Reg. 
 of Penn.j iii., 241 et seq. 
 'Sanderson's Lives. See also Hazard's Reg., iii., 241. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 59 
 
 Council for their information. 1 It appears from this that Roberts 
 and Carlisle were the lamented victims of inflexible justice. 
 The petition of the Chief Justice shows that he did not deserve 
 the censure bestowed upon him by the quakers and tories, both 
 in prose and verse ; he simply performed his duty in passing 
 sentence, the execution of which rested with the Supreme Ex 
 ecutive Council, who could have pardoned the prisoners if they 
 had found sufficient cause to do so. 
 
 Samuel Chapman (1 Dallas, 53) was also attainted for high 
 treason in the April term, 1781, for not having surrendered 
 himself on the 1st of August, 1778, as required by a procla 
 mation issued by the Supreme Executive Council, in pursuance 
 of an act of the Assembly passed March 6, 1778. The charge 
 of the Chief Justice, which resulted in the acquittal of the de 
 fendant, was learned and circumstantial, embracing a lucid ex 
 position of the law, and exciting the unqualified admiration of 
 his professional brethren ; while it dissatisfied and disappointed 
 those men who thirsted after blood. No popular excitement 
 against individuals accused of offences could in the slightest 
 degree divert Chief Justice McKean from the firm and inflex 
 ible discharge of his public duty. His decision evinced the 
 soundness of his judgment, and the disdain he felt for the pop 
 ular clamor excited by the occasion. 2 
 
 A writ of Habeas Corpus. Soon after his appointment as 
 Chief Justice, an incident occurred evincing in bold relief, the 
 independent principle of action which guided his judicial 
 career. Twenty persons were confined in the Free-Mason's 
 lodge at Philadelphia, on treasonable charges ; and the popular 
 excitement against them was extremely violent. They pub- 
 lished a remonstrance in the Pennsylvania Packet of Septem^ 
 ber 5, 1777 ; and application was made to the Chief Justice 
 for writs of habeas corpus in their behalf, which were granted. 
 This act, at a period of peculiar public agitation, created great 
 dissatisfaction among the more violent whigs, in which many 
 members of Congress participated. So marked was their dis 
 pleasure, that Judge McKean, esteeming the good opinion of 
 good men, next to the approbation of a good conscience, wrote 
 to John Adams on the subject, explaining his course of action. 
 For a statement of Judge McKean' s position in this matter, the 
 reader is referred to Sanderson's Lives ; suffice it here to say 
 in brief, that Judge McKean had followed the Pennsylvania 
 
 l Penn. Archives, Hazard, 1853, vii., 21, 25, 44, 53, etc. 
 2 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
60 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 statute, which had somewhat modified the laws regarding 
 habeas corpus, and by which all discretionary power in the 
 judges was taken away, and a penalty of five hundred pounds 
 imposed for a refusal to grant a writ. 1 
 
 The popular excitement against these tories was so great 
 that the Assembly passed a law suspending the writ of habeas 
 corpus, thus preventing the execution of Judge McKean's 
 writ. William Allen, a lawyer and a tory, in his Journal 
 calls this " a law ex post facto and pendente lite, the very ex 
 treme of tyranny." 2 
 
 Warrant against Colonel Hooper. Judge McKean's firm 
 ness in the execution of the law is exemplified by another 
 striking example. In 1778 he issued a warrant against 
 Colonel Robert L. Hooper, deputy quartermaster, charging 
 him with having libelled the magistrates in a letter to Gouver- 
 neur Morris ; and directing the sheriff of Northampton county 
 to bring the said Hooper before him at Yorktown. Colonel 
 Hooper waited on General Green, who wrote to Judge Mc- 
 Kean that he could not consent to Colonel Hooper's absence. 
 To this letter, the reply of the Chief Justice, under date of June 
 9, 1778, contains the following characteristic paragraph: 
 
 " 1 do not think, sir, that the absence, sickness, or even death 
 of Mr. Hooper could be attended with such consequences that no 
 other person could be found, who could give the necessary aid 
 upon this occasion ; but, what attracts my attention the most, is 
 your observation that you cannot, without great necessity, consent 
 to his being absent. As to that, sir, I shall not ask your consent, 
 nor that of any other person, in or out of the army, whether my 
 precept shall be obeyed or not in Pennsylvania." 
 
 There is a strain of inflexible firmness and unshrinking dig 
 nity pervading this letter, admirably illustrative of the whole 
 course of his judicial conduct. 3 
 
 The House of Assembly having asked the opinion of Chief 
 Justice McKean as to the right of the crown to grant the char 
 ter to the Penns : he gave his opinion upon the question, which 
 was afterwards judicially determined in the case of Penn's les 
 see vs. Kline, before Justice Washington of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, and Richard Peters, District Judge 
 (^4 Dallas, 402) .* 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 'Under date of Oct. 1, 1777, published in Pa. Mag., ix., 293. 
 
 3 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 'Life ofJoteph Reed, William B. Reed, 1847, ii., 167. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 61 
 
 In the Issues of the Press of Pennsylvania, by Charles R. 
 Hildeburn, 1886, there is noted No. 3738, the following work, 
 " Charge of Thomas McKean, Chief Justice, to Grand Jury at 
 Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery held 
 at York," 1788. 
 
 INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 It is related of Chief Justice McKean, by a contemporary, 
 that " the Chief Justice when on the bench wore an immense 
 cocked-hat, and was dressed in a scarlet gown. He discharged 
 the office of chief justice for twenty-two years, and gave strik 
 ing proofs of ability, impartiality and courage." 1 
 
 Watson, the antiquarian, in his chapter on wigs, relates that 
 " Judge McKean wore one, and was withal so partial to them 
 that he intended to wear one of the bench kind ; he engaged 
 one of Kyd for one hundred dollars, and being found when de 
 livered, so strange and outre he refused it, and was sued for 
 the value." 2 
 
 In those days it was the custom of the Supreme Court to 
 hold sessions in the various counties. When at Harrisburg 
 at least while Congress sat at York (1777-8), Chief Justice 
 McKean lived in a substantial one-story log house, a short 
 space below what is now Locust street. He wore an immense 
 cocked- hat, and had great deference shown him by the country 
 people. After the country was quieted, when he and other 
 judges of the Supreme Court came to Harrisburg to hold court, 
 numbers of the citizens of the place would go out on horseback 
 to meet them, and escort them to town. Sometimes one or 
 two hundred people would attend for the purpose. The sheriff 
 with his rod of office, and other public officers and bar, would 
 attend on the occasion ; and each morning, while the Chief 
 Justice was in town holding court, the sheriff and constables es 
 corted him from his lodgings to the court-room. The Chief 
 Justice on the bench sat with his hat on, and was dressed in a 
 scarlet gown. 3 
 
 Many anecdotes says David Paul Brown, remain of the great 
 jurist both as Chief Justice and Governor. 
 
 One day when a mob had assembled outside of the Supreme 
 
 l Graydoris Memoirs of His Own Time, 1846. See also Manasseh Cutler's 
 Journal, 1787; Pa. Mag., xi., 108. 
 2 Annals of Phil., 1868, i., 197. 
 3 Day's Histor. Collections, 1843, p. 286. 
 
 5 
 
62 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Court, he sent for the sheriff and commanded him to suppress 
 the riot. 
 
 "I cannot do it," replied the trembling official. 
 
 "Why do you not summon your posse ?" thundered the 
 scowling Chief Justice. 
 
 "I have summoned them, hut they are ineffectual." 
 
 " Then sir, why do you not summon met" 
 
 The sheriff stunned for a moment, gasped out, " I do summon 
 you, sir." 
 
 Whereupon the gigantic Chief Justice, scarlet gown, cocked 
 hat and all, swooped down on the mob like an eagle on a flock 
 of sheep, and catching two of the ringleaders by the throat, 
 quelled the riot. 1 
 
 The talented but unfortunate Major Andr, at an entertain 
 ment at Mr. Deane's in New York, read a characteristic Dream; 
 " His allusions," says a loyalist commentator, "to Jackey Jay, 
 Paddy McKean, and other rebellious were excellent." 
 
 Andre dreamed he was in a spacious apartment in which the 
 infernal judges were dispensing justice. 
 
 " As dreams are of an unaccountable nature " he says, " it will 
 not (I presume,) be thought strange that I should behold upon 
 this occasion the shades of many who for aught I know may be 
 still living. . . . The first person called upon was the famous Chief 
 Justice McKean, who I found had been animated by the same 
 spirit which formerly possessed the memorable Jeffreys. I could 
 not but observe a flush of indignation in the eyes of the judges 
 upon the approach of this culprit. His more than savage cruelty, 
 his horrid disregard to the many oaths of allegiance he had 
 taken, and the vile sacrifices lie had made of justice, to the in 
 terests of rebellion, were openly rehearsed. Notwithstanding his 
 common impudence, for once, he seemed abashed, and did not 
 pretend to deny the charge. He was condemned to assume the 
 shape of a blood-hound, and the souls of Roberts and Carlisle 
 were ordered to scourge him through the infernal regions." Next 
 appeared the "polite and traveled Mr. Deane :" then "the cele 
 brated General Lee;" "the black soul of Livingston:" "The 
 President of Congress, Mr. Jay," and finally " the whole con 
 tinental army," each of whom was "judged" in some character 
 istic manner. 2 
 
 Another loyalist, now unknown, has left a long poem from 
 which the following extracts are made: 
 
 l The Forum, as quoted by Rebecca Harding Davis in Harper's Mag., 1876, 
 lii., 871. 
 
 'Frank Moore's Diary of Am. Rev., N. Y., 1860, ii., 120 et seq. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 63 
 
 THE AMERICAN TIMES ; A SATIRE, BY CAMILLO QUERNO. 
 
 Hear thy indictment, Washington, at large; 
 Attend and listen to the solemn charge: 
 
 * * * ***** 
 
 Wilt thou pretend that Britain is in fault? 
 
 In Reason's court a falsehood goes for nought. 
 
 Will it avail, with subterfuge ren'n'd 
 
 To say such deeds are foreign to thy mind ? 
 
 Wilt thou assert that, generous and humane, 
 
 Thy nature suffers at another's pain? 
 
 He who a band of ruffians keeps to kill, 
 
 Is he not guilty of the blood they spill? 
 
 Who guards McKean and Joseph Reed the vile, 
 
 Help'd he not to murder Roberts and Carlisle? 
 
 So, who protects committees in the chair, 
 
 In all their shocking cruelties must share. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Bring up your wretched solitary pair, 
 Mark'd with pride, malice, envy, rage, despair, 
 Why are you banish'd from your comrades, tell? 
 Will none endure your company in hell? 
 That all the fiends avoid your sight is plain, 
 Infamous Reed, more infamous McKean. 
 Is this the order of your rank agreed ; 
 Or is it base McKean and baser Reed ? 
 Go, shunn'd of men, disown'd of devils, go, 
 And traverse desolate the realms of woe. 1 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE. 
 
 In September 1777, Judge McKean became the executive 
 of the state of Delaware. It is stated in the Life of G-eorge 
 Read? that the presidency of Delaware was offered to Mr. Read 
 who declined it, and Mr. McKinly was appointed. When 
 the latter gentleman was captured by the British, Judge Mc 
 Kean immediately assumed the reins of government. 
 
 Under date of October 8, 1777, Judge McKean writes to 
 General Washington from Newark, "By the captivity of 
 President McKinly of the Delaware State, on the 12th of last 
 month, and the absence of the Vice-President, the command in 
 chief devolved upon me as Speaker of the Assembly, agreea 
 bly to the constitution. I had some time before accepted the 
 office of Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and at the time this 
 
 ^Loyalist Poetry of the Rev., Winthrop Sargent, Phil., 1857, pp. 10, 11. 
 2 By his grandson, William T. Read, 1870. 
 
64 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 unfortunate event happened, was out of the Delaware State, 
 but thought it my duty to my country to repair thither, which 
 I did on the 20th following." On his arrival in the state, 
 Judge McKean found that all the papers, public records, and 
 money had been captured. He immediately called out the 
 militia, one-half in active service, and the remainder to hold 
 themselves in readiness for instant service. 1 
 
 When this high position devolved upon Judge McKean, while 
 holding other high offices in Pennsylvania, he became thereby 
 an especial object of British persecution. " I have had," he 
 says in a letter two years afterwards to Mr. Adams, dated 
 November 8, 1779, " I have had my full share of the anxie 
 ties, care and troubles of the present war. For some time I 
 was obliged to act as President of the Delaware State, and as 
 Chief Justice of this: general Howe had just landed (August, 
 1777) at the head of Elk River, when I undertook to dis 
 charge these two important trusts. The consequence was, to 
 be hunted like a fox by the enemy, and envied by those who 
 ought to have been my friends. 1 was compelled to remove 
 my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in 
 a little log-house on the banks of the Susquehannah, more than 
 a hundred miles from this place ; but safety was not to be 
 found there ; for they were obliged to remove again on account 
 of the incursions of the Indians." 2 
 
 Judge McKean held this office but a short time, and after 
 making provisions for the defense of the State, addressed a 
 letter to George Read, the Vice-President, under date of Sep 
 tember 26, 1777, informs him of his accession to the office, the 
 reasons for it, details his official acts and resigns the position, 
 concluding his letter as follows : "Wishing you all manner of 
 success in saving our country in general, and the Delaware 
 State in particular, I am," etc. Addressed, " To George Read, 
 President of the Delaware State." 8 
 
 THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 
 
 The commmitee appointed in Congress, June 12, 1776, pur 
 suant to a resolution of the 7th, to frame the Articles of Con 
 federation, consisted of thirteen members, one for each State, 
 as follows : Josiah Bartlett, Samuel Adams, Stephen Hopkins, 
 
 1 Spark's Corresp. of Rev., Boston, 1853, i., 443. 
 
 2 Sanderson. 
 
 1 Life and Corresp. of Oeo. Read. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 65 
 
 Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, John Dickinson, Thomas 
 McKean, Thomas Stone, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Joseph Hewes, 
 Edward Rutledge and Button Gwinnett; on the 28th Francis 
 Hopkinson was added, completing the number. 1 
 
 The Articles were under consideration for several months, 
 and debated clause by clause. On a vote relating to taxation 
 occurred the first important division between the slave hold 
 ing states and the states where slavery was of little account. 2 
 The articles were finally agreed to, November 13, 1777, and a 
 copy being made out the same was agreed to on the 15th. 
 This state paper, which is the first constitution of our country, 
 was dated and signed July 9, 1778, by the delegates of nine 
 states; the other delegates had not then been empowered to 
 sign it. Thomas McKean signed subsequently in behalf of 
 Delaware, pursuant to powers vested in him dated February 
 6, 1779, and laid before Congress on the 16th. 3 The last 
 State Maryland signed March 1, 1781. This important docu 
 ment is preserved in the archives of the Department of State. 
 It is on parchment in one sheet, a roll about thirteen feet long. 
 
 A HISTORICAL DISCREPANCY. 
 
 As the other four states ratified the Articles, the delegates 
 added the date of signing. And here, as to the date when 
 Thomas McKean affixed his signature, there is a decided dis 
 crepancy between the Journals of Congress and the original 
 Articles of Confederation, which seems to have escaped the 
 notice of historians. In the Journals of Congress, (the original 
 rough Journal by Charles Thomson, which I have had the 
 privilege of examining, page 265,) is the entry, February 22, 
 1779. " In pursuance of the powers in him vested, Mr. 
 McKean a delegate of the state of Delaware, signed and 
 ratified the articles of Confederation in behalf of that state." 
 (See the Printed Journals, Way and Gideon, 1823, in., 201.) 
 
 In the original Articles, the date is now much obliterated, but 
 is apparently " Feb. 12,1779;" the word U ^e6."is almost 
 illegible, the first figure apparently 1 is a heavy stroke with a 
 dot after it, the lower part of the 2 is wholly illegible and 
 also has a dot following it. There is no trace remaining, even 
 
 ^Journals of Congress; Adams' Works, ii., 292; Frothingham, p. 569. 
 The following authors give but twelve names : Hist. Old State House. Etting ; 
 Lossing's Field Book, i860, ii., 653 ; Scharf and Westcott, Hist. Phil., i., 315. 
 
 Bancroft's U.S. 
 
 s Journals of Congress, Feb. 16-22, 1879. 
 
66 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 under a glass to show that the first figure was a 2 obliterated. 
 Upon the articles being ratified by all the states, they are 
 entered upon the Journal under date of March 1, 1781, where 
 the date is given " Feb. 12, 1779." (1st ed., Patterson, vii. 
 48, and Way and Gideon 1823, iii., 591). In the Secret 
 Journal, however, (Thomas B. Wait, 1821, i. 448-64,) a por 
 tion of the volume is devoted to debates on the Articles. They 
 are entered at length, upon the Journal and the date given in 
 full "February 22, 1779," agreeing with the first date in the 
 rough Journal. But there is also a discrepancy between the 
 Rough and Secret Journal, under date of March 1, 1781. 
 
 Hoping to clear up the discrepancy by an examination of 
 early published copies, I found to my surprise, that in older 
 publications the date is usually given neither 12th nor 22d, 
 but " Feb. 13, 1779," and so given in the Laws of the U. S., 
 [John B. Calvin,] 1815; The Federalist, New ed. 1837, p. 
 480 ; and Elliot's Debates, 1854, i. 85. 
 
 In other publications and later works the date is given Feb 
 ruary 12, 1779, viz.: U. S. Statutes at Large, Richard 
 Peters, 1845; Hickey's Constitution, 1855, p. 490; Fed. 
 and State Const., B. P. Poore, 1877 ; Documents Illust. 
 Amer. Hist., Preston, 1886. 
 
 Other works too numerous to mention, some of them pub 
 lished during the last century, give the Articles and names, 
 but omit the dates. Others omit the names also. McKecni's 
 Laws, 1782, and Dallas' Laws of Pennsylvania, 1797, might 
 have settled the discrepancy, especially the former work, but 
 they give the names without dates. 
 
 It is doubtful if the discrepancy can ever be cleared up ; 
 February 22, 1779, seems, however, to be the most reliable 
 date, for that entry in the journal was undoubtedly made on 
 that date ; and as Mr. McKean's authority to sign was laid be 
 fore Congress on the 16th, and entered in the journal on that 
 day, it does not seem likely that he would sign before the lat 
 ter date. Lossing, in his "Lives of the Signers," appends an 
 account of the Articles of Confederation, and states that Dela 
 ware ratified "on the twenty-second of Februarv and 5th of 
 May, 1779." 1 
 
 About this time, Thomas McKean took the oath of allegiance 
 before his relative and former preceptor, David Finney, dated 
 January 25, 1779, that he does not hold himself bound to yield 
 any allegiance to the king of Great Britain, but will be true 
 
 1 EA. I860, p. 327. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 67 
 
 and faithful to the Delaware State. 1 Various judges, public of 
 ficers, members of Congress and others took the oath about this 
 same time. 
 
 DIFFICULTY WITH GENERAL THOMPSON. 
 
 This officer had been a prisoner of war, and when released 
 on parole became angry because he had not been exchanged ; 
 and said that Congress had treated him in a " rascally manner." 
 He was particularly bitter against Judge McKean, whom he 
 accused of having hindered his exchange ; and denounced him 
 for having acted " like a liar, a rascal, and a coward." Judge 
 McKean laid the matter before Congress, November 19, 1778, 
 in an information of personal abuse ; whereupon General 
 Thompson was called before the bar of the house, and apologized. 2 
 
 The Supreme Executive Council, December 31, 1778, also 
 took notice of the '* acrimonious remarks by Brigadier General 
 William Thompson." 3 Judge McKean moreover sued Thompson, 
 and got judgment for the large sum of .5,700 against him 
 and the publishers of the Packet. McKean, however, re 
 leased the damages in both cases, as he only wanted to see the 
 law and the facts settled. Thompson then tried to provoke a 
 duel with McKean ; but McKean would not set the precedent 
 of allowing a member of Congress or a magistrate to subject 
 himself to a duel with every person against whom he gave 
 judgment. 4 
 
 MEETING OF MAY 24-25, 1779. 
 
 This public meeting was called to counteract the effect of 
 monopolizers, and to devise means to reduce prices. General 
 Daniel Roberdeau, recently a delegate in Congress, and a 
 signer of the Articles of Confederation, was called to the chair ; 
 Timothy Matlack, David Rittenhouse, Thomas Paine, Charles 
 W. Pcale, Thomas McKean, and others, were present. A 
 committee, appointed to carry out the purposes of the meeting, 
 was made permanent. " The institution of this committee," 
 it is remarked in the Life of Joseph Reed, " is a leading in 
 cident in the local history of these times." The meeting also 
 resolved that " those inimical to independence should not be 
 
 1 Original in possession of J. Henry Rogers, Esq. 
 
 ^Journals of Cong., Nov. 19-23, 1778. 
 
 8 Hazard's Colonial Records, xi., 653. 
 
 4 Scharf and Westcott, Hist. Phil., i., 393. 
 
68 MoKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 suffered to remain among us." An account of the meeting is 
 given in full in the Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family. 1 
 
 A pamphlet in regard to this meeting, entitled " Meeting 
 of May 25, 1779," was published by Danfel lioberdeau, the 
 chairman. 2 
 
 The tories, who let no opportunity pass for ridiculing the 
 public characters of the day, published a poem, of which the 
 following is a portion : 
 
 AN HISTORICAL BALLAD OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF A TOWN 
 
 MEETING AT PHILADELPHIA, MAY 24-5, 1779. BY 
 
 STANSBERRY. 
 
 'Twas on the twenty -fourth of May, 
 A pleasant, warm, sunshiny day, 
 
 Militia folks paraded, 
 With colors spread, and cannon too, 
 Such loud huzzas, and martial view, 
 
 I thought the town invaded. 
 
 And now the State-House yard was full, 
 And orators, so grave and, dull, 
 
 Appear'd upon the stage, 
 But all was riot, noise, disgrace, 
 And freedom's sons, o'er all the place, 
 
 In bloody frays engage. 
 
 Each vagrant from the whipping- post, 
 Or stranger stranded on the coast, 
 
 May here reform the State, 
 And Peter, Mick, and Shad-row Jack, 
 And Pompey-like McKean in black, 
 
 Decide a people's fate. 
 
 ****** 
 
 With solemn phiz and action slow, 
 Arose the chairman Roberdeau, 
 
 And made the humane motion, 
 That tories, with their brats and wives, 
 Should flee to save their wretched lives, 
 
 From Sodom to Goshen. 8 
 
 HIGH COURT OF ERRORS AND APPEALS. 
 
 To this court, which was established by the Act of February 
 28, 1780, Judge McKean was commissioned with seven others, 
 
 also Penn. Packet, May 27, 17*79 ; Life of Joseph Heed, W, B. Reed. 
 2 Catalogued in Hildeburn's Issues of Press of Penn., 1886, No. 3951. 
 Watson's Annals of Phil. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 69 
 
 November 20, 1780. The court was reorganized under the 
 Act of April 13, 1791, and he was recommissioned with nine 
 others, April 13, 179 L. The court was abolished by Act of 
 February 24, 1806. Judge McKean retained his seat as Chief 
 Justice during this time. 1 
 
 During this year, 1780, there was an urgent need of funds, 
 and a few patriotic gentlemen subscribed $260,000 ; the Bank 
 of Pennsylvania was then organized for the purpose of supply 
 ing the army with provisions ; for this purpose Judge McKean 
 subscribed <2000. 2 
 
 On the 25th of December of this same year Judge McKean, 
 in a letter to the legislature of Delaware, resigned his seat in 
 Congress. " I find," said he, " that my health and fortune 
 are impaired by my unremitted attention to public affairs; 
 what I undertake to perform, I do with all my might ; and 
 having very little relief in attending Congress, I find that this, 
 the discharging the duties of Chief Justice, etc., etc., are more 
 than I can perform to my own satisfaction. Besides, the rank 
 I am obliged to maintain is greater than comports with my 
 finances." ... It is a proof of the disinterested principles by 
 which the public men of that period were guided, that Mr. 
 McKean had never received, in any year, as much emolument, 
 as a delegate, as would defray his personal expenses while 
 engaged in the service ; and that during the last two years, 
 (1779 and 1780,) he had not been offered or received a 
 farthing. His resignation, however, was not accepted, and he 
 continued his duties as a delegate from Delaware. 3 
 
 HIS RESIDENCE. 
 
 Chief Justice McKean' s residence being mentioned by var 
 ious writers, a description should not be omitted here. For 
 some years, according to Lossing, he resided in High street, now 
 known as Market street, near Second. But in 1780, December 
 20th, the Supreme Executive Council directed that the honor 
 able Chief Justice McKean be allowed to occupy Mr. Duche's 
 house until July 1st next. In explanation of this, it may be 
 stated that the Rev. Mr. Duche had been chaplain to the first 
 continental Congress; but being of a vacillating character, 
 after siding with the colonists, joined the British and went to 
 
 Westcott, ii., 1568 ; Bench and Bar of Phil., John Hill Mar 
 tin. 
 
 a Scharf and Westcott, i.,'409 ; Niles' Principles and Acts of the Rev. 
 * Sanderson. 
 
70 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 England. 1 He was attainted for high treason, and his prop 
 erty confiscated. This property consisting of the mansion, 
 coach house, stables and four lots, was sold August 10, 1781, 
 to Thomas McKean for .7750, Pennsylvania currency, subject 
 to a ground rent of 232J bushels of wheat. A deed for the 
 property bearing the above date was executed by the Supreme 
 Executive Council, in which the property is described as being 
 on the east side of Third street, occupying the whole side 
 of the square from Pine street on the south to Union street 
 on the north, and thirty feet in depth. 2 This building is de 
 scribed in the Historic Mansions and Buildings of Phila 
 delphia 3 as " a large and splendid mansion in the Elizabethan 
 style at the northeast corner of Third and Pine streets." An 
 engraving of the house is given in various works ; in the Book 
 of the Signers, by William Brotherhead, 1861, folio ; in 
 Sanderson's Biography of the Signers, revised by R. T. 
 Conrad, 4; in Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, (3 vols. 
 revised by Willis P. Hazard, 1884, i., 413 ;) and in Scharf and 
 Westcott's History of Philadelphia, i., 292. There was a 
 large hall in this house, at the ends of which hung the two 
 portraits by Peale, of Chief Justice McKean with his son 
 standing by his side, and of his wife Sarah Armitage with a 
 child on her lap. The mansion passed by will to the eldest 
 son, Judge Joseph B. McKean. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 To this exalted position, the highest in the gift of the people 
 or of Congress, Judge McKean was elected on the resignation 
 of Samuel Huntington, on the 10th of July, 1781. General 
 Washington sent his congratulations to him under date of July 
 21.* Being also Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, his holding 
 two such high positions at one time raised a clamor of opposi 
 tion to him. The press teemed with essays upon the subject, 
 maintaining both sides of the question ; in which the advocates 
 of Mr. McKean enjoyed a manifest advantage. The chief 
 point alleged was, that it was illegal to hold the office of Chief 
 Justice while sitting in Congress ; but it is evident that the 
 authors of the outcry were incited either by envy or ambition, 
 and not by virtue or love of country, because if his seat was 
 
 1 See his life in Keith's Provinc. Councillors, p. 276. 
 
 *Penn. Colo. Records, xii., 578, xiii., 25 ; Scharf and Westcott, i. 420. 
 
 Thompson Westcott, 1877, p. 90. 
 
 'Writings of Washington, Jared Sparks, 12 vols., Boston, 1837, viii., 112. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 71 
 
 illegal at all, it was as much so before he was made president 
 as afterwards. The Constitution of Pennsylvania, indeed, for 
 bade the holding of two offices ; but it was contended that this 
 did not apply to holding other offices outside of the State ; so 
 that his being a member of Congress from Delaware would not 
 conflict with the Constitution of Pennsylvania when he became 
 Chief Justice. The outcry came chiefly from Pennsylvania, 
 which was unreasonable considering that Pennsylvania had 
 appointed the Delaware member of Congress as Chief Justice. 
 It was moreover shown that several others were then holding 
 these two offices in various States. It was decided that he 
 could hold both offices ; the foundation of the decision was, 
 that one State could not interfere with another in its internal 
 administration, which included the selection of its officers. 
 Delaware could not interfere with the selection of the Penn 
 sylvania Chief Justice, nor could Pennsylvania restrain Dela 
 ware in her selection of members of Congress ; and Judge 
 McKean's seat was properly held and his election as President 
 was valid. 1 
 
 On Sunday, September 2d of this year, the American army 
 passed through to Philadelphia going south ; followed on the 
 3d and 4th by the French troops. As the latter passed 
 through, they were reviewed by Thomas McKean, President 
 of Congress, who on this occasion, appeared in black velvet 
 with a sword at his side, and his head covered. On his left 
 were Washington and Rochambeau uncovered; and on his 
 right M. de Luzerne, the French minister. As the officers 
 saluted in passing, McKean responded by removing his hat ; 
 and afterwards complimented the appearance of the various 
 corps. 2 
 
 These were the troops marching to victory at Yorktown, and 
 not many weeks afterwards, Colonel Tilghman, one of Wash 
 ington's aides-de-camp rode express to Philadelphia, to carry 
 the dispatches of his chief, announcing to Congress the joyful 
 tidings of the surrender of Cornwallis. " It was midnight 
 when he entered the city, October 23, 1781. Thomas 
 McKean the President of Congress resided in High street, 3 
 near Second. Tilghman knocked at the door so vehemently 
 that a watchman was disposed to arrest him for disturbing the 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, i., 415. Also Thacher's Military Journal, Boston, 
 1827. 
 3 Probably a mistake, as he had recently removed to Third stree 
 
72 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 peace. McKean arose, and presently the glad tidings were 
 made known." 1 And as the watchman an old German 
 named Hurry called the hour he proclaimed in a loud sonor 
 ous voice, " Basht dree o'clock and Grormvallis isht daken* 
 The dispatches were read to Congress at an early hour the 
 next morning ; and Congress, the same day went in procession 
 to the Dutch Lutheran Church, to return thanks to Almighty 
 God for the successes of the allied armies of the United States 
 and France. Handbills were printed, dated October 24, 1781, 
 announcing in large letters : ILLUMINATION, that Colonel 
 Tilghman having brought news of the surrender, citizens will 
 illuminate this evening from 6 to 9 oclock. 3 
 
 As the time approached for the Supreme Court to meet, 
 Mr. McKean, on the 23d of October, 1781, addressed a letter 
 to Congress resigning the presidency. Congress accepted the 
 resignation on that day ; but postponed the election ot a presi 
 dent until the next day, when on motion of Mr. Witherspoon, 
 it was unanimously resolved that Mr. McKean be requested to 
 resume the chair, and act as president, until the 1st Monday in 
 November. To this he acceded ; and on the 5th, John 
 Hanson was elected president. On the 7th a vote of thanks 
 was given to Mr. McKean for his services as president. 
 
 THREE REMARKABLE INCIDENTS. 
 
 Three remarkable incidents in the life of Thomas McKean 
 deserve especial mention. The first is, that he is the only 
 member of the continental congress who retained his seat 
 successively, with the exception of one year, from the Stamp 
 Act Congress in 1765, and the first continental congress in 
 1774, to the peace in 1783. Pennsylvania members were 
 limited by her constitution to a term of two years ; but Dela 
 ware did not so limit her delegates. 
 
 The second incident is, that while sitting in congress as a 
 delegate from Delaware, he was appointed Chief Justice of 
 Pennsylvania ; both states claiming him, and holding high 
 offices in each. 
 
 ^ossing's Field Book of Rev., 1852, ii., 527. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, i., 415-16. This work states that the first news 
 was received by a messenger at 3 a. m., October 22, and that Col. Tilghman 
 arrived on the 24th, confirming the news; whereupon the event was cele 
 brated. 
 
 8 Original in possession of Henry Pettit, Esq. Afac-simile is given in J. J. 
 Smith's Amer. Hist, and Lit. Curiosities, N. Y., 1860, pi. Ix. 
 
THOMAS McKEAX. 73 
 
 The third is the number of high offices he held at one 
 and the same time. While sitting as a delegate from Dela 
 ware in Congress, and the chief justice of Pennsylvania, he 
 was a member of the Delaware Assembly and also Speaker, 
 and for a while became ex officio President of the State of 
 Delaware and commander in chief. The year before this, he 
 was a colonel of the Pennsylvania Associators, and Chairman 
 of the Committee of Inspection and Observation. Subse 
 quently he held at the same time, the three offices of delegate 
 from Delaware, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and President 
 of Congress. In later years he was Governor of Pennsylva 
 nia as will be seen further on. 
 
 When we reflect upon the number of offices he held, we can 
 form an estimate of the vast labor he performed, and the un 
 wearied application requisite to master the complicated details 
 of litigated cases, essential to the faithful performance of his 
 judicial duties. Yet amidst the violence of party animosity, 
 in which he was extensively involved, although his holding so 
 many offices became the grounds of complaint, yet his enemies 
 do not seem to have charged him with any neglect of his duties. 1 
 
 PUBLISHES THE LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 As already noted in a quotation from a letter of Judge 
 McKean, he was appointed by the Legislature in 1781 to 
 compile the laws of Pennsylvania; which were published the 
 next year with the following title : 
 
 " The Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania, carefully compared with the originals ; and an 
 Appendix containing the laws now in force, passed between the 
 30th day of September 1775 and the Revolution ; together with 
 the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the State of 
 Pennsylvania, and the Articles of Confederation of the United 
 States of America. Published by order of the General Assembly, 
 [Arms of the State] Philadelphia, Printed and sold by Francis 
 Bailey in Market street, MDCCLXXXII." 
 
 On the next page is given the resolution of the Assembly 
 April 2, 1781, that Thomas McKean should publish the laws ; 
 And below this is his certificate that he has caused this volume 
 to be published. The work is briefly known as McKearfs Laws. 2 
 
 ^-National Portraits, J. B. Longacre and James Herring, vol. for 1839. 
 2 See John Hill Martin's Bench and Bar of Phil., 1883, pp. 185-8; and 
 Hildeburn's Issues of the Press of Pa., 1886, ii., 382, No. 4179. 
 
74 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 CONVENTION TO RATIFY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
 
 STATES. 
 
 About three years after the treaty of peace was signed, a 
 convention was called to meet in Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, 
 to frame a constitution for the United States. General Wash 
 ington l presided, and after a session of four months the con 
 vention adjourned September 17th, having agreed to the Con 
 stitution. 
 
 Judge McKean was not a member of this convention, yet he 
 was neither inattentive, nor inactive with regard to its proceed 
 ings. He had always been an advocate of the just rights of the 
 smaller, against the overbearing influence and power of the 
 larger states. 2 A vote by states was insisted upon by him, in 
 the first congress of 1765, and in that held in Philadelphia in 
 1774, and the concession was made by the other states. At 
 the meeting of the federal convention, he delivered to the dele 
 gates from Delaware, notes of the arguments used on those oc 
 casions, and at the same time offered, in private, his reasons in 
 support of the security of the smaller states, to members who 
 represented the larger. His influence prevailed; and the 
 result was the compromise which pervades the present system. 3 
 
 The constitution having been presented to congress by the 
 convention, was referred to the several states for ratification. 
 Pennsylvania after a hotly contested election chose delegates 
 for that purpose who met in Philadelphia, November 20th, 
 1787.* Judge McKean was a member from Philadelphia. 
 No business was transacted on the first day. On the 21st the 
 names were read and a ballot taken for president, which re 
 sulted: Muhlenberg 30, McKean 29, Gerry 1. It being 
 questioned whether any one had a majority, the convention 
 decided that Mr. Muhlenberg should take the chair. 
 
 The history of this convention forms the subject of a recent 
 work: Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution by John 
 Bach McMaster, and Frederick D. Stone, published by the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society 1888 ; in which the proceed- 
 
 *He kept a journal of his social movements, which has been published in 
 the Penn. Mag., xi., 296 ; and the Philadelphia Times, July 31, 1887, etc., in 
 which be records among other things : "Aug. 18. Dined at Chief Justice 
 McKean's, and spent the evening at home." 
 
 2 See Papers of James Madison, Henry D. Gilpin, 1841, ii., 751-2. 
 
 8 Sanderson's Lives. (In the Senate each State has an equal vote, and in 
 the House a vote according to population.) 
 
 4 Scharf and Westcott's Phila., i., 426, which gives the date wrongly 21st. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 75 
 
 ings are detailed at length, and the exciting contests between 
 the two parties narrated. A likeness of Thomas McKean is 
 also given, with a sketch of his life. 
 
 The Federalists chose for their leaders Wilson and McKean, 
 who took the management of the proceedings. After certain 
 motions relating to the organization and meetings of the con 
 vention, Judge McKean on the 28d, moved that the constitution 
 be read, which was done. On Saturday the 2ith he moved 
 that it be read a second time ; and in a short speech said that 
 they were situated in a new position, with no rules or pre 
 cedents to guide them, and in order to bring the matter before 
 them, he would offer a resolution ; not that he expected it 
 would be decided to-day, or in a week; and that all those 
 should be heard who were opposed to the constitution. He 
 therefore moved: 1 
 
 "That this Convention do assent to, and ratify, the Constitution 
 agreed to on the seventeenth of September last, by the Conven 
 tion of the United States of America, held at Philadelphia." 
 
 This motion was seconded by Mr. John Allison. The 
 business was now before the convention ; Mr. Wilson rose and 
 spoke in favor of the motion, in a speech lasting several days. 
 The principal speeches are given in Elliot's Debates on the 
 Federal Constitution, four vols., Authorized by Congress, 
 1836 ; but unfortunately all of them are not reported. The 
 opposition was assailed by legal arguments, by sarcasm, and 
 by ridicule. Judge McKean said in the course of his remarks, 
 that the apprehensions of the opposition respecting the new 
 constitution amounted to this, that if the sky falls we shall 
 catch larks; if the rivers run dry, we shall catch eels; 
 and he compared their arguments to a sound, but then it was 
 a mere sound, like the working of small beer? 
 
 On the 10th, Judge McKean announced that on the 12th he 
 would press for a vote. The debates were closed by a long and 
 eloquent speech by Judge McKean on the llth, embracing a 
 clear and comprehensive view of the whole subject. He un 
 folded, in a masterly manner, the principles of free government ; 
 demonstrated the superior advantages of the federal constitu 
 tion ; and satisfactorily answered every objection which had been 
 suggested. Arranging these objections under ten heads, he 
 
 1 Not on Monday, 26th, as given in Elliott's Debates. This error is pointed 
 out by Bancroft, United States, 1885, vi., 384 ; and Hist. Formation Const. U. 
 S., 1885, p. 384. 
 
 *Penna. and the Fed. Const., 365. 
 
76 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 considered them singly, and delivered his refutation of them 
 in a lucid and forcible manner. He concluded this powerful 
 argument in these words : 
 
 " The objections to this constitution having been answered, and 
 all done away, it remains pure and unhurt ; and this alone as a 
 forcible argument of its goodness. * * * The law, sir, has 
 been my study from my infancy, and my only profession. I have 
 gone through the circle of offices, in the legislative, executive and 
 judicial departments of government ; and from all my study, ob 
 servation and experience, I must declare that from a full exami 
 nation and due consideration of this system, it appears to me the 
 best the world has yet seen." 1 
 
 The convention was criticised by outsiders in the public press, 
 and Judge McKean did not fail to receive his share of criticism 
 and abuse from the opposition. In more than one part of the 
 State the excitement developed into a riot. In Carlisle, in par 
 ticular, two figures labeled Thomas McKean Chief Justice, 
 and James Wilson the Caledonian, were burned by the mob. 2 
 
 Nevertheless a majority of the people approved the consti 
 tution ; and the next year a majority of States having ratified 
 it by the close of June, a procession to celebrate the event was 
 arranged in Philadelphia for July 4, 1788. A description of 
 this celebration from the pen of Francis Hopkinson, chairman 
 of the committee of arrangements, has been preserved and re 
 cently published. 
 
 The First City Troop headed the escort : Independence was 
 represented by Colonel John Nixon, who had read the Decla 
 ration twelve years before at the State House ; The French 
 Alliance, by Thomas Fitzsimmons ; The New ^ra, by Rich 
 ard Bache ; The Convention of /States, by the Hon. Peter 
 Muhlenberg on horseback ; THE CONSTITUTION, the Hon. 
 Chief Justice McKean, the Hon. Judge Atlee, and the Hon. 
 Judge Rush, in their robes of office, seated in a lofty ornamen 
 tal car in the form of an eagle, drawn by six white horses. 
 The Chief Justice supported a tall staff, on the top of which was 
 the cap of liberty ; under the cap the NEW CONSTITUTION, 
 framed and ornamented, and immediately under the constitu 
 tion the words THE PEOPLE in large gold letters affixed to the 
 staff. Next came ten gentlemen of social distinction, repre 
 senting the ten States which had ratified the constitution ; The 
 
 Sanderson's Lives, and Elliot's Debates, 1888, ii., 542. 
 * Independent Gazetteer, Jan. 9, 1788, as quoted in Penn. and Fed. Const. 
 p. 488 ; see also McMaster's Hist. People of U. S., i., 475. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 77 
 
 Foreign Consuls ; The Hon. Francis Hopkinson, representing 
 the Admiralty ; The Society of the Cincinnati ; various other 
 societies, professions and trades brought up the rear. 1 
 
 THE CASE OF OSWALD, AND IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 This case came before the Supreme Court in the July term. 
 1788. 2 Eleazer Oswald, editor of the Independent Gazetteer, 
 was defendant in a suit then pending, and published an article 
 against Andrew Brown. Brown demanded the name of the 
 author, which Oswald declined to give ; he then brought suit, 
 whereupon Oswald on the 10th of July published another piece 
 over his own signature, which was the ground of the case com 
 ing before the Supreme Court. Chief Justice McKean consid 
 ered that the publication would inflame the public, and preju 
 dice those who may be summoned as jurors. He then asked 
 Oswald certain interrogatories, which Oswald refused to an 
 swer. Oswald was then, by the unanimous opinion of the 
 judges, held in contempt, and sentenced to a fine of <10, and 
 to be imprisoned u for the space of one month, that is from the 
 15th day of July to the 15th day of August." The sentence 
 was, however, entered on the record, " for the space of one 
 month," omitting the explanatory words following. At the 
 expiration of the legal month (twenty-eight days), Mr. Oswald 
 demanded his discharge, but this, the sheriff', who had heard the 
 sentence pronounced, refused to grant until he had consulted 
 the Chief Justice. Judge McKean, remembering the meaning 
 and words of the court, told the officer that he was bound to 
 detain his prisoner until the morning of the 15th ; but having 
 shortly afterwards examined the record, he wrote to the sheriff 
 that agreeably to the record there, Mr. Oswald was entitled to 
 his discharge. 
 
 On the 5th of September 1788, Mr. Oswald presented a 
 memorial to the General Assembly, in which he stated the 
 proceedings against him, and complained of the decision of the 
 court ; and the direction of the Chief Justice to the sheriff, by 
 which he alleged his confinement had been illegally protracted ; 
 and concluded by asking the impeachment of the judges. The 
 House in committee of the whole, considered this matter three 
 days and examined witnesses. William Lewis made an elab 
 orate argument in vindication of the judges ; Mr. Findley 
 
 J Scharf and Westcott, i., 447 el seq.; Philadelphia Times, Sept. 11, 1887. 
 2 1 Dallas, 319; Scharf and Westcott, i., 426. 
 6 
 
78 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 spoke on the other side, and Mr. Fitzsimmons then made a 
 motion that there was no cause for impeachment. After 
 several unimportant motions, one by Mr. Findley claimed the 
 attention of the house : That the action of the judges was an 
 unconstitutional exercise of power ; and directing the next 
 Assembly to define the nature and extent of contempts and 
 direct their punishment. Mr. Findley ably supported his 
 resolution ; but Mr. Lewis 1 satisfactorily answered him, that 
 the legislative power is confined to making the law, and can 
 not interfere in the interpretation, which is the natural and 
 exclusive province of the judiciary ; and secondly, the recom 
 mendation to the succeeding assembly would be nugatory, for 
 the courts of justice derive their powers from the constitution, 
 a source paramount to the legislature, and consequently what 
 is given to them by the former cannot be taken away by the 
 latter. Mr. Findley's motion was lost by a considerable ma 
 jority, and Mr. Clymer then renewed Mr. Fitzsimmons' original 
 motion, which was adopted, and the memorial of course re 
 jected. 2 
 
 In pronouncing the judgment of the court in the case of Os 
 wald, Chief Justice McKean made the following remarks: 
 
 " Some doubts were suggested whether even a contempt of the 
 court was punishable by attachment. Not only my brethren and 
 myself, but likewise all the judges of England, think that without 
 this power no court could possibly exist ; nay, that no contempt 
 could indeed be committed against us, we should be so truly con 
 temptible. The law upon the subject is of immemorial antiquity, 
 and there is not any period when it can be said to have ceased or 
 discontinued. On this point, therefore, we entertain no doubt." 
 
 These observations have since been repeatedly quoted as 
 conclusive on the subject of contempts ; and were cited with 
 approbation in the famous debate in January, 1818, in the case 
 of John Anderson in the house of representatives of the 
 United States. 3 
 
 Lossing in his Lives of the Signers, referring to this matter, 
 says, "It was like ' the viper biting a file.' " And a late judge 
 
 1 The impeachment resolution was chiefly defeated by the eloquence of 
 William Lewis. Browris Forum. 
 
 3 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 8 Ibid. Col. John Anderson attempted to bribe a member, and a long 
 debate ensued as to whether the House could punish him. Joseph Hopkin- 
 son quoted a portion of the above paragraph. See Journals If. R., Fifteenth 
 Cong., 1st Sess.; also Debates and Proceed., Gales and Seaton, 1854, Fifteenth 
 Cong., 1st Sess , pp. 722, 580 et seq. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 79 
 
 of the Supreme Court, writing in Hazard's Register of 'Penn 
 sylvania* on the Bench and Bar, says of Chief Justice Me- 
 Kean : " Many charges were made against him, finally, and 
 attempts were made to impeach him ; but all proved abortive, 
 and only shed new lustre upon his character." 
 
 This is not the only instance in which the legislature at 
 tempted a wholesale impeachment of the Supreme Court for 
 political purposes. Another case occurred in 1804, which will 
 be noticed in its proper place. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1789. 
 
 This Convention met on Tuesday, November 24, 1789, to 
 frame a constitution for the State. It was at first proposed to 
 reform the old constitution then in force, which was very defec 
 tive, with but a single legislative branch ; but this was after 
 wards abandoned as hopeless. Judge McKean was a delegate 
 from Philadelphia. Being resolved into committee of the 
 whole, December 1st, in which the subject was chiefly discussed, 
 Judge McKean was elected chairman. He therefore could not 
 take part in the debates ; he was, however, the author of the 
 clause making provision for the establishment of schools 
 throughout the States, so that the poor may be taught gratis. 
 On his retirement from the chair January 29, 1790, he received 
 a vote of thanks from the committee. 2 
 
 MINOR MATTERS. 
 
 A few years before this, Judge McKean was appointed by 
 Congress by a circuitous sort of ballot, one of nine judges to 
 settle a certain territorial claim between the states of Georgia 
 and South Carolina. James Madison and James Duane were 
 among the judges chosen. 3 
 
 Washington's birthday was celebrated in 1790 by the Soci 
 ety of the Cincinnati ; and Chief Justice McKean did not think 
 it beneath himself to march in procession with them through the 
 streets. 4 On the 17th of April occurred the funeral of Benja 
 min Franklin. The pall-bearers on this occasion were, the 
 President of the State, Thomas Mifflin ; the Chief Justice, 
 Thomas McKean ; the President of the Bank, John Morton ; 
 
 Mii., 241. 
 
 a Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 * Journals, Sept. 13, 1786. 
 
 * Scharf and Westcott, i., 463. 
 
80 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Samuel Powell, William Bingham, and David Rittenhouse, 
 Esqs., accompanied by the city officers, militia, and others. 1 
 
 During this same year was organized the Hibernian Society 
 for the relief of emigrants from Ireland. A number of benev 
 olent gentlemen (among whom were several members of the 
 Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which society it superseded) met 
 together on the 22d of March, and agreed upon a constitution, 
 under which, on the 5th of April, the officers were elected, as 
 follows : President, Hon. Thomas McKean ; Vice-President, 
 General Walter Stewart; Secretary, Matthew Carey: Treas 
 urer, John Taylor ; with other subordinate officers. The so 
 ciety was incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania, April 
 27, 1792, upon the petition of Thomas McKean and fifty-eight 
 others. The records being imperfect from 1793 to 1813, it is 
 not known how long Judge McKean served as president. The 
 society is in a flourishing condition at the present day, being 
 in possession of an investment fund of $70, 000. 2 
 
 In 1794 occurred what is known as the Whiskey Insurrec 
 tion, in the Western part of Pennsylvania. Extreme coercion 
 was about to be employed, and troops were called out by the 
 general government, when Judge McKean suggested a mild 
 and pacific course, which prevailed. Chief Justice McKean 
 and General William Irvine were appointed commissioners on 
 the part of the state ; and James Ross, Judge Jasper Yeates 
 and William Bradford (U. S. Attorney General), on the part 
 of the United States. 3 On their way home after leaving Car 
 lisle, two hundred men marched in, with the hope of catching 
 Judge McKean and Judge Yeates, who was in his company ; 
 but being disappointed in seizing the judges, burned them in 
 effigy. 4 Of this great uprising, much has been written; there 
 is a full account in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vol. 
 iv, by Linn and Egle, 1876. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1792 occurred the second 
 presidential election, in which Chief Justice McKean took part 
 as a presidential elector from the 3d Pennsylvania district. He 
 cast his vote for Washington, who received the unanimous votes 
 of all the electors, and who in due time entered upon his sec 
 ond term of office. 5 
 
 i., 458 ; Histor. Mag. of Notes and Queries, i., 83-4. 
 'Pamphlets of the Society, 188*7-9. 
 
 8 Hist. Whiskey Insurrection, H. M. Breckenbridge, 1859, p. 190; also Egle's 
 Hist. Penn., i., 227. 
 *Hildrith's U. S., iv., 505-11. 
 6 Lanman's Biog. Annals. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 81 
 
 WRITES A COMMENTARY ON THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 During this same year, Thomas McKean and James Wilson 
 published a work with the following title : 
 
 " Commentary on the Constitution of the United States of 
 America, with that Constitution prefixed, in which are unfolded 
 the Principles of free Government; and the superior Advantages 
 of Republicanism demonstrated." By James Wilson, LL. D., and 
 Thomas McKean, LL. D. T.Lloyd. 8vo., pp. 147. 3s. De- 
 bret, 1792. 
 
 Both of the authors were signers of the Declaration, and they 
 had been the two principal leaders in the convention which rat 
 ified the constitution. McKean was Chief Justice, and Wilson 
 an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Wilson was also at 
 that time professor of law in the University of Pennsylvania. 
 This work was favorably commented upon by that standard 
 publication, the London Monthly Review for October, 1792 
 (iii, 155), which concludes as follows : 
 
 " The publication must be perused throughout in order to form 
 an idea of the good sense, and manly eloquence of the speeches 
 here made public. 1 
 
 COMMOTIONS CAUSED BY JAY'S TREAY. 
 
 The revolution which dethroned Louis XVI now broke out 
 in France, and England with other countries declared war 
 against her. Very naturally the popular sympathy in the 
 United States was with France our old ally, and against Eng 
 land our late enemy. Assistance to France was proposed by 
 many ; and opposed by others, who raised the objection that 
 the country had no resources, and was as yet but feebly 
 established. To avert a war, a secret treaty with England 
 was concluded by John Jay at London, November 19, 1794. 
 On being made public in June following, a few days after its 
 ratification by the Senate, (June k 24th,) it was received at first 
 with an almost united roar of execration throughout the land. 2 
 Public meetings in various places gave expression to the feel 
 ing against it. 
 
 In Philadelphia a meeting was held July 24th, at which Dr. 
 William Shippen presided. Governor Mifflin, Chief Justice 
 McKean, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, David Rittenhouse, Alex- 
 
 1 See also Penn. Mag., xi., 271 ; Allibone's Diet, of Authors, art. McKean. 
 2 Randall's Thomcus Jefferson, iii., 258-65-66. 
 
82 MoKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 ander J. Dallas, Charles Pettit, Thomas Lee Shippen, Jared 
 Ingersol, Blair McClenachan and others were mounted on a 
 stage and favored war with England. The treaty was read, 
 and then contemptuously thrown off the stage. It was caught 
 up by a crowd, who marched with it to the house of the 
 British Minister and to Senator William Bingham's, where the 
 treaty was publicly burned. 1 Nevertheless the treaty was 
 proclaimed and war averted, happily so for the country. 
 John Adams, who favored the other side of the question, re 
 ferred to this matter in a letter to Thomas McKean dated June 
 2, 1812, as follows* " Nearly thirty-eight years ago our friend 
 ship commenced. It has never been interrupted to my knowl 
 edge but by one event." 7 Their friendship however after that 
 event continued unbroken to the end. 
 
 A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR. 
 
 At the third presidential election in 1796 Adams and Jeffer 
 son were the two principal competitors. Chief Justice McKean 
 headed the republican list of Presidential Electors in Penn 
 sylvania, being one of the two electors at large, the second 
 time he had filled this position. Pennsylvania was entitled to 
 fifteen electors, and among those from the congressional dis 
 tricts, were Joseph Hiester afterwards Governor, General 
 William Irvine, Colonel Samuel Miles, and Peter Muhlenberg. 3 
 This ticket, which favored Thomas Jefferson, was elected, re 
 ceived 12,306 votes in the state, against 12,181 for the whig 
 ticket headed by Whelen, which favored Mr. Adams. 4 At the 
 election, Mr. Jefferson received fourteen of the fifteen votes. 
 Mr. Adams however had a majority of the whole number cast 
 and was elected president. 
 
 HEATED POLITICAL AFFAIRS. PETER PORCUPINE'S LAWSUITS. 
 
 Politics still continued to agitate the people, the newspapers 
 being not the least of the causes, which kept up the excite 
 ment. William Duane of the Aurora was particularly abusive 
 in all his writings. At length, as we may read in McMaster's 
 
 l lbid., and Scharf and Westcott, i., 4Y5-81. 
 
 2 Works, by his grandson, C. F. Adams, 1856, x., 13, and Sanderson's 
 Lives. 
 
 *Lanman, Biog. Annals, p. 514. 
 4 Scharf and Westcott, i., 485. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 83 
 
 History, 1 weary of this abuse, a number of militiamen, led by 
 Joseph B. McKean, son of the Chief Justice, one afternoon in 
 May waited on the editor, and demanded an apology. Mr. 
 Duane refused ; whereupon he was seized, dragged down 
 stairs, and flogged in the public street. For this chastisement, 
 Duane entered suit against Joseph B. McKean and thirty 
 others ; but they were acquitted after the suit had hung on for 
 several years. 2 
 
 Notwithstanding this, Duane took sides with Judge McKean 
 in his canvass for governor ; but like many politicians turned 
 against him eventually. His wholesale abuse brought him 
 continually into trouble. In February, just before the episode 
 above related, he became involved in a quarrel with the con 
 gregation of St. Mary's church ; and together with Dr. James 
 Reynolds was arrested and brought before the mayor. Judge 
 McKean appeared in their behalf, much to the dissatisfaction 
 of the opposite party. 3 
 
 Duane continued his abuse, and the opinion with which he 
 was regarded by the opposition may be seen from the follow 
 ing extract from the Federalist or New Jersey Gazette, 
 August 5, 1799. " On Tuesday last, Duane the infamous 
 Aurora man was arrested by the marshall of the district of 
 Pennsylvania upon a warrant from Judge Peters, for publish 
 ing in the Aurora of the 24th ultimo, a gross and virulent 
 libel upon the government of the United States." The libel, 
 the editor then goes on to say, was, that in 1798, the British 
 government distributed $800,000 among officers of the United 
 States as secret service money. 
 
 There was another also who took part in the politics of these 
 times, so distinguished as a writer that he deserves more than 
 a passing notice ; and that person is William Cobbett, whose 
 ready and sarcastic pen kept him ever in trouble. He was 
 the editor of a weekly paper, The Gazette, and wrote under 
 the pseudonym of Peter Porcupine. 4 ' 
 
 l Hist. People of U. S., ii., 439. 
 
 "Scharf and Westcott, i., 497, 533. 
 
 3 Scharf and Westcott, i., 497. Also Wharton's State Trials of the U. S., 
 1849, p. 345. 
 
 4 He was born in England in 1762, came to Philadelphia, and edited Por 
 cupine's Gazette, in which he attacked and slandered almost every one ; 
 thereby becoming involved in suits for slander without number. Of all the 
 opponents of Thomas McKean during his exciting canvass for Governor, 
 Cobbett was the most rancorous. He "boasted of having immortalized the 
 Governor in every country where the English language is spoken." (Loy- 
 
84 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 In this paper in 1797, Cobbett slandered the Spanish Min 
 ister, Senor Martinez de Yrujo, and the Spanish King, calling 
 the former, whom he nicknamed Don Yarico, a fop, half don 
 and half sans-culotte ; and the latter a poor degraded creature. 
 For this, Senor Martinez de Yrujo complained against Cobbett, 
 and he was bound over in the District Court charged as a com 
 mon libeller ; but broke his conditions and the cause then came 
 in the Supreme Court before Chief Justice McKean. The 
 defendant petitioned to have his case transferred to the Circuit 
 Court; but the Supreme Court rejected it. Chief Justice 
 McKean presided at the trial. 1 u His charge to the jury was 
 a fine one. His explication of the law of libel did him credit," 
 says McMaster 2 the historian, but adds that the Chief Justice 
 turned libeller upon the prisoner at the bar. Cobbett was 
 acquitted by a single vote, (10 to 9.) It is stated in the Life 
 of Cobbett, that Chief Justice McKean then determined to 
 suppress Cobbett's wholesale abuse, and collecting a number of 
 his pamphlets, compelled him on his own authority as Chief 
 Justice to go under bonds to keep the peace, and be of good 
 behavior. 3 Cobbett, in his inimitable style, relates this in a 
 letter to Dr. Joseph Priestly, as follows 4 
 
 "He then collected a bundle of my pamphlets and papers, and 
 thereupon issued a warrant, . . . [which] stated that I had published 
 
 alist Poetry of the Revolution, p. 171.) After McKean's election he sailed for 
 England, and it was thought that he would favor the royalist side, since he 
 had opposed the republican form of government in America ; but no, his 
 pen at once turned against the king and ministry, and he was soon con 
 victed of various libels against the government and individuals, fined and 
 imprisoned. By one of those strange freaks of fortune, he was elected to 
 Parliament, but failed signally in that sphere, making several blunders. 
 Allibone says that in Parliament he " roared as gently as any sucking dove." 
 Southey declared that "As an author he stands very high ; there never was 
 a better or more forcible writer. In public he seemed almost against every 
 one." (New Am. Encycl.} Judgments of the courts against him for dam 
 ages he deemed as robbery ; Parliament he considered little better than a 
 mob for laughing him down. So even in his Grammar of the English Lan 
 guage (Letter xvii., \ 181) he cannot conceal his sarcasm, as the following 
 singular extract will show : " Nouns of number or multitude, such as Mob, 
 Parliament, Rabble, House of Commons, Regiment, Court of King's Bench, 
 Den of Thieves, and the like, may have pronouns agreeing with them either 
 in the singular or plural number." See his Life, ' How to Get on in the 
 World," Robert Waters, N., Y., 1883. 
 
 J 3 Dallas, 467, December term, 1798; also reprinted in State Trials of 
 the U. S., Francis Wharton, LL. D., Phila., 1849. 
 
 *Hist. of People of U. S., 1855, ii., 353. 
 
 3 How to Get on in the World, R. Waters, N. Y., 1883, p. 60. 
 
 *The Rush Light, Cobbett's Works, xi., 427. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 85 
 
 certain false and malicious libels against himself, Mifflin, Dallas, 
 Jefferson, Munroe, Gallatin, old Franklin, the Duke of Bedford, 
 'Charles Fox, Sheridan, Lord Stanhope, Bonaparte, the Bishop 
 of Bergamo, Pichegru, Robespierre, Talleyrand, Parker the 
 mutineer, Napper Tandy, Arthur O'Conner, and the devil 
 knows who besides." 
 
 ELECTED GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 In October 1799, after a furious political contest with James 
 Ross, Thomas McKean was elected Governor of Pennsylvania. 
 There were two political parties: the Republican or Demo 
 cratic-Republican, (a term which came into use about this 
 time,^) and the Federalist. The former, which was against the 
 encroachments of the federal government, supported McKean ; 
 the latter, which favored the strong measures of the govern 
 ment, voted for Ross. 1 McKean received 38,036 votes against 
 32,643 for Ross, a majority of 5393 ; 2 The election marked an 
 important era in politics; for it brought in- power the new 
 party which was afterwards destined to rule the country for 
 many years. 
 
 HIS ELECTION OPPOSED BY COBBETT. 
 
 One of the most bitter opponents of Thomas McKean in the 
 canvass for governor was William Cobbett. He had never for 
 given the Chief Justice for his decisions in those previous 
 lawsuits, and now his aggravating sarcasm, his great fluency of 
 expression, and his pointed and undisguised statements, made 
 him an opponent by no means to be despised. But the 
 acrimony of the contest having long since passed away, an 
 account of his attacks cannot fail to be interesting, but will 
 doubtless now provoke merely a smile from the reader of these 
 pages. The author does not guarantee the truth of the state 
 ments quoted ; but that may also be a feature of Cobbett's style : 
 
 u Judye McKean : This vile old wretch who now disgraces the 
 courts of the unfortunate State of Pennsylvania, was formerly a 
 stable-man at a tavern in Chester county. The following lines 
 allude to his state of innocence : 
 
 " OLD TOPER, to currying horses was bred, 
 But tir'd of so humble a life, 
 
 l Life of Thomas Jefferson, Henry S. Randall, ii., 506. 
 
 2 Legis. Handbook of Pa., T. B". Cochran, 1889, for the votes in detail; 
 Scharf and Westcott, i., 498: see also Hildrith's U. S., v., 314. Hildrith 
 gives the votes each 10,000 too small. 
 
86 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 To currtfing favor he turned his head, 
 
 And 's now curried himself by his wife." 1 
 
 In another place, with great sarcasm, he says : 
 
 " His [McKean's] grandfather was an Irishman who emigrated 
 with the consent of his majesty and twelve good and true men." 3 
 
 It would be strange if Cobbett's abuse should overreach 
 itself and turn in McKean's favor. Can it be that Cobbett here, 
 with a little confusion of generations, alludes to the Claver- 
 house jury mentioned in the Introduction ? If so, it settles 
 the matter in the affirmative that the Pennsylvania and the 
 New England McKeans have the same origin. 
 
 In regard to naturalizing foreigners, no one ever represented 
 the matter in such a light as Cobbett in the following sentence : 
 
 " McKean. This honorable personage is not only canvassing as 
 he goes his circuit (gracious God !), he is not only soliciting votes 
 of the present citizens, but he is absolutely making new ones." 3 
 
 Accusing McKean of trying to conciliate the Quakers whom 
 he offended by the execution of Roberts and Carlisle, Cobbett 
 writes : 
 
 "' Now by St. Paul the work goes bravely on ! !' Nothing that 
 I ever saw or ever heard of would please me half so well as to see 
 'The Honor, the Doctor of Laws, Esqr.,' in a broad-brimmed hat 
 and a cape coat. But halt ! What shall we do with the three 
 tailed wig ? It must not hang dangling down over a piece of 
 smooth mouse-colored cloth ; and as to a cap, it would never suit 
 either a judge or a governor. A red liberty cap, indeed, some 
 governors have been proud to wear ; but this, I take it, would suit 
 worse with a Quaker coat than even a three tailed wig. Notwith 
 standing this difficulty, however, I sincerely hope the conversion 
 will take place.* 
 
 About this time Cobbett turned his attention to Dr. Rush, 
 charging that he bled his patients to death. Finally Rush 
 sued him, and the case came before Chief Justice McKean, 
 governor elect, but still in the bench, and Judge Shippen. 
 Shippen then came in for his share of abuse, as well also as the 
 counsel engaged, namely, Joseph Hopkinson (son of the signer 
 and author of " Hail Columbia"), and Edward J. Coale (men 
 
 1 Porcupine's Works, by William Cobbett, London, 1801, 12 vols., vii., 300, 
 Gazette Selections. 
 a lbid., vii., 333. 
 Ibid., x., 206. 
 Mbid., x., 212. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 87 
 
 tioned elsewhere in this genealogy), a relative of Hopkinson, 
 and a student in his office. Dr. Rush got a verdict of $5000. x 
 
 Finally, when the election drew nigh, with every prospect of 
 McKean's success, Cobbett became so wrought up that he pub 
 lished the following threat : 
 
 "I know McKean, and I know that it is my duty, my bounded 
 duty to my subscribers in this state, to use all my feeble efforts 
 to preserve them from the power of such a man. From private 
 considerations, there is no man who need care less about the issue 
 of the election than myself. It is out of McKean's power to hurt 
 me. I will never live six months under his sovereign sway."* 
 
 True to his threat, on the news of the election of McKean, 
 Cobbett prepared to leave Philadelphia; but was not able to 
 do so before execution was levied by Dr. Rush and others on 
 his personal effects that swept away nearly all his property. 3 
 
 He inserted in the Federalist or New Jersey Gazette of 
 December 16, 1799, the following advertisement: 
 
 " WILLIAM COBBETT having, (in order to avoid the disgrace 
 of living under the Government of MacKean,) removed from 
 Philadelphia to New York, requests all those who may have 
 occasion to write to him, to direct their letters to the latter city, 
 No. 141 Water street." 
 
 On his arrival in New York he published the following 
 card (January 1800) : 
 
 " To the subscribers of this Gazette : Remembering as you must 
 my solemn promise to quit Pennsylvania, in case my old demo 
 cratic Judge MACK KEAN should be elected Governor ; and 
 knowing as you now do that he is elected to that office, there are, 
 I trust, very few of you who will be surprised to find that I am no 
 longer in that degraded and degrading state." 4 
 
 He published the Rush Light in New York for a while, in 
 which he continued his abuse on Rush, McKean, Shippen, 
 Hopkinson, and Harper ; and ended by consigning all Phila- 
 delphians to perdition, and sailed for Europe. 5 
 
 The democratic-republicans went wild over the election of 
 Thomas McKean, for it was the first triumph of the new party. 
 Addresses were made to him, in various places ; and banquets 
 given, in which he was toasted. In the Aurora of November 
 
 1 Ibid., xi., 360-3. 
 
 a lbid., x., 190. 
 
 "Scharf and Westcott, i., 497. 
 
 * Cobbetfs Works, xi., 137. 
 
 5 Scharf and Westcott, i., 499. 
 
88 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 9th, appeared one of the party songs, which concluded as 
 
 follows : 
 
 The day of election the Tories regret, 
 Five thousand and odd 's a majority great ; 
 So here 's to the health of Republican Green 
 And Republican Blue and old Thomas McKean. 
 
 On the 6th of November, at a town meeting held in Phila 
 delphia, an address was prepared congratulating the governor- 
 elect upon his success. To this, Judge McKean replied that 
 under his administration their happy system of government, 
 raised on the sole authority of the people, would, he trusted, 
 by the favor of God, be continued inviolate ; that neither 
 foreign nor domestic enemies, neither intrigue, menace, nor 
 seductions should prevail against it ; and that the constitution 
 of the United States and of Pennsylvania, should be the rule 
 of his government. 1 The reply created some stir at the time, 
 on account of its strong partisan language, and it was after 
 wards brought up against him. 2 
 
 TAKES THE OATH OF OFFICE. HIS REMOVALS FROM OFFICE. 
 
 Judge McKean took the oath of office as governor on the 17th 
 of December, 1799. In the Federalist, QV New Jersey Gazette, 
 of December 23d, 1799, is the announcement that McKean was 
 proclaimed Governor of Pennsylvania on the 18th instant, 3 also 
 that Edward Shippen is appointed Chief Justice, and Hugh H. 
 Brackenridge, of Pittsburg, a Judge of the Supreme Court. 
 This paper is deeply edged with black, as it contains the an 
 nouncement of the lamented decease of General Washington. 
 
 As soon as Governor McKean entered upon his duties, he 
 began a series of removals from office, of various persons, high 
 and low, which he deemed for the public good. In a letter to 
 John Dickinson, June 23, 1800, he says: "I have waded 
 through a sea troubles, and surmounted my principal difficulties. 
 I have been obliged (though no Hercules), to cleanse the 
 Augean stable, with little or no aid ; for I am my own minis 
 ter and amanuensis."* 
 
 Governor McKean, as might be expected, was attacked by 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, i., 504. 
 
 8 A mistake for 17th. 
 
 * Sanderson's Lives, where a lengthy defense of these removals is entered 
 into. In some of the volumes of Penn. Senate Journal may be found long 
 lists of the Governor's appointments, 1805-6-7, and thereabouts. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 89 
 
 his political opponents, and his course ascribed wholly to polit 
 ical antagonism. Alexander Graydon was one of those removed 
 by him. He was performing the duties of prothonotary of 
 Dauphin county " until his sudden expulsion by McKean, to 
 whom," he says, " belongs the unenviable distinction of being 
 the father of political proscription in the United States." 1 
 Charles Biddle, also a contemporary, says of the Governor, " I 
 knew he was very much provoked at some severe pieces, writ 
 ten against him by my nephew, Mr. Marks John Biddle. How 
 ever, Governor McKean and myself had always been upon good 
 terms, and I had a high esteem for him, believing him to be a 
 very honest man, although a very violent one, who had no com 
 mand of his temper ; but spoke whatever he thought upon all 
 occasions." Although Mr. Graydon, who was remotely con 
 nected with the governor by marriage, was turned out of office, 
 yet Biddle was retained, though he had every expectation of 
 being removed. 2 
 
 His political enemies, the Federalists, berated Governor 
 McKean, as may be seen from the two following extracts from 
 The Administrations of Washington and Adams the Fed 
 eral Administrations : 3 " After all, McKean is a better gov 
 ernor than Mifflin. He won't corrupt society more, if as much, 
 and the work he does will be more open." (Letter of Chaun- 
 cey Goodrich, Hartford, Nov. 18, 1799.) " McKean's ad 
 ministration has brought forward every scoundrel who can read 
 and write, into office or expectation of one, and the residue of 
 Democrats, with the joy and precocity of the damned, are enjoy 
 ing the mortification of the few remaining honest men and Fed 
 eralists." (Letter of Uriah Tracy, Pittsburg, Aug. 7, 1800.) 
 
 "Mr. McKean's gubernatorial career," says a recent biogra-- 
 pher," was marked by great ability, and produced beneficial re 
 sults to the commonwealth. He was a rigid partisan, well dis 
 ciplined in tactics, a devout believer in the Jeffersonian maxim 
 that, ' to the victors belong the spoils.' In carrying out his 
 specific views of this theory, his wholesale removals of political 
 opponents was unprecedented in our early history. 4 " 
 
 The Federalists in the legislature now attacked Governor 
 McKean for his speech on the 6th of November, as well as for 
 his removals. It was moved in the House of Representatives 
 
 1 Memoirs of His Own Time, 1846, p. xiii. 
 
 *Autobiog. Ch. Biddle, by Craig Biddle, 1883, p. 383. 
 
 3 Geo. Gibbs, 2 vols., N. Y., 1846, ii., 288, 399. 
 
 4 Nevin, Continental Sketches of Distinguished Pennsylvanians, 1875. 
 
90 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 to condemn him, but that branch containing a majority of 
 Democrats, the vote was lost. 1 The Senate, however, passed a 
 resolution condemning him, to which he made a long reply, 
 " declaring that the objectionable expressions were uttered 
 before he assumed office ; and that as regarded his removals 
 from office, he relied upon his right to make such changes as 
 he deemed proper without accountability to any person or 
 party," 2 a reply characteristic of his firmness of purpose in 
 what he believed to be right. 
 
 His object in removing opponents was not to make places 
 merely for political friends, but to secure efficiency and har 
 mony to his rule. For when the affairs of his administration 
 once became settled on a firm basis, he did not adhere exclu 
 sively to his own party in making appointments. He twice 
 elevated to the highest position in his power to bestow, that of 
 chief justice of the state, gentlemen whose political views were 
 adverse to his own. 8 
 
 In verification of this statement, the following anecdote may 
 properly find a place here. When Tilghman was nominated 
 for chief justice, a committee was sent, who announced them 
 selves as representing the sovereign people, the great democ 
 racy of Philadelphia, and declaring that they could never ap 
 prove this nomination. The governor listened with his usual 
 haughty courtesy, and bowing profoundly, replied, " Inform 
 your constituents that I bow with submission to the great de 
 mocracy of Philadelphia ; but, by God ! William Tilghman 
 shall be chief justice of Pennsylvania." And he was. 41 He 
 received his appointment February 28, 1806. 
 
 Another anecdote is related, of an appointment which can 
 not be charged to political reasons. A very worthy man 
 (John Goodman) applied to him for a commission as justice of 
 the peace ; but stated very frankly that he had no certificates 
 or backers. "Never mind," said the Governor,"! require 
 none ; and if any one should ask you how you got your ap 
 pointment, tell him that Thomas McKean recommended you, 
 and the Governor appointed you." 6 
 
 Not long after this, Governor McKean removed his nephew 
 by marriage, Joseph Hopkinson, and appointed John Beckley 
 
 ^charf and Westcott, i., 504. 
 
 2 Egle, Illust. Hist, of Penn., i., 234-5. 
 
 8 Armor, Lives of Govs. of Penn., p. 303 ; see also Sanderson's Live*. 
 
 R. H. Daris, in Harp. Mag., lii., 872. 
 
 5 David Paul Brown, The Forum, i., 345. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 91 
 
 to the office. A controversy ensued over this in which Joseph 
 B. McKean appeared in behalf of his father. Governor 
 McKean was also assailed for participating as Grand Sachem 
 at an anniversary celebration of the St. Tammany Society, 
 May 12, 1800, at Buck Tavern, Moyamensing. The cere 
 mony was burlesqued in the Phila. Gazette of June SdjlSOO. 1 
 
 Next President Adams made an appointment which set in 
 motion a lively controversy. He appointed Alexander J. 
 Dallas district attorney, which gave dissatisfaction, as Dallas 
 was already Secretary of the Commonwealth. He resigned 
 the latter, and Governor McKean appointed him Recorder of 
 Philadelphia. The common council objected to this, as he 
 held two offices. Proceedings were had and the case was 
 argued by Hopkinson, Lewis and Tilghman for the councils, 
 and by Joseph B. McKean and Ingersoll for Dallas. The 
 defendants (Dallas) won the case, and the legislature at the 
 next session took up the matter and passed a law prohibiting 
 a person from holding both state and federal offices. Governor 
 McKean vetoed this, as he could not admit thereby that he 
 had done any wrong in appointing Dallas as Recorder. The 
 House passed the bill over his veto and Dalks resigned. 2 It 
 is readily seen that the root of this controversy was, that the 
 law or custom of holding more than one office, was not then 
 well defined, as it is now ; and such cases as the above-related, 
 assisted materially in settling the law and custom. 
 
 In justification of Governor McKean's removals from office, 
 I know of no stronger argument, than that which may be drawn 
 from the writings of his opponents themselves. 1 will first 
 cite William Cobbett, in regard to the dilemma of Governor 
 Mifflin's appointees to office: 3 
 
 " Two candidates offered, Ross and McKean. In the latter 
 they remembered indeed the old revolutionist ; but they also re 
 membered that he was not a Mifflin. Keen, vigilant, persever 
 ing, tyrannical and vindictive as they knew McKean to be, they 
 were afraid to give him their support lest they should have him 
 for a master ; and afraid to oppose him lest they should be dis 
 placed. Being at last fully persuaded that Ross would succeed, 
 they openly gave him their support. They were egregiously de 
 ceived. McKean was elected by a vast majority ; and though his 
 great age was one of the objections they affected to have against 
 
 !Scharf and Westcott, i., 504. 
 2 Ibid., i., 509. 
 8 Works, xi., 387. 
 
92 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 him, he soon made them feel that he was not deficient in point 
 of energy. 
 
 u The first step he took was to annul all commissions during 
 pleasure, granted by his predecessor. He had previously obtained 
 exact information respecting the electioneering conduct of every 
 one of the civil officers, whom he had power to displace ; and ac 
 cording to this, he made out his list of proscription. He swept 
 the poor fellows off by dozens, with as little ceremony as a foul 
 feeding glutton brushes the flies from the meat he is himself going 
 to devour." 
 
 Had Governor McKean transcended his legitimate powers 
 one iota, or overstepped the law in the smallest particular, 
 would not Cobbett have eagerly seized upon it? The fact 
 that Cobbett does not bring such a charge is circumstantial evi 
 dence that Governor McKean did not overstep the laws in his 
 removals. He first annulled the commissions " during pleas 
 ure;" he then made a list of those '-'whom he had power to 
 displace" He had a clear right to remove these two classes. 
 As to the office holders, Cobbett depicts them in an unenviable 
 light, weak, unreliable and insincere to either candidate, think 
 ing solely how to retain their offices. The removals are thus 
 seen to be not contrary to law, although contrary to custom. 
 
 The letter of Chauncey Goodrich, quoted a few pages back, 
 says, "the work he does will be more open," thus testifying 
 that Governor McK can's work is not done in secret or in the 
 dark, but is open to the criticism of his adversaries. The 
 other letter quoted contains abuse, but nothing against McKean 
 more than its language is against its own author. Cobbett's 
 attacks, as may be seen from the extracts given, were generally 
 abuse, or ridicule, that may have influenced some at that time. 
 Such evanescent attacks contain but little to influence posterity. 
 
 The photolithographed fac-simile of a printed hand-bill on 
 the opposite page, is given as a curious memento of these tur 
 bulent times. It has been preserved in the family, and is now 
 in possession of the author. The photolithograph is reduced 
 two-thirds of the original size. 1 
 
 The news that the presidential election between Jefferson 
 and Burr had resulted in a tie, was known towards the close of 
 the year 1800, and much elated the democratic republican?, 
 as the election would then be thrown into the House of Re 
 presentatives. Meetings, festivals, and banquets were held in 
 
 1 The paper is torn and the print worn away in places. It is not known 
 who wrote the line at the bottom. 
 
BY DESIRE OF 
 
 GOVERNOR M'KEAN> 
 
 Who means to honor the Theatre with his prefeftce, 
 THIS EVENING, January 2, 1800, 
 
 At the Houfe of Mr. LENEGAN, in Eajl King-Jlreet, Lancafter, 
 At the Sign of the White Horje. 
 
 srSENTLEME*r-trf Bmcafter 
 pecifully informed, that this evening will be prefent- 
 pd the greateft variety of amufements that has ever 
 ~been exhibked in this town, confiding of 
 
 Pantomime, Singing, Hornpipe Danc 
 ing, Tumbl//7g, SPEAKING, &c. &c, 
 
 And in particular ^tn Indian WAR and SCALP Dance, 
 
 by Mr. Durang and Mr. F. Kicketts. 
 
 Doors to be opened at fix and the performance to be^in at 7 o'clock. 
 Tickets to be had at Mr, Lenegans and at Hamilton s Pfinting-Office. 
 
 who wifh to engage feats may have 
 calling uv/a^Ri Row SON at the Theatre. 
 
 ROWSON & Co. 
 
 ^Printed by William Hamilton, King-ftreet, ^ ar ^^ 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 93 
 
 various places, among which was a splendid gathering at the 
 Green Tree Tavern at Philadelphia to hear speeches, drink 
 toasts, and sing " Jefferson and Liberty," till they were hoarse. 
 One stanza of this favorite party song ran as follows : 
 
 Calumny and falsehood in vain raise their voice 
 
 To hlast our Republican's fair reputation ; 
 But Jefferson still is America's fair choice, 
 
 And he will, her liberties, guard from invasion. 
 'Tis the wretches who wait, 
 To unite church and state, 
 That the names of McKean, Burr, and 
 
 Jefferson hate. 
 
 But ne'er will the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 1 
 
 SECOND ELECTION AS GOVERNOR. 
 
 IN the fall of 1802, Governor McKean was re-elected ; his 
 popularity gaining for him an immense majority, receiving no 
 less than 47,879 votes, against 17,037 for his old competitor 
 Ross. His majority was 30,000 in a total vote of 65,000. s 
 Is not this majority alone a vindication of his three years 
 administration ? Three-fourths of the people of the state are 
 with him. The opposition is headed by a mere faction, which 
 however makes a great noise. Politics ran exceedingly high 
 at this election also. A banquet was given to the Governor 
 at Hamburg Tavern, and also at Francis' Union Hall. And a 
 procession to celebrate the acquisition of Louisiana laid out the 
 route of the march to pass the Governor's house on Third 
 street, May 12, 1804. 3 
 
 During this year (1804) occurred the Brackenridge episode. 
 The legislature was acting on a matter of the impeachment of 
 three of the four judges of the supreme court, for alleged 
 arbitrary conduct in committing to prison for contempt of 
 court, one of the parties in a suit then pending ; the contempt 
 consisted in an abusive publication in the newspapers. The 
 case was similar to that of Oswald already related in these 
 pages. Judge Brackenridge the fourth judge happened to be 
 absent, and was not embraced in the impeachment ; he how 
 ever. sent a letter to the assembly, that he concurred in the 
 
 iMcMaster's U. S., ii., 512. 
 
 2 Legislative Handbook of Pa., Cochran, 1889, p. 398; Hildrith's U. S., v.. 
 466; Adams' Works, x., 121 ; Scharf and Westcott, i., 513. 
 'Scharf and Westcott, i., 513-19. 
 
 7 
 
94 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 course taken by the other judges. 1 For this, the legislature 
 sent an address to the Governor requesting his removal ; but 
 the request was utterly refused. The committee attempted to 
 remonstrate with him, stating that the expression " may re 
 move" in the address was equivalent to "must remove." 
 Governor McKean heard them patiently ; and bowing, replied, 
 " I will have you know, gentlemen, that May sometimes 
 means Won't? 
 
 This was not the only instance in which the legislature at 
 tempted to interfere with the governor's prerogative, or to 
 instruct him in his duties, neither of which would he allow ; 
 and on another occasion, a committee of the legislature fared 
 no better than the previous had done. 
 
 The governor having vetoed what was deemed an important 
 bill passed by the legislature, a committee of three of that body 
 was appointed to wait upon his excellency to remonstrate with 
 him, and to urge the reconsideration of his veto. He received 
 them with his accustomed dignified politeness, and after they 
 had explained their mission, apparently without noticing their 
 communication, he deliberately took out his watch, and handing 
 it to the chairman, said, " Pray, sir, look at my watch ; she has 
 been out of order for some time ; will you please put her to 
 rights?" "Sir," replied the chairman, with some surprise, 
 "I am no watchmaker; I am a carpenter." The watch was 
 then handed to the other members of the committee, both of 
 whom declined, one being a currier, and the other a bricklayer. 
 "Well," said the governor, "this is truly strange! Any 
 watchmaker's apprentice can repair that watch ; it is a simple 
 piece of mechanism, and yet you can't do it ! The law, gentle 
 men, is a science of great difficulty and endless complication ; 
 it requires a life-time to understand it. I have bestowed a 
 quarter of a century upon it; yet you, who can't mend this 
 little watch, become lawyers all at once, and presume to in 
 struct me in my duty." Of course the committee vanished. 3 
 
 In 1804 an act was passed to substitute referees for a jury, 
 thinking that if trials by jury could be gotten rid of, lawyers 
 might be dispensed with. Governor McKean vetoed this bill, 
 and thereupon sprang up between him and the Assembly a 
 violent quarrel, which presently reached a great height. Mc- 
 
 iHildrith's U. S., v., 514. 
 
 2 David Paul Brown, The Forum, where the year is given wrongly 1806 ; 
 Scharf and Westcott, i., 517. 
 
 3 The Forum, i., 344. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 95 
 
 Kean was assailed by his old ally Duane, whose chief sup- 
 porter was Michael Leib. 1 
 
 A historical writer of a series of biographical articles in the 
 Village Record, of West Chester, Pennsylvania (Sept. 8, 
 1860J, with but little apparent partiality to Governor McKean, 
 gives a sketch of his life, laying particular stress on the con 
 troversy with General Thompson, the address of December 6th, 
 etc., and concludes as follows: "It is curious to remark that 
 before the second term ... he quarreled with his old friends, 
 and threw himself into the arms of the politicians so graphi 
 cally mentioned in the response above quoted, by whom he 
 was triumphantly sustained for a third term." 
 
 SOLICITED TO BECOME A CANDIDATE FOR VICE PRESIDENT OF 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The early growth of the Republican or Democratic party, 
 has already been noted in these pages. Let us recapitulate. 
 In 1796, McKean, then chief justice, headed the presidential 
 ticket as an elector-at-large. In Pennsylvania the party was 
 successful ; but Jefferson was not elected president. Three 
 years after, McKean was elected governor by a large majority. 
 His popularity vastly increased during his term of office ; and 
 this, added to his great personal and political influence, con 
 tributed in no small degree to the election of Mr. Jefferson to 
 the presidency the succeeding year. 2 And during the whole 
 of that gentleman's administration, the weight of Governor 
 McKean's opinions and conduct was directed to upholding the 
 principles which marked the policy of the general government. 3 
 
 Then followed Governor McKean's immense majority at his 
 re-election, which brought him forward as one of the most 
 prominent men in his party. Being a strong candidate, he 
 was, therefore, in the fall of 1803, urgently solicited to become 
 a candidate for the Vice- Presidency with Mr. Jefferson at his 
 second nomination. Alexander J. Dallas* thus addresses him 
 on this subject, under date of October 14th, 1803: 
 
 iHildrith's U. S., v., 514. 
 
 2 Nevin, Continental Sketches of Distinguished Pennsylvanians ; Sanderson's 
 Lives; Goodrich's Lives, etc. 
 
 3 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 * Without an especial mention of this gentleman, the warm personal and 
 political friend of Gevernor McKean, this biography would be incomplete. 
 Alexander James Dallas was born in the island of Jamaica in 1759, of a 
 Scottish family. He removed to Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar, and 
 took a high stand in his profession ; published the laws of Pennsylvania, 
 
96 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 ** I have been requested by several of our friends, to bear with 
 me (to Washington,) your sentiments as to the office of vice- 
 president. Your name has been most honorably mentioned on the 
 occasion. Pray write me, in perfect confidence, and address your 
 letter to the care of Mr. Gallatin, at Washington. Accustomed 
 as I have been for many years, to wish every thing that can pro 
 mote your happiness or reputation, it would give me pain to find, 
 that in this instance, your disposition should lead you to the fed 
 eral scene : as I do not believe there exists another man in Penn 
 sylvania, to whom, at this period, the real interests of the state 
 can be safely confided. But your choice will entirely govern my 
 opinions and expressions." 1 
 
 Governor McKean declined this honor both on public and 
 private considerations. Had he accepted, he would assuredly 
 have been elected, as George Clinton of New York was then 
 nominated, and chosen with Mr. Jefferson at his second elec 
 tion in 1804. 
 
 About this time it was reported that Governor McKean 
 " has been appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of 
 Madrid, to adjust existing difficulties relative to the possessions 
 of Louisiana." Whether he was offered the position, or 
 whether it was a mere rumor, cannot now be ascertained. 2 
 
 THIRD ELECTION AS GOVERNOR-VIRULENT PARTY FEELING 
 IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 In the fall of 1805, as the time for election approached, 
 Duane, Leib, and other political enemies of McKean organized 
 in secret ; 3 and founded societies throughout the state to pre 
 vent his nomination. They issued an address to the public, 
 setting forth McKean's " austerity, and aristocratic habits," 
 his "years of professional contention and dominion in courts ;" 
 his "ungracious distribution of offices among relatives," and 
 
 and was subsequently reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 He was Secretary of State of Pennsylvania for several terms, both before 
 and during Governor McKean's administration. He was also U. S. District 
 Attorney, and in 1814 was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. He proved 
 to be an able and energetic officer during trying financial times following 
 the war of 1812. Besides being a law writer, he was also an author of 
 various works. He died in 1817, leaving two sons who became prominent, 
 Commodore A. J. Dallas, U. S. Navy ; and the Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice- 
 President of the United States 1845-9 ; and a daughter, who was the wife 
 of Judge William Wilkins, Senator and Secretary of War. Appleton. 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 *Balt. Gazette and Daily Adv., Nov. 3, 1803. 
 
 'Mark the contrast: we read above that McKean's acts are done openly. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 97 
 
 his present intimacy " with those who had been his former 
 libelers." The federalists, knowing it to be impossible to 
 elect one of their own party, and hoping to break McKean's 
 majority, nominated a democrat; but McKean's popularity 
 was too great for defeat, and he was successfully elected over 
 Simon Snyder, by a large majority nearly 5000 votes. 1 The 
 senate and house were strongly for McKean. 
 
 The Governor thus vindicated, began separate lawsuits against 
 John Steele, William Dickson, Matthew Lawler, Thomas Leiper, 
 Dr. Leib, Jacob Mitchell, and William Duane, publisher of the 
 Aurora, for various publications and utterances. 2 
 
 In July, 1806, the Governor appointed Dr. George Bu 
 chanan, of Baltimore, his son-in-law, lazaretto physician. Dr. 
 Buchanan had for seventeen years been a citizen and resident 
 of Baltimore., not arriving in Pennsylvania until just before the 
 appointment was made. This appointment created some stir ; 
 and the Aurora, under the title of "The Royal Family ," gave 
 the following list of persons connected by blood or marriage 
 with the family of the Governor, who held office in the State : 
 
 Thomas McKean, Governor. 
 
 Joseph B. McKean, son, Attorney-General. 
 
 Thomas McKean, Jr., son, Private Secretary. 
 
 Thomas McKean Thompson, nephew, Secretary of Common 
 wealth. 
 
 Andrew Pettit, son-in-law, Flour Inspector. 
 
 Andrew Bayard, brother-in-law to Pettit, Auctioneer. 
 
 Dr. George Buchanan, son-in-law, Lazaretto Physician. 
 
 William McKennan, brother in law of T. McKean Thompson, 
 Prothonotary of Washington county. 
 
 Andrew Henderson, cousin to the Governor, Prothonotary 
 of Huntingdon county. 
 
 William Henderson, cousin to the Governor, Brigade In 
 spector of Huntingdon county. 
 
 John Huested, father-in-law of T. McKean Thompson, clerk 
 in the Comptroller General's office. 
 
 Joseph Reed, a near relative to Pettit and Bayard, Pro 
 thonotary of the Supreme Court. 
 
 [The term "connected by blood or marriage," is consider 
 ably stretched to make up the above list. Besides the Gover 
 nor, only three are near relations and two connections.] 
 
 . Handbook of Pa., Cochran, 1889, p. 398; Scharf and Westcott, i., 
 519. See also Randall's Thomas Jefferson, iii., 135; Hildrith's United States, 
 v. 556. 
 
 2 Scharf and Westcott, i., 520. 
 
98 MoKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Even before the list was published, the Aurora was being 
 sued by the Governor on three libel cases, and by the Marquis 
 de Casa Yrujo, another son-in-law, on three more charges. 
 Before the close of July, Duane was the defendant in sixty or 
 seventy libel suits; and kept the staid old city in a turmoil, 
 wondering what he would publish next. 1 
 
 Governor McKean continued to make many removals from 
 office, and his appointment of William Tilghman, a federalist, 
 as already related on a previous page, gave offense to many of 
 his own party. In April he added to the quarrel by attending 
 a dinner of the St. George's Society, where the health of the 
 king was drunk. About this time (November), the grand 
 jury of the mayor's court indicted Duane for publishing a toast 
 given at a celebration, u General Arnold and Governor Mc 
 Kean, both beans of one kidney." 
 
 In the beginning of 1807, politics continued to agitate the 
 state with undiminished activity. The virulence of the oppo 
 sition to General McKean took every conceivable shape. Rep 
 resentatives Leib and Engle desired a committee to investigate 
 his conduct, but the motion was lost. On the 19th of March, 
 Governor McKean, through Joseph B. McKean, Attorney- 
 General, tried to have Michael Leib and William Duane ar 
 rested for conspiracy, but the Supreme Court refused the 
 warrant. In May, Thomas McKean, Jr., who the previous 
 autumn had challenged Dr. Leib, was arrested, and in October 
 the grand jury found indictments against both McKean and his 
 second, Major Dennis. 2 
 
 Dr. Michael Leib, mentioned above, had been a member of 
 Congress, but resigned his seat there, especially to put himself 
 at the head of his party in the Pennsylvania Assembly, and 
 oppose Governor McKean. 3 
 
 It is probable that no public man in this country, excepting 
 Washington, so deeply involved in public affairs as Governor 
 McKean, has ever kept himself free from some portion of 
 political intemperance, some manifestation of party passion and 
 prejudice. On the other hand, personal feelings of hope or 
 disappointment, doubtless created for Governor McKean many 
 enemies. Yet during the whole constitutional period of nine 
 years, the majority of the people were with him ; and at 
 the present day, when the party asperities and bickerings of 
 
 Ubid., i., 526. 
 
 2 Ibid., i., 527-9. 
 
 'Hildrith's United States, v., 666. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 99 
 
 the times are in some measure forgotten, it cannot be denied 
 that his administration was marked by uncommon ability, and 
 with great benefit to the State. 1 Nevertheless, party asperi 
 ties rose to such a height, that early in this year 1807, the 
 federalists, led on by a few radicals, made an unsuccessful at 
 tempt to impeach Governor McKean. The charges were how 
 ever chiefly allegations of political offenses ; 2 and their frivolity 
 and weakness may be seen by a perusal of them in the report 
 of the committee to whom the matter was referred. 
 
 The proceedings commenced on the 30th of January, 1807, 
 by Dr. Michael Leib, offering a resolution that a committee be 
 appointed to inquire whether the official conduct of the Gov 
 ernor be such as to require the interposition of the House. 
 This resolution, slightly modified, was adopted March 3d. In 
 furtherance of this scheme, various petitions from citizens po 
 litically opposed to Governor McKean, were about this time 
 presented to the house, and on the 2d of March the matter was 
 referred to a committee consisting of Dr. Leib, Messrs. Lowry, 
 Kerr, Lacock and Shewell. Mr. Huston was subsequently ap 
 pointed in place of Mr. Lowry, who had received leave of 
 absence. On Monday, the 30th of March, the committee sub 
 mitted a report, containing the following charges, with specifi 
 cations to each: 
 
 " I. That the governor did prerneditatedly, wantonly, unjustly, 
 and contrary to the true intent and meaning of the constitution, 
 render void the late election, (in 1806,) of a sheriff in the county 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 u II. That he usurped a judicial authority, in issuing a warrant 
 for the arrest and imprisonment of Joseph Cabrera ; and inter 
 fered in favor of a convict for forgery, in defiance of the law, and 
 contrary to the wholesome regulations of the prison in Philadel 
 phia, and the safety of the citizens. 
 
 " III. That, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the 
 constitution, and in violation of it, did he appoint Dr. George 
 Buchanan, lazaretto physician of the port of Philadelphia. 
 
 "IV. That, under a precedent, acknowledged to have been 
 derived from the king of Great Britain, and contrary to the ex 
 press letter of the constitution, did he suffer his name to be 
 stamped upon blank patents, warrants on the treasury, and other 
 public official papers, and that too out of his presence. 
 
 "V. That, contrary to law, did he supersede Dr. James Reyn 
 olds, as a member of the board of health." 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives. Written about 1820. 
 
 2 Armor's Lives Govs. Penn. 
 
100 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 " VI. That, contrary to the obligation of duly, and the in 
 junctions of the constitution, did he offer and authorize overtures 
 to be made to discontinue two actions of the commonwealth 
 against William Duane and his surety, for an alleged forfeiture of 
 two recognizances of one thousand dollars each, on condition that 
 William Duane would discontinue civil action against his son, 
 Joseph B. McKean, and others, for a murderous assault committed 
 by Joseph B. McKean and others on William Duane." 
 
 Accompanying the report was a resolution that Governor 
 McKean be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. 
 The report is partly quoted in Sanderson's Lives, in order to 
 show its strong partisan character. It states that " the rights 
 of the people of the city and county of Philadelphia have been 
 grossly trifled with " by the Governor in rendering void the 
 election for sheriff; that Dr. George Buchanan was appointed 
 lazaretto physician while he was a resident of Baltimore ; but 
 for want of space we must forego further quotations. 
 
 On the report of the committee, the second reading was 
 postponed until Thursday ; nothing however appears in the 
 journal on that day, but on Tuesday April 7, the motion for a 
 second reading was debated, as also on the 8th and 9th, but 
 could not be carried, and on the latter day the subject was 
 postponed for the early consideration of the next house. 1 
 
 In the fall of the year, says Scharf and Westcott, "the 
 stubborn and aristocratic old Governor McKean, as soon as the 
 legislature assembled, was greatly assailed by his enemies." 2 
 The impeachment resolution of the last house came up as 
 unfinished business, December 7, six days after the legislature 
 met. The next day Mr. John Sergeant seconded by Mr. 
 Biddle (both members from Philadelphia,) moved to postpone 
 the further consideration thereof until the second Monday in 
 January, 1808; lost by a vote of 42 to 42. Mr. Lacock, 
 seconded by Mr. Jennings, then moved to refer the matter to 
 a select committee, which was lost by the same vote. On 
 Friday, January 15th, 1808, Mr. Shewell seconded by Mr. 
 Hulme, moved to consider the matter, but the motion was lost 
 by a vote of 43 to 43. On Wednesday the 27th of January, 
 Mr. Shewell seconded by Mr. Tarr, renewed his motion to con 
 sider the resoultion, which then prevailed by a vote of 44 to 
 41. It should be observed that these motions proceeded from 
 the party friendly to Governor McKean, who were anxious to 
 determine the validity of the charges. 
 
 Journals of the llth H. R. of Penn., Lancaster, 1806. 
 3 i.. 532-3. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 101 
 
 The resolution was now fairly before the house, and on 
 motion of Mr. Porter, seconded by Mr. Shewell, the further 
 consideration of the subject was indefinitely postponed by a 
 vote of 44 to 41 ; which finally disposed of the whole matter. 1 
 
 It may be added that every member from the city of Phila 
 delphia, whose rights were said to be particularly infringed, 
 voted for the governor, namely : Messrs. Sergeant, Clawges, Sr., 
 Hare and Cope (subsequently elected in place of Samuel Car 
 ver, deceased before taking his seat). 
 
 On the next day, the 28th, the Secretary of the Common 
 wealth, Thomas McKean Thompson, appeared before the 
 house, and presented a replication from the Governor, dated 
 Lancaster, January 28, 1808, in relation to the charges against 
 him. Mr. Sergeant, seconded by Mr. Ingham, moved that 
 the message be inserted at large upon the journal ; whereupon 
 a spirited debate arose, but the motion finally prevailed by a 
 vote of 43 to 42. Mr. Leib then moved that the report of the 
 committee, with all the accompanying papers, be also inserted 
 in the Journal, which was agreed to by a vote of 78 to 7. 2 
 
 The papers upon both sides, here entered upon the Journal, 
 are very voluminous. The testimony before the committee 
 is given in full : Thomas McKean Thompson, Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth, testified that the order making void the elec 
 tion of sheriff was not signed by the Governor, but was 
 stamped in his presence ; he was then unable to hold a pen in 
 his hand ; that he had been confined to his bed for five weeks, 
 that he was at times in great pain, and unable to sit up in bed 
 or to use his hands ; but his mind was sound. That his name 
 was stamped on public papers in his presence, but never out 
 of it. 
 
 Dr. George Buchanan testified that he was a resident of 
 Maryland until he arrived in Pennsylvania ; and received his 
 
 1 The following voted aye in favor of Governor McKean : George Acker. 
 Paul Appel, William Barnet, Nathaniel Beach, Samuel Bethel, William Si 
 Biddle, Valentine Brobst, John Clawges, Sr., Thomas P. Cope, Isaac Dar 
 lington, Jacob Eichelberger, Josiah Espy, George Evans, Robert Gemmill, 
 James Gettys, Jacob Gisch (Gish), Charles W. Hare, John Hulme, Samuel 
 D. Ingham (afterwards Secretary of Treasury under Pres. Jackson), Daniel 
 loder (Joder), James Kelton, Bernard Kepner, Jacob Kimmell, John Lo- 
 bingier, Benj. Martin, Robert Maxwell, John McClellan, James McComb, 
 James McSherry, Charles Miner, William Pennock, Charles Porter, William 
 Ramsey, Abraham Rinker, Daniel Rose, George Savitz, John Sergeant, Jacob 
 Shaeffer, Conrad Sherman, Nathaniel Shewell, Charles Smith (Lancaster 
 Co.), William Trimble, William Worthington, John Wright 44. 
 
 ^Journals 18th H. R. Penn., Lancaster, 1807. See also Sanderson's Lives. 
 
102 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 commission as Lazaretto Physician the day after he arrived ; 
 that he was a candidate for Congress from Maryland in 180-3-4. 
 The Governor's physicians testified that they were first 
 called to attend the Governor January 20th, that he had some 
 fever, and a gouty affection, but no delirium. 1 
 
 The Replication of the Governor commences as follows : 
 
 " A long and dangerous illness, the sympathy of friends, and 
 the advice of physicians, deprived me of an opportunity to peruse 
 the journal, or to have the least knowledge of the proceedings in 
 relation to an impeachment of my official conduct, for more than 
 a month after the termination of the last session of the General 
 Assembly. And since that period, a proper respect for the exer 
 cise of constitutional powers has restrained every disposition on 
 my part, to answer the charges which have been exhibited against 
 me, while those charges continued a subject of deliberation. But 
 the delicacy which has recognized your constitutional jurisdiction, 
 must not be allowed to absorb every consideration that is due to 
 my own fame, to the feelings of my family, and to the opinion of 
 the world. 
 
 "The accusation, though not confirmed by the ultimate vote of 
 the house, has been deliberately framed, has been openly discussed, 
 and will pass among the legislative records, into the hands of our 
 constituents, and our posterity, with all its concomitant semblance 
 of proof, and asperity of animadversion. The decision that ex 
 presses your renunciation of the impeachment, affects me indeed, 
 with its justice and its independence ; but it is a decision which 
 precludes the employment of the regular means of defence before 
 a proper tribunal ; and therefore compels me, for the purpose of 
 vindication, to claim a page in the same volume, that serves to 
 perpetuate against me, the imputation of official crimes and mis 
 demeanors. 
 
 " It is incompatible, gentlemen, with my view of the solemnity 
 of the occasion, to descend to the language of invective or com 
 plaint. By exposing the depravity of other men, I should do 
 little to demonstrate my own innocence; and an expression of sen 
 sibility at any personal indignity that has been inflicted, might be 
 construed into an encroachment upon the freedom of legislative 
 debate. But the tenor of my public and private life, will I hope 
 be sufficient to repel every vague and declamatory aspersion. 
 The discernment of our constituents will readily detect any latent 
 motive of hatred and malice. The justice of the Legislature up 
 holds an ample shield against the spirit of persecution ; and the 
 conscious rectitude of my own mind will yield a lasting consola 
 tion, amidst all the vicissitudes of popular favor and applause.* * 
 
 l journals, etc. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 103 
 
 " That I may have erred in judgment, that I may have been 
 mistaken in my general views of public policy, and that I may 
 have been deceived by the objects of executive confidence, or 
 benevolence, I am not so vain nor so credulous as to deny; though 
 in the present instance, I am still without the proof and without 
 the belief: but the firm and fearless position which I take, in 
 vites the strictest scrutiny, upon a fair exposition of our constitu 
 tion and laws, into the sincerity and truth of the general answer 
 given to my accusers, that no act of my public life was ever done 
 from a corrupt motive ; nor without a deliberate opinion that the act 
 was lawful and proper in itself'." 1 
 
 Governor McKean then proceeds in a circumstantial and 
 irrefutable manner, separately to repel the charges of the 
 committee ; and triumphantly to vindicate his character in 
 every particular, from the aspersions with which it had been 
 assailed. 
 
 His refutation of the charges is briefly as follows : 
 
 I. The election for sheriff was made void under the act of 
 the Assembly of February 15, 1790, "That the Governor 
 shall be a competent judge of the election of every person who 
 shall be returned to serve as sheriff or coroner ; and for that 
 purpose may send for papers, persons or records." The in 
 vestigation was intrusted to a committee of seven persons, of 
 whom Joseph Reed was chairman. The committee examined 
 witnesses and reported a list of " 96 bad votes " cast, which 
 they threw out for various reasons ; illegal voting, not of age, 
 not naturalized, voted in the wrong precinct, etc. If this 
 number should be deducted from Wolbert who had 3905 votes, 
 then Lawler who had 3846 would have been elected. It could 
 not be ascertained for whom the votes were cast. Hence the 
 doubt who was elected, and the Governor issued a proclama 
 tion to this effect, declaring the election void, and that the 
 present sheriff holds over until the next election. 
 
 Wolbert, accompanied by General Barker ; called upon the 
 Governor to obtain his commission. The Governor refused to 
 see them ; and states in his replication, as follows : "It has 
 also been developed upon the oath of General Barker, that an 
 attempt was then to be made to obtain a commission for Mr. 
 Wolbert, by offers of favor, or menaces of vengeance ; by 
 giving the Governor the option of 'the sword or the olive 
 branch ;' and by a denunciation, (which General Barker 
 swears came from the tongue of Dr. Michael Leib the chair- 
 
 1 As quoted in Sanderson's Lives. 
 
104 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 man of the committee of impeachment, and similar menaces 
 of assassination were contained in anonymous letters received 
 through the post-office,) * that if the old scoundrel, or old 
 rascal, did not acceed to the proposal, he would pursue him to 
 the grave.' ' 
 
 II. Joseph Cabrera was imprisoned upon the request of the 
 Spanish Minister. The minister has a right to imprison a 
 member of the legation in his own domicile, and has power to 
 send him home for trial. He also has an unquestionable claim 
 upon the government to guard his prisoner ; this is then re 
 garded not as judicial, but an executive recognizance. More 
 over, at the trial, Cabrera waived his diplomatic privileges. 
 As to the second part of the charge, after his conviction, the 
 Governor says a power to grant pardon and reprieve of the 
 whole sentence, naturally includes the power to pardon any 
 part of it ; and this was done also at the request of the min 
 ister. 
 
 III. Dr. Buchanan's appointment. Under the constitution 
 certain offices must be filled by residents of the county in 
 which the office is located; but this does not apply to the 
 office of Secretary of the Commonwealth, Secretary, Receiver 
 General, etc., because then all the counties in the state would 
 not have equal rights. The Lazaretto Physician is not a 
 county officer, but an officer of the port of Philadelphia, his 
 office being a department of the board of health, and since the 
 office was created, there is no instance of a resident of the 
 county in which it is located, having filled it. Dr. Buchanan 
 is not an alien, but a citizen of the United States. 
 
 IV. The law requires the Governor to sign, but does not 
 specify the kind of signature. A cross is a valid signature, 
 and in case of the loss of both hands it is hard to imagine how 
 a person could sign, if restructed to writing his name. He 
 also adds, " Although the Governor did not always affix the 
 signature to official papers with his own hand, it was never 
 affixed without his express order." 
 
 V. Dr. Reynolds was removed for intemperance and 
 violence ; he struck a member of the board of health, which 
 act was complained of to the Governor, who counselled a delay ; 
 but on the offense being repeated, the other members of the 
 board resigned, whereupon the Governor at once removed Dr. 
 Reynolds. The act of the legislature, directs that members of 
 the board of health should hold office for one year ; but this 
 was not meant to enlarge the tenure but to limit it, for the 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 105 
 
 legislature provided for cases of death, sickness, removal, etc., 
 which implies power of the Governor to remove. 
 
 VI. This charge is based upon overtures made by Messrs. 
 Ingersoll, Dallas, Muhlenberg, and Dickerson, but they have 
 expressly declared in writing, that they were unauthorized by 
 the Governor to make overtures. The Governor states the 
 facts of the quarrel briefly as follows : The troops of light 
 horse was engaged in suppressing a disturbance in Berks 
 and Northampton counties ; and the Aurora charged that they 
 " lived at free quarters." The officers called for a retraction, 
 an altercation ensued, and they chastised the editor. 1 
 
 Thus did Governor McKean refute the charges made against 
 him. He had however to contend, not only against the osten 
 sible charges, but also against the vindictiveness and malignancy 
 of the radical members of the committee. The charge that the 
 Governor imprisoned Cabrera, and then allowed him privileges 
 after conviction ; that is, complaining of what the Governor 
 did against him, as well as what he did in his favor, savors 
 more of opposition to the Governor than solicitude for Cabrera's 
 welfare. The animus of the mover of these proceedings, Dr. 
 Leib, is shown in the testimony of John Barker before the 
 committee, Dr. Leib being present: 
 
 " The Dr. [Leib] then arrested my attention by calling me 
 general, and told me to remember, general, we offer him the 
 sword or the olive branch, let him take his choice. I did not 
 consider this to be secrets. I looked upon myself as a kind of 
 ambassador. After the Dr. gave me this last instruction, he ex 
 claimed with some warmth, That if the old scoundrel or old rascal 
 did not accede to these proposals, he would pursue him to the 
 grave." 2 
 
 To the Sixth Charge, it is related in Hildrith's History, that 
 Governor McKean retorted by having Leib, Duane, and others 
 indicted for conspiracy to corrupt and overawe him. 3 
 
 Governor McKean's replication comprehends a very learned 
 and masterly disquisition; defining in a most lucid manner 
 the powers and duties of the several branches of the govern 
 ment, legislative, judicial and executive ; and expounding 
 clearly impeachable offences. And upon repeated references 
 to it, it has been found to bear the cautious scrutiny of unim- 
 passioned judgment, and to furnish a clear, safe, and useful 
 
 1 Journals 18th H. R. Penn. 
 
 2 Journals ISth H. R. Penn., 1807, p. 349. 
 *ffi*t. U. S.. vi., 67. 
 
106 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 guide in the elucidation of cases involving points similar to 
 those which he professes to discuss. It is regarded with great 
 favor by professional men, and is quoted as authority upon the 
 questions of which it treats. 1 
 
 Thus terminated a transaction, which through the baleful 
 and exterminating spirit of party, threatened to overshadow 
 the closing career of a patriot, whose life, during half a cen 
 tury, had been devoted to the public service. 2 
 
 CLOSE OF HIS TERM OF OFFICE RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE. 
 
 Governor McKean had now served as the executive of Penn 
 sylvania for nine years, through three terms of office ; his 
 services must necessarily be brought to a close by constitu 
 tional limitation. The impeachment proceedings, the strongest 
 card played by his enemies, having signally failed, further 
 asperities were suspended ; and in . the following fall, Simon 
 Snyder was nominated against Ross, Governor McKean's first 
 competitor. Snyder was elected, and assumed the executive 
 chair December 20, 1808. The same party was yet in power; 
 and Leib and Duane, leaders of the same faction, still kept up 
 their abuse. After the campaign closed, Duane of the Aurora 
 was again pelted with lawsuits ; John Binns one of this faction 
 published an article in which he said "under McKean the 
 legislature was bullied and abused ; under Snyder it was cau- 
 cussed and corrupted." 3 It is here gratifying to find in the 
 writings of Ids enemies, that which redounds to his credit ; he 
 may have " bullied" or " abused," but he never "corrupted" 
 the legislature. This statement and the inference to be drawn 
 from it comes opportunely, not long after Governor McKean's 
 statement in his Replication ; that no act of his public life was 
 ever done from a corrupt motive. 
 
 At the end of his term of office, Governor McKean retired 
 to private life, having been before the public continuously, and 
 in many of the highest offices for forty -six years. He was at 
 the time of his retirement nearly seventy -five years of age ; 
 but his vigor was not diminished by his years. 
 
 "For nine successive years," says a contemporary, 4 " he 
 
 1 W. H. Egle, Hist. Penn., i., 235 ; and Sanderson's Lives. 
 3 Sanderson's Lives. 
 
 'Scharf and Westcott, i., 533-45. See Duane's obituary on a subsequent 
 page. 
 
 *L. Carroll Judson, of the Philadelphia bar, Biog. of Signers, 1839. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 107 
 
 wielded the destines of the land of Pennsylvania, commencing at 
 a period when the mountain waves of party spirit were rolling 
 over the United States, with a fury before unknown. But amid 
 the foaming and conflicting elements, Governor McKean stood at 
 the helm of state, calm as a summer morning, firm as a mountain 
 of granite, and guided his noble ship through the raging storm, 
 unscathed and unharmed. His annual messages to the legisla 
 ture, for elegance and force of language, correct and liberal views 
 of policy, and a luminous exposition of law and rules of govern 
 ment, stand unrivalled, and unsurpassed. The clamour of his 
 political enemies, he passed by as the rdle wind ; the suggestions 
 of his friends, he scanned with the most rigid scrutiny. Neither 
 flattery nor censure could drive him from the strong citadel of his 
 own matured judgment. The good of his country, and the glory 
 of the American character, formed the grand basis of his actions. 
 " His administration was prosperous and enlightened, and when 
 he closed his political duties, the bitterness of his political op 
 ponents was lost in the admiration of his patriotism, virtue, im 
 partiality, consistency, and candor." / 
 
 Says another writer: 
 
 Perhaps no man attracted so much homage from the crowd as 
 Governor McKean, not only as Delegate in Congress, and Chief 
 Justice, but especially in his old age. He was one of that old 
 stock of Pennsylvanians, of abnormal size and strength in both 
 mind and body. He was tall and stately over six feet in height; 
 and even in later years, notwithstanding his great age, an erect 
 person. He usually wore a cocked hat, carried a gold-headed 
 cane ; and walked, even to the close of his life, though with a 
 somewhat tottered step, with great apparent dignity and pride. 
 As is known, he was one of the Signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence, and if we may use the phrase, which we do in all 
 respect and kindness, he was an actual impersonification a prac 
 tical living, walking emblem, and memento, of that Declaration. 
 Apparently the two proudest men the city ever beheld and sure 
 they had much to be proud of were our present venerable sub 
 ject, and his son-in-law, the Marquis de Casa Yrujo, the am 
 bassador from Spain. 1 
 
 FEARS OF A BRITISH INVASION PRESIDES AT A TOWN 
 
 MEETING, 1814. 
 
 During the last war with England, Philadelphia was startled 
 by the news that a British army was on our shores. The city 
 was wholly unprepared for any defence ; and a number of the 
 
 1 David Paul Brown, The Forum, i., 346. See also Harp. Mag., Hi., 871. 
 
108 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 most influential citizens met and at once issued a call for a 
 town-meeting on the morning of August 26th. Washington 
 had been captured the day before, but the fact was not known 
 at that time. The meeting convened in the State House 
 square. Ex-Governor McKean had been particularly desired 
 to attend, and on his appearing once more among his country 
 men on a public occasion, he was greeted with profound respect 
 and attention ; and was unanimously called to take the chair. 
 
 He was at this time eighty years of age. Joseph Reed, 
 another patriot of the revolution, was made secretary. Never 
 since the revolutionary period, had a public meeting been 
 held in Philadelphia on so momentous a business ; and never 
 since the same period, had an occasion existed, which de 
 manded more promptness and decision of action. No noisy 
 demagogues attempted to control its operations, or to create 
 excitement by inflammatory harangues. The venerable chair 
 man alone addressed it, and in a few brief sentences, delivered 
 with the dignity and emphasis of former days, touched the 
 spirit that needed only to be awakened. His speech made a 
 deep impression, and was recognized as coming from a patriot 
 and a sage. The meeting, without waste of time, and without 
 useless discussion, took the measures which the crisis de 
 manded ; and the city was in a short time placed in a con 
 dition to repel the attack of any force which the enemy could 
 then bring against it. 1 
 
 The " Committee of Defense, 1814," appointed by this 
 meeting, consisted of the officers of the meeting, prominent 
 movers, and a number of other citizens. 2 
 
 HONORARY DEGREES, DIPLOMAS, HONORS, ETC. 
 
 Governor McKean received the honorary degree of A. M. 
 from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1763 ; and LL. D. 
 from the College of New Jersey, in 1781, September 26 ; and 
 from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, in 1782 ; and from 
 the University of Pennsylvania, in 1785. He was a Trustee 
 ot the University of Pennsylvania, in 1779, under the Uni 
 versity Charter; and in 1791, November 18th, at the Union. 3 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives / see also National Portraits, vol. for 1839 ; and Scharf 
 and Westcott, i., 571. 
 
 2 The names may be found in Scharf and Westcott, Hist., iii., 1769 ; and 
 in John Hill Martin's Bench and Bar of Phila. The Minutes of the Committee 
 of Defence were published in the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Penn 
 sylvania, 18Q7, vol. 8. 
 
 'College Catalogues, Univ. Penn. Catalogue, 1880. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 109 
 
 Governor McKean was elected a member of the Philadelphia 
 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, May 2d, 1785. l It 
 was instituted February 11, 1785. 
 
 October 31, .1785, he received his diploma of the Society of 
 the Cincinnati, instituted by officers of the American Army, 
 at the close of the Revolution. 2 He subsequently became 
 Vice-President of the Pennsylvania State Society. The au 
 thor has been unsuccessful in finding any lists of the Penn 
 sylvania Society, containing Governor McKean's name. In 
 the Department of State at Washington however, is a letter 
 of Thomas McKean and others, dated Philadelphia, March 
 6, 1787, addressed to General Washington, in reply to his 
 circular letter of October 31st, declining to be re-elected to 
 the presidency ; this letter concludes by expressing regret at 
 General Washington's determination ; and states that his 
 request will be laid before the meeting of the state society, 
 called for the 26th instant, and will be intimated to the dele 
 gates to the general triennial meeting ; it is signed by a com 
 mittee of the Society, Thomas McKean, W. Jackson, and F. 
 Mentger. 
 
 In 1770 or earlier, Thomas McKean, of Newcastle, was 
 elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 
 1786 or earlier, while Chief Justice, he became one of the 
 twelve Councillors ; and in 1799 as Governor he became ex- 
 officio the Patron of the Society. 3 
 
 In 1790, while Chief Justice, he was one of the founders of 
 the Hibernian Society for the relief of emigrants from Ireland, 
 and the first president. 
 
 In 1804, McKean county was separated from Lycoming 
 county, Pennsylvania, and named in honor of Thomas McKean, 
 at that time Governor. 4 
 
 McKean street, in Philadelphia, is also named after him. 
 
 In 1786, was published " The Lyric Works of Horace" by 
 John Parke, with an appendix containing poems by John Wil- 
 cocks, and dedicated to General Washington. The several 
 poems being addressed to the prominent men of the day ; Ode 
 V, Book III, as also the Secular Poem, Carmen Seculare, 
 are both addressed to Thomas McKean then Chief Justice, 
 Vice President of the Cincinnati, and late President of Con- 
 
 1 Sanderson's Lives. 
 2 Sanderson, The Forum, etc. 
 3 Transactions. 
 
 *Egle's Hist Penn.; Day's Histor. Collect. 
 S-b 
 
110 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 gress. An Elegy on the death of Colonel John Haselet of 
 Delaware is addressed to Caesar Rodney and Thomas McKean, 
 members of Congress. 
 
 HIS DEATH AND FUNERAL. 
 
 At length, loaded with honors, this venerable patriot arrived 
 at the ultima linea rerum, and departed to " the generation 
 of his fathers " on the 24th of June, 1817, aged eighty-three 
 years, two months and twenty-five days. 1 
 
 In the United /States Gazette of the following day, ap 
 peared the notice : 
 
 "Another Patriot of '76 descended to the Tomb. 
 
 Died yesterday, the 24th inst., Thomas McKean, Esq., formerly 
 Governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
 " The gentlemen of the bar are requested to attend the funeral 
 of the late Thomas McKean, Esq., formerly governor of Penn 
 sylvania, from his late mansion, south Third street to-morrow 
 morning at 9 o'clock. 
 
 " The Members of the Society of the Cincinnati are requested 
 to attend the funeral of the late Thomas McKean, Esq., formerly 
 governor of Pennsylvania, from his late mansion, south Third 
 street to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock. 
 
 "The Members of the Hibernian Society are requested to at 
 tend the funeral of the late Thomas McKean, Esq., formerly gov 
 ernor of Pennsylvania, from his late mansion, south Third street 
 to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock. 
 
 " The Members of the Philosophical Society are requested to 
 attend the funeral of the late Thomas McKean, Esq., formerly 
 governor of Pennsylvania, from his late mansion, south Third 
 street to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock. 
 
 " The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania are re 
 quested to attend the funeral of the late Thomas McKean, Esq., 
 formerly governor of Pennsylvania, from his late mansion, south 
 Third street to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock." 
 
 In this paper of Thursday the 26th, appeared a set of Reso 
 lutions of respect, passed by the Philadelphia Bar. 
 
 In Poulsen's American Daily Advertiser of the 25th ap 
 peared a short notice of his death " between the hours of two 
 
 x Not 16 days, as given in Sanderson's Lives. Every succeeding biogra 
 pher has copied this mistake. Not one has thought of verifying it. The 
 difference between the dates of birth and death gives 83 years, 3 months, 5 
 days ; but his birth being given in old style, eleven days must be deducted, 
 and (adding 31 days for May, the previous month to that of his death, to 
 make the subtraction possible,) we have his age as given above. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. Ill 
 
 and three o'clock;" followed the next day, by a long obituary 
 and notice of his death similar to that given above. 
 
 On the 27th appeared a long editorial notice commencing as 
 follows : 
 
 " GOVERNOR McKEAN. The late THOMAS McKEAN, for 
 merly Chief Justice and afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania ; 
 of whose political conduct, however varied may be the judgment 
 of the different Parties which divide the State, there can be but 
 one opinion as to his regard for the public weal, in his successive 
 nominations of eminent characters of different political senti 
 ments, to succeed him in the judicial chair ; an instance of patri 
 otic impartiality so rare in public life that it must be allowed on 
 all hands to. reflect peculiar honor on his memory. * * * * " 
 
 In the General Advertiser of June 25th, The Aurora, and 
 still published by Governor McKean's old political opponent, 
 William Duane, pays the following noble tribute to his memory: 
 
 " DIED yesterday at three o'clock, Thomas McKean, LL.D. 
 one of the earliest and most firm friends of American independ 
 ence ; some time a representative in the Continental Congress, of 
 which he was also president ; many years Chief Justice of this 
 commonwealth ; and closed 1 his long and eventful career by serv 
 ing as Governor for nine years in this commonwealth. Mr. Mc 
 Kean was a native of this state, of an old Irish stock, and de 
 rived from his progenitors a considerable share of energy and 
 decision of character ; in the most trying times, of the revolution, 
 he was among those who never wavered, and who spurned the 
 royal favor offered to him, preferring to such honors, and venal 
 rewards, the prouder honors of devotion to his country and lib 
 erty. It is to his name due, that it should be remembered, that 
 although of an energy not to be resisted in a public station, that 
 by his kindness of heart many who had mistaken the path of true 
 honor in forsaking their country to serve a tyrant were by his pri 
 vate generosity rescued from public vengeance, and the inexorable 
 law. As a judge it must be acknowledged that he gave the laws 
 dignity by enforcing them ; his rigor obtained for him many ene 
 mies ; but time, which has drawn the thorn of individual resent 
 ment, will do justice to the austerity which was directed as much 
 as human passions can admit, to equal and exact justice. In the 
 station of governor he incurred the same censure ; and it must be 
 confessed deservedly: but the experience of the administration 
 which succeeded his has interposed a relief, which by comparison 
 reduces the exceptionable parts of Mr. McKean's administration 
 to the small sins of passion or pride. He was much better adapted 
 to the bench of justice, than the executive chair. In the former 
 
 1 So given ungrammatically. 
 
112 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 he displayed the severity of Cethegus, and the probity of Cato ; 
 his principles were strictly republican, but he held that education 
 should be the first care of a free people, because there is no dan 
 ger so much to be apprehended as ignorance. If he did not al 
 ways direct his energy against ignorance, in the proper time and 
 manner, it was the effect, rather of constitutional warmth than 
 any worse passion, as no man more sincerely deplored such aber 
 rations than himself. He was in short a man devoted to what 
 ever he conceived to be just a most faithful citizen, and earnest 
 friend of his country, and its liberty, and independence." 
 
 In the Gentleman's Magazine, London 1817, appears a 
 short notice of Governor McKean's death. 
 
 His remains were interred in the burial ground of the First 
 Presbyterian Church in Market street, Philadelphia ; the only 
 record among the church archives being in the book of inter 
 ments kept by an illiterate sexton: " 1817, June 26, thomas 
 McKean." 
 
 Subsequently the remains were removed to the family vault 
 of his grandson, Henry Pratt McKean, Esq., in Laurel Hill 
 Cemetery, Philadelphia, over which, on a large plain altar 
 tomb, 1 is the following inscription : 
 
 McKEAN FAMILY VAULT. 
 
 Beneath 
 this marble 
 
 are 
 
 the remains 
 
 of THOMAS McKEAN, 
 one of the Signers 
 
 of the 
 
 Declaration of Independence, 
 
 President of Congress in 1781, 
 
 Chief Justice 
 
 and 
 Governor 
 
 of the 
 
 State of Pennsylvania, 
 
 Born, March 19, 1734, 
 
 died, June 24, 1817. 
 
 And the DESCENDANTS of his 
 
 FAMILY, 
 
 1 Mentioned in The Official Guide JBook ofPhila., Thompson Westcott, 1875. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 113 
 
 HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER. 
 
 The reader who has perused this biography will, I doubt 
 not, have already formed his own estimate of Thomas 
 McKean's character. In the many extracts already given, 
 from the writings of judges, lawyers and historians, his con 
 temporaries and others, his friends and opponents, there is 
 no conflict of opinion upon this subject ; and the general im 
 pression left on the mind of the reader, will convey a far more 
 accurate estimate of Thomas McKean's character, than any 
 brief summation in a single paragraph. 
 
 The great age attained by many of the Signers of the 
 Declaration, and the exceedingly high average of their lives 
 collectively, has been noted by historians j 1 four lived to be 
 over 90, and eight others between 80 and 90. Of McKean, 
 one of his biographers remarks that u For a man of so varied 
 and such great labors, his length of life was remarkable, and 
 illustrates the maxim, that sloth, like rust consumes faster 
 than labor wears." 2 
 
 At the close of Governor McKean's life there were living 
 besides himself, five signers ; these last survivors of that im 
 mortal group of patriots were as follows : 3 
 
 Thomas McKean, born 1734, died 1817, aged 83 years 3 mo. 
 William Ellery, 1727 1820 92 2 
 
 William Floyd, 1734 1821 86 8 
 
 John Adams, 1735 1826 90 9 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, 1743 1826 83 2 
 
 Charles Carroll, 1737 1832 95 2 
 
 During his latter years Thomas McKean kept up a cor 
 respondence with Jefferson, Adams, and other revolutionary 
 patriots. On hearing of his death, Mr. Adams immediately 
 addressed the following letter, dated Quincy, June 30, 1817, 
 to the editor of Nilei Register, as a tribute to his deceased 
 friend : 
 
 " MR. NILES. The oldest statesman in North America is no 
 more. Vixit. McKean, for whose services, and indeed for whose 
 patronage the two states of Pennsylvania and Delaware once con 
 tended, is numbered with the fathers. I cannot express my feel 
 ings upon this event in any way, better, than by the publication 
 
 1 Goodrich^ preface. 
 
 2 Armor. 
 
 3 Lanman ; Biog. Annah. 
 
114 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 of the enclosed letters. [Here follow the dateg of eight letters, 
 the latest being June 17, 1817.] I pray you to print these letters 
 in your Register. JOHN ADAMS." 
 
 This letter and the enclosures, were accordingly published 
 as requested on the 12th of July, (vol. xii, p. 305, et necf). 
 
 Mr. Adams on the 30th of December following, in a letter 
 to John M. Jackson, speaks in the following high terms of 
 Governor McKean : 
 
 " In 1774, I became acquainted with McKean, Rodney and 
 Henry. [Patrick Henry.] Those three appeared to me to see 
 more clearly to the end of the business than any others of the 
 whole body. At least they were more candid and explicite with 
 me than any others. Mr. Henry was in Congress in 1774, and a 
 small part of 1775. He was called home by his state to take a 
 military command. McKean and Rodney continued members, 
 and, I believe I never voted in opposition to them in any one 
 instance." l 
 
 It will undoubtedly have been noticed in this 
 that Thomas McKean was an eminently successful man in life, 
 and essentially a leader among men. Moreover he had the 
 true training of a leader, that of beginning in a lower station 
 and ascending. So marked is this, that when the colonies 
 were arming themselves" in 1775, Mr. McKean, although fill 
 ing the exalted station of a delegate in congress, hesitated not 
 to enroll himself in the army as a private. As a lawyer he 
 soon took a leading stand in his profession ; as a member of 
 the Assembly he rose to be Speaker ; in congress he became 
 President ; as a judge he rose from the lower courts to the 
 highest judicial office, that of Chief Justice ; in the army from 
 being a private, he became colonel, his province however lay 
 not in military, but in civil life. As Governor, he filled the 
 highest office in the state. In numerous committees, conven 
 tions and public meetings, he either directed their proceedings 
 as chairman, or else was a leading spirit on the floor. In no 
 case do we find him receding ; even during the stormy days 
 while in the gubernatorial chair of Pennsylvania ; and in no 
 case do we find him stationary in any line until he has reached 
 the highest rank therein. 
 
 I cannot better close this biography, than with the conclud 
 ing paragraph in Sanderson's Lives : 
 
 Thomas McKean outlived all the enmities 2 which an active 
 
 1 Works, x., 269. 
 
 'After a perusal of everything that I can find, in print, regarding Thomas 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 115 
 
 and conspicuous part in public affairs, had in the nature of 
 things, created ; and posterity will continue to cherish his 
 memory, as one among the most useful, able, and virtuous 
 fathers of a mighty republic. 
 
 Conscia mens recti,famce mendacia ridet. 
 
 HIS WILL AND SEAL THERETO. 
 
 Thomas McKean's will is a holograph will, made, as he 
 himself says, when he has passed his eightieth year. It 
 covers seven pages of large sized unruled paper, and is dated 
 very appropriately August 13, 1814, "and of the independ 
 ence of the United States of America, the thirty-ninth." He 
 firsts directs " that my funeral may be decent but not ex 
 pensive." To his wife, he leaves the choice of his house 
 hold furniture to the value of $1000; and $600 per annum, 
 and also a house in Uolmesburgh. Forty thousand dollars 
 advanced to his children is remitted and released to them. 
 
 To Joseph B. McKean, his mansion house in Philadelphia, 
 the pictures in the hall of the house, gold-headed cane, "my 
 steel-seal ring with my coat of Arms cut thereon," Family 
 bible, Notes of cases, and all his manuscripts. 
 
 To Mary McKean only child of his son Robert, deceased, a 
 house in Holmesburgh. 
 
 To Andrew Pettit for the four sons and four daughters of 
 his deceased daughter Elizabeth, 11 tracts of land on Brush 
 creek Beaver co., 2200 acres, and also some rent charges. 
 
 To Laetitia Buchanan, land on the Ohio river Beaver co. 
 near Logstown, six tracts, 1580 acres ; also a plantation called 
 Pottersfield in the new county of Centre, 407 acres worth $40 
 per acre. 
 
 To the four children of Anne Buchanan, (to Joseph B. 
 McKean in trust,) tracts of land on the N. W. of the Ohio 
 river, 1116 acres ; and a tract of 404 acres in Haines's town 
 ship, Luzerne co. and some rent charges. 
 
 To his daughter Sarah Maria Theresa, Marchioness de Casa 
 Yrujo, 8 tracts on the Sewickly creek, Allegheny co., 226(5 
 acres 52 perches. 
 
 McKean, (and the references here given will show that this search has not 
 been limited,) I am happy to testify that this statement is true. William 
 Duane, his most violent opponent, pays him a generous tribute in his obit 
 uary ; and among recent writers, I have found but two who have written 
 against him, namely, William T. Read, in 1870: and a historical writer in 
 the Village Record of West Chester, Pa., 1860, both quoted in these pages. 
 
116 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 To Thomas McKean, plantation called Chatham, 392 acres 
 in London Grove township, Chester co. and 6 acres of chestnut 
 wood six miles distant, also " my silver-hilted small sword, my 
 stock, knee and shoe buckles," and his folio hot press bible. 
 
 To his daughter Sophia Dorothea, 4 tracts in Centre co., 
 1684 acres 32 perches ; two lots on Spruce street between 
 Sixth and Seventh streets. 
 
 To his grandson Samuel M. McKean, plantation in Mt. 
 Equity 300 acres, in McKean co. 
 
 His executors may sell 5 acres on Logan street Phila. co.; 
 and about 440 acres, and a tract of 150 acres in Newcastle, 
 Del. 
 
 " All the rest of my estate, real and personal, I give devise, 
 and bequeathe to my grandchildren Thomas McKean Pettit, 
 McKean Buchanan, Thomas McKean Buchanan, Charles Ferdi 
 nand de Yrujo, and Henry Pratt McKean, and their heirs and 
 assigns forever, as tenants in common. '* 
 
 Joseph B. McKean, Andrew Pettit, and Thomas McKean 
 are named as executors. 
 
 Witnessed by Jared Ingersoll and Jos : Reed ; Proved June 
 27, 1817, and recorded in Philadelphia, No. 90, lib. 6, fol. 
 467. 
 
 The will is sealed with red sealing-wax, about the size of a 
 quarter of a dollar, now somewhat broken on one side ; but 
 enough remains to show the impression of a coat of arms, sub 
 stantially the same as those on David Edwin's engraving of 
 Stuart's painting. 
 
 COAT OF ARMS. 
 
 There is no coat of arms in this family that I believe to be 
 genuine. The arms under David Edwin's engraving, and the 
 same as used by Governor McKean on the seal of his will, are 
 as follows : 
 
 ARMS : Or, four pallets gules, debruised by a bend sinister azure, 
 charged with a crescent decrescent argent, between two mullets of 
 six points, of the same. 
 
 CREST : An eagle crested, with wings displayed, perched upon a 
 snake, with head erected. 
 
 MOTTO : Mens sana in corpore sano. 
 
 In a copy of McKean's Laws at the Library of the Su 
 preme Court of the United States, there is a book plate of 
 these arms, (the only book plate of them I have seen or heard 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 117 
 
 of,) with the tinctures clearly shown ; and identical with the 
 above, save that the divisions of the shield are paly of eight , 
 instead of nine. Below the arms on a drapery is the name 
 McKean, in script letters, and below that the engraver's name, 
 M. de Bruls. 
 
 These arms, I believe to be spurious ; but when or by whom 
 first assumed I know not. My chief reasons are as follows : 
 1st. No McKean family in England carries such arms ; of the 
 three families named in Burke 9 s G-eneral Armory , two carry 
 a saltire, and the other three trefoils. 2d. No one would 
 voluntarily carry the bend sinister. 3d. There is two great a 
 similarity to the " stars and stripes " in the shield, to the 
 American eagle in the crest, and the motto is a household 
 word. 4. Judge Thomas McKean Pettit, with a patriotic 
 notion discarded his proper crest, and substituted therefore an 
 eagle almost identical to that in the above arms, save that in 
 these, the eagle is crested, and in the Pettit, not crested^ re- 
 guardant. And what is more likely than this having been 
 done by Judge Pettit, in imitation of his grandsire? 
 
 In some branches of the family, these arms are well known, 
 through David Edwin's engraving, and from colored drawings ; 
 but none of Judge Joseph B. McKean's descendants know any 
 thing of the u steel seal ring" willed by Governor McKean to 
 his eldest son, and from which I had hoped to gain some in 
 formation about these arms. 
 
 Our relative Henry Pettit Esq., of Philadelphia, who is 
 interested in family history, and has made some researches as 
 to a coat of arms, writes under date of February 26, 1886 : 
 " If the McKeans ever had any crest or arms, I should like 
 greatly to see it, never having come across it as yet." In 
 reply I mentioned these spurious arms ; and not long after 
 received a letter dated June 17, 1886, containing the following 
 interesting extract: 
 
 " In a previous letter you wrote with regard to the often asked 
 for McKean arms. I think myself, that there really are none. 
 I Lave never seen the so-called arms you refer to, but if ever you 
 come across anything engraved or photoed, or representing the 
 so-called McKean arms, I should like, from curiosity to see it. 
 One reason is this, About the beginning of this century there 
 seems to have been quite a craze, to get up in some families, an 
 American modification of the English Arms the families had pre 
 viously worn ; and the result was remarkable, from a herald's 
 point of view in many cases. I had myself a book plate of the 
 Pettit arms so changed, with eagle for crest, and helmet, vizor up 
 
118 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 full faced, which had been purposely changed by Judge Thomas 
 McKean Pettit, from his grandfather Charles Pettit's arms, in 
 order to Americanize it, and get rid purposely of all the English 
 except the arms proper; and by the eagle show the American 
 branch. I showed these arms as a joke at the College of Arms, 
 London, and I thought the Herald would have split with laughter. 
 Nevertheless it showed the American independent spirit rampant 
 at that period. Now I am disposed to think that a McKean 
 plate, arms, crest, and motto, all complete, was devised by some 
 patriotic McKeanite, say about that same time, eagle as usual, 
 and all other American features." 
 
 PORTRAITS, HISTORICAL PAINTINGS AND ENGRAVINGS OF 
 GOVERNOR McKEAN. 
 
 1. AN OIL PORTRAIT BY GILBERT STUART, and considered 
 one of his masterpieces, on a panel formerly in possession of 
 the eldest son, Joseph B. MeKcan, now in possession of the 
 latter's grandson Samuel M. McKean. It is a half length, 
 showing the left side, and the badge of the Cincinnati on the 
 left breast, the head turned nearly full face. In the Life and 
 
 Works of Gilbert Stuart by George C. Mason, N. Y.', 1879, 
 this picture is catalogued with the encomium, " An upright 
 Chief Justice, an enlightened lawyer, a sagacious politician, he 
 was looked up to as one of the most reliable men of the day." 
 By this portrait Governor McKean is lest known to pos 
 terity, several engravings having been made from it. 
 
 2. OIL PORTRAIT ; Copy of the previous, by Marchant, 
 owned by the Law Association of Philadelphia ; and which 
 has been loaned to the Supreme Court since 1875 ; it hangs 
 in the place of honor behind the Judge's Bench on the right 
 side. 1 
 
 3. OIL PORTRAIT; Copy of Stuart (No. 1,) by James R. 
 Lambdin, and presented by him to the Pennsylvania Historical 
 Society, Philadelphia, November 17, 1852. Numbered 141, 
 on the Society's Catalogue of Paintings. 
 
 4. IN THE OLD STATE HOUSE, Independence Hall, oil por 
 trait by Peale. The right side of the face is shown. 2 
 
 5. SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, by Trum- 
 bull. The original, 30x20 inches, is in the Trumbull Gallery 
 of Yale College. A copy made by the same artist, painted by 
 
 John Hill Martin, Bench and Bar, p. 222. 
 'See Catalogue of Ind. Hall for use of visitors, portrait numbered 11 ; also 
 Belisle's Hist. Ind. Hall, 1859 ; and F. M. Etting, Histor. Acct. of Old State 
 Ho., 1876. 
 
THOMAS MoKEAN. 119 
 
 order of Congress, is one of the eight large historical paintings 
 in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. Thomas McKean 
 is one of the delegates here represented, and numbered 46. 
 Not all the members of Congress are however included. The 
 picture is well-known by engravings. 1 
 
 6. WASHINGTON RESIGNING HIS COMMISSION, by Edwin 
 White 1859, a large historical painting in the State House, 
 Annapolis, Md. Thomas McKean is here represented among 
 the delegates, and numbered 18 in the key engraving. As a 
 matter of fact however the resignation took place December 
 23, 1783, and Mr. McKean's term had expired some months 
 before ; an anachronism, undoubtedly due to Mr. McKean's 
 prominence and long service in Congress. Thomas Mifflin, 
 president of Congress, Charles Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, and 
 Edward Lloyd are also among the delegates shown. This is 
 quite a different picture from that of Trumbull, representing the 
 same scene, and which is another of the eight large paintings 
 in the rotunda of the national Capitol. 
 
 7. LADY WASHINGTON'S RECEPTION DAY; by Daniel 
 Huntington of New York. Thomas McKean is numbered 35, 
 and is described in the key engraving as Chief Justice of 
 Pennsylvania. There are sixty-four likenesses in all. The 
 artist very kindly informs me that the picture is 6x9 feet ; and 
 that it was painted in 1859-60, for A. H. Ritchie, the well- 
 known engraver ; who paid $2500 for it, and who made the 
 steel engraving by which it is well known. This picture was 
 recently in the collection of A. T. Stewart of New York, and 
 was purchased at the sale of his pictures by the Hamilton Club 
 of Brooklyn, for $3300. The likeness of Thomas McKean 
 was painted from the engraving of Welch after Stuart. 2 
 
 8. THE FIRST PRAYEK IN CONGRESS ; September 1774. 
 Painted by T. H. Matterson for the Carpenters' Company of 
 Philadelphia, to commemorate the meeting of the first Congress 
 in Carpenter's Hall. This picture is also well known from the 
 engraving on steel by H. S. Sadd " From the original picture, 
 painted expressly for this engraving," 1848. Thirty-three 
 persons are represented. General Washington, No. 9, kneels 
 in the foreground; Thomas McKean, No. 21, also kneels ; in 
 the background stands Stephen Hopkins, No. 18, the Quaker 
 from Rhode Island, with his hat on. 
 
 1 See a paper by Lyman C. Draper; Collections, State Hist. Soc. of Wis., 
 vol. x. 
 
 3 Letter of the Artist, June 19, 1888. 
 
120 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 9. OIL PORTRAIT BY STUART, in possession of His Excel 
 lency the Marquis de Casa Yrujo, Madrid, Spain. 
 
 10. OIL PORTRAIT, Copy of Stuart's (No. 1) by McMurtrie 
 of Philadelphia, made for Samuel M. McKean of Washington, 
 and now in possession of his daughters. 
 
 11. OIL PORTRAIT BY CHARLES WILSON PEALE, in posses 
 sion of Henry Pratt McKean Esq. of Philadelphia, a large 
 painting with the Governor's son Thomas, at the age of about 
 ten years, standing by his side. 
 
 12. OIL PORTRAIT BY CHARLES WILSON PEALE, presented to 
 his daughter Elizabeth, on her marriage with Andrew Pettit, 
 now in possession of Mrs. Sarah P. Wilson of Philadelphia. 
 
 13. OIL PORTRAIT ; Artist unknown, on a panel, (It re 
 sembles Stuart's No. 1, and may be a copy ; the badge of the 
 Cincinnati being shown). Formerly in possession of the Gov 
 ernor's daughter Laetitia Buchanan, and at her death passed 
 to her son the late Admiral Franklin Buchanan. Now at his 
 late residence, " The Rest," Talbot Co., Maryland. 
 
 There may be other portraits or copies that I have not 
 heard of. 
 
 Engravings ; on steel or copper. 
 
 i. ENGRAVING by David Edwin, entitled "Thomas McKean, 
 Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Vice Presi 
 dent of the State Society of Cincinnati, etc." " Engraved by 
 David Edwin, from the original Picture by Gilbert Stuart in 
 the Possession of J. B. McKean Esq." It is about one-fourth 
 of life size. I only know of five of these engravings, which 
 are usually framed; doubtless there are many more. 1. In 
 the author's possession. 2. Mrs. Admiral Buchanan, " The 
 Rest," Maryland ; 3. The Misses Coale, Baltimore ; 4. Family 
 of the late Samuel M. McKean of Washington ; 5. In the 
 compiled Biography of the Signers in the Pennsylvania His 
 torical Society library, three 4 volumes valued at $2000. 
 
 ii. ENGRAVING, "by J. B, Longacre from a Portrait by G. 
 Stuart." This is the illustration in Sanderson's Lives, First 
 and Second Editions. It is slightly less than one-half the 
 size of the previous. 
 
 iii. ENGRAVING, "by T. B. Welch, from a painting by G. 
 Stuart." "M. Quig printer." This illustrates the National 
 Portraits by Longacre and Herring ; vol. for 1839 ; and also 
 the second edition, by Rice and Hart 1854. 
 
 iv. ENGRAVING, "by S. C. Atkinson," [Apparently a copy 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 121 
 
 of Stuart] which illustrates Conrad's edition of Sanderson's 
 Lives, 1 vol. imp 8 1846 ; and also Benner's Dutch edition, 
 1842-58. 
 
 v. PRINT by Tiebout, in possession of the Pennsylvania 
 Historical Society, entitled " Thomas McKean Governor of 
 Pennsylvania, Published by D. Kennedy 228 Market St." 
 The likeness shows the right side of the face ; and is not 
 familiar, to those who know Stuart's and the engravings from 
 it. In its general appearance it resembles Peale's (No. 4), 
 but in the details it does not ; the expression is different from 
 Peale's Portrait. 
 
 vi. ETCHING of the last named, by Albert Rosonthal, Phila 
 delphia, forming the illustration to "Philadelphia and the 
 Federal Constitution. 11 
 
 vii. August 1781 "A profile in black lead of the pres. of 
 Congress Thos. McKean, form of a medal," Extract from the 
 note book of P. E. Du Simitiere in Penn. Mag. xiii. 367. 
 The whereabouts of this likeness is not now known. 
 
 viii. CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE ; 
 by the American Bank Note Company, (30J in. by 19} in.) 
 This large engraving contains the Declaration, several his 
 torical scenes connected with it, etc., Thomas McKean after 
 Stuart, being one of the few likenesses here shown. 
 
 ix. THE FRONTISPIECE of the present work is a reproduction 
 of David Edwin's engraving (No. i.) by the Moss Engraving 
 Company of New York, and reduced one-half size. The auto 
 graph is from Stone's fac-simile of the Declaration, men 
 tioned, ante pp. 48, 49. 
 
 Wood cuts illustrating various works, some of them very 
 good likenesses, and generally after Stuart, are numerous ; 
 but no list of them has been made. 
 
 GOVERNOR McKEAN'S AUTOGRAPH AND LETTERS. 
 
 Thomas McKean's autograph is not a rare one compared 
 with others of the Signers.* Autograph hunters have suc 
 ceeded in collecting twenty-two complete sets of autographs 
 of the Signers ; and it is not likely that any other complete 
 set will ever be made, owing to the scarcity of one or two of 
 the signatures. 1 Notices of some of these collections with 
 fac-similes, including a sample of Governor McKean's writing, 
 may be found in Harper's Magazine vol. xlvii. 258, 424, et 
 
 C. Draper, in Col. State Hist. Soc. of Wis., vol. x. 
 
122 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 seq. The most valuable and interesting letter of Thomas 
 McKean may be found in fac simile in the Book of the 
 Signer *i by William Brotherhead, Phila. 1861. The original, 
 now or lately in possession of T. M. Rodney Esq., is dated 
 Philadelhipa, August 22, 1813, and refers to his name being 
 omitted in the first published copies of the Declaration, his 
 sending an express for Caesar Rodney, and his writing the 
 Constitution for the State of Delaware in one night, without 
 the aid of books or papers. 1 
 
 Comparatively few letters of Thomas McKean have been 
 quoted in this biography ; Sanderson's Lives contains other 
 letters and extracts not here quoted. A number of letters to 
 and from Thomas McKean may be found in the Works of John 
 Adams by his grandson Charles Francis Adams, 10 vols. 
 1856. Eight letters published by John Adams may be found 
 in Niles* Register, vol. xii,p. 305, et seq. In the Correspon 
 dence of the Revolution, 4 vols. Boston 1853, and in the 
 Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution, 4 vols. Boston 
 1829, both by Jared Sparks, are several letters, some of them 
 addressed to Washington. A valuable letter to William 
 McCorkle, June 16, 1817, may be found in Niles' Register vol. 
 xii, 278, and also in the Extracts from the Diary of Christo 
 pher Marshall, William Duane, Albany 1877 ; in reference to 
 the omission of his name on the copies of the Declaration. 
 Several letters may likewise be found in Hazard's Pennsylva 
 nia Colonial Records, 16 vols. and its continuation, the Penn 
 sylvania Archives, 12 vols. by Linn and Egle, published by 
 the state, 1852-3. Other letters are scattered among various 
 biographies, and other works. 
 
 In the Department of State at Washington are at least 
 ninety-eight letters of Governor McKean, but few of which 
 have probably been published. Eighty-eight of these were 
 written while President of Congress, and are addressed among 
 others to Samuel Huntington, Gens. Greene, Washington, 
 Lafayette, Stark, Heath, Lincoln, Marion, Schuyler ; Govs. 
 Hancock, Clinton, Trumbull, Nelson, Burke ; Presidents Reed, 
 Rodney, the President of New Hampshire ; also to M. de 
 Marbois, Dr. Franklin, William Bingham, The People of New 
 Hampshire, Hon. R. R. Livingston, The Minister of France, 
 
 1 This letter was read by the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, in his address on 
 the occasion of the unveiling of the monument to Caesar Rodney, at Dover, 
 Del., October 30, 1889. The author kindly sent me a printed copy of the 
 Proceedings containing his address; but it was received too late to be in 
 serted in the note on page 29. 
 
THOMAS McKEAN. 123 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, Count Rochambeau, Michael Hillegas, 
 Count de Grasse. Also six other letters to General Washing 
 ton, one of which, dated Newark October 8, 1777, is quoted 
 in these pages from Sparks 9 Correspondence of the Revolution. 
 These letters are not generally accessible unless copies are 
 requested. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 A list of all works I have met with, which contain a biog 
 raphy of Thomas McKean, is appended to this genealogy, 
 (Appendix I). Many of them are however copies of one 
 another. In the appendix may also be found a list of official 
 publications closely connected with the life of Thomas McKean. 
 Other works containing merely mention of him are too numer 
 ous to be named, but references to them may be found in the 
 notes to the foregoing biography. 
 
 Of these biographies, a few only need special mention as 
 being well written, or containing facts not given in the other 
 works, namely : 
 
 1. Sanderson's Lives 1820-7, and subsequent editions ; 2. 
 Judsori's Biography of the Signers, 1839, a beautifully 
 written article ; 3. National Portraits, an article signed T. 
 A. B. (author unknown), well written, but containing numer 
 ous mistakes in dates. 4. Nevin's Continental Sketches of 
 Distinguished Pennsylvania's, 1875. 5. Armor's Lives of 
 the Governors of Pennsylvania, 1872. 6. Hazard's Regis 
 ter, iii. 241 The Supreme Court Bench of Pennsylvania ; 7. 
 Scharf and Westcott's History of Philadelphia 3 vols. 4, 
 1884, containing also very numerous references, and facts not 
 elsewhere published. 
 
 CONCLUSION, GOVERNOR McKEAN'S CHILDREN. 
 
 Governor McKean's second wife survived him but three 
 years, and died on Saturday, May 6, 1820, aged seventy-three 
 years ; and was buried on the 7th in the grave yard of the 
 First Presbyterian Church. An oil portrait of her by Stuart 
 is in possession of His Excellency the Marquis de Casa Yrujo, 
 Madrid, Spain ; and another by Charles Wilson Peale, noted 
 on a previous page, is the property of Henry Pratt McKean, 
 Esq., of Philadelphia. 
 
 All of Governor McKean's children are named in his bible 
 record, owned by Mr. Henry Pratt McKean ; and also the first 
 
124 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 six in another record in possession of Miss Anna M. Bayard. 
 They are as follows: 
 
 By his first wife Mary Borden: 
 
 JOSEPH BORDEN, b. Sunday, July 28, 1764. 
 ROBERT, b. Sunday, March 9, 1766. 
 
 ELIZABETH, b. Tuesday, August 18, 1767 (Mrs. Andrew 
 
 Pettit). 
 
 iv. LETITIA, b. Friday, January 6, 1769 (Mrs. George Buch 
 
 anan). 
 
 v. MARY, b. Monday, February 18, 1771; d. Thursday, De 
 
 cember 27, 1781 ; buried in burial ground 
 of First Presbyterian church. 
 
 vi. ANNE, b. Thursday, February 25, 1773 (Mrs. Andrew 
 
 Buchanan). 
 
 By his second wife, Sarah Armitage : 
 
 vii. A Son, b. Wednesday, November 1, 1775 ; d. the same 
 
 day. 
 
 yiii. SARAH, b. Monday, July 8, 1777 ; baptized by Rev. Jo 
 
 seph Montgomery (The Marchioness de 
 Casa Yrujo). 
 
 ix. THOMAS, b. Saturday, November 20, 1779, Philadelphia; 
 
 bapt. Jan. 30, 1780. 1 
 
 x. SOPHIA DOROTHEA, b. Monday, April 14, 1783, Philadelphia ; bapt. 
 July 27, 1783 ; l d. December 27, 1819; 
 bur. First Presbyterian church. 
 
 xi. MARIA LOUISA, b. Wednesday, September 28, 1785, Philadel 
 phia; bapt. Jan. 30, 1786 j 1 d. Tuesday, 
 October 21, 1788 ; bur. First Presbyterian 
 church. 
 
 1 These baptisms are from register of First Presbyterian church, Phila. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS CONTAINING BIOGRAPHIES OF 
 THOMAS McKEAN, AND OTHER WORKS. 
 
 [WORKS CONTAINING MERE MENTION OF TlIOMAS McKfiAN, 
 COMPRISING THE GREATER PART OF THOSE REFERRED TO IN 
 THE FOOT NOTES, AND NUMBERING ABOUT 200, ARE NOT IN 
 CLUDED IN THIS LIST.] 
 
 Sanderson's Biographies of the Signers. 
 
 Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 John Sanderson, 9 vols. Phila. R, W. Pomeroy, 1820-7. En 
 graving by J. B. Longacre. Robert Wain is the biographer of 
 Thomas McKean and of many other of the signers. This is the 
 earliest work and the original of all the subsequent Lives of the 
 Signers; and is still the standard work of its kind. Being pub 
 lished at first anonymously, it has been sometimes called u A>m- 
 eroy's Lives" 
 
 (Rather singularly I ha\e found a great variety in the title 
 pages. One set dated 1820-7 ; a second 1823-7 ; a third 1823-4; 
 Sanderson's name is given in some volumes, and not in others of 
 the same set. On an engraved title page some volumes have a 
 coiled serpent, others a female figure.) 
 
 The same, 2d Edition, 5 vols. Philadelphia. Pub. by W. 
 Brown and C. Peters, 1828. Engraving by J. B. Longacre. (A 
 few minor changes made in this edition). 
 
 The same. 5 vols. Published by Bennet and Walton, 1831. 
 (Word for word the same as the 2nd edition.) [Not illustrated.] 
 
 The same. Revised by Robert T. Conrad. 1 vol. Imp. 8. 
 Thomas Cowperthwait & Co. Phila. 1846. Engraving by S. C. 
 Atkinson. 
 
 The same as the last named. With 60 engravings, collected 
 and prepared by William Brotherhead, 1865. 1 vol. 4. 160 
 copies. $20.00. [Illustrated with a picture of Duche's house, 
 but no engraving of Thomas McKean.] 
 
 Edition of Sanderson by Fowle, 1864. 607 pp., rough edges, 
 $81. [Mentioned by Allibone.] 
 
 9-6 (125) 
 
126 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Lives of the Signers, By other authors. 
 
 C. A. Goodrich, Lives of the Signers. New York, 1829. 1 
 vol., 12. [Partly illustrated, no engravings of Thomas McKean.] 
 
 N. Dwight, Sketches of the Lives of the Signers, New York, 
 1830; 1 vol., 12. [Not illustrated,] 
 
 L. Carroll Judson, Biographies of the Signers (Author a mem 
 ber of the Philadelphia bar). Phila., 1839. 1 vol., 8. [Not 
 illustrated. A beautifully written biography.] 
 
 B. J. Lossing, Lives of the Signers, 1848 and Phila., 1870, 
 1 vol. [Poor woodcut likeness.] 
 
 E. Benner, Lebensbeschriebungen sammtlicher unterzeichner 
 der unabhangigkeitz-Erklarung. (In Dutch, chiefly from Good- 
 rich's Lives. Engraving by S. C. Atkinson from Stuart. 12. 
 Sumneytown, Penn. 1842 and 1858. 
 
 Book of the Signers. William Brotherhead, large folio, Phila., 
 1861, containing facsimiles of letters, etc. Duche's house is 
 shown. 
 
 Centennial Book of the Signers. William Brotherhead, Phila., 
 copyright 1872, folio. A similar work to the previous. A poor 
 woodcut after Tiebout. 
 
 Biography of the Signers, 3 vols., large 4, in the library of the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society, for which the Society paid 
 $2000. This work is a compilation. Each leaf from Sanderson's 
 Lives is set in a border of stout paper, and the work illustrated 
 with engravings, views, autograph letters, etc., from various 
 sources. Engraving, large size by David Edwin. 
 
 Lives of the Pres. U. S. with biog. notices of Signers of the 
 Dec. of Ind.; Robert W. Lincoln, Brattleborough, Vt., 1839. 
 
 Other Biographies of Thomas McKean. 
 
 National Portraits, J. B. Longacre and James Herring, 4 vols., 
 4 (vol. iv., for 1839). Engraving by T. B. Welch. A good 
 biography. 
 
 The same. D. Rice and A. N. Hart. 4 vols., 1854; (vol.iv.) 
 Engraving by T. B. Welch. 
 
 Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. vi. (for 1830), 161, 177, 
 191, Sanderson's biography in full; also vol. iii. (1829), 241; 
 the Supreme Court Bench of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania, William C. Armor. 
 Phila., 1872. Wood cut and autograph. 
 
 Scharf and Westcott, History of Philadelphia. 3 vols., 4. 
 Phila., 1884. Biography ii., 1515, et seq., and very numerous 
 references throughout the whole work. Wood cut, good likeness. 
 
 History of Chester county, Penn., Judge John Smith Futhey 
 and Gilbert Cope. 4. Phila., 1881. Biography and wood cut, 
 644 et seq. 
 
APPENDIX I. 127 
 
 Illust. History of Perm., William H. Egle, 1870. Short sketch 
 and likeness. 
 
 Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution, John Bach Mc- 
 M aster and Frederick D. Stone. Phila., 1888. 8. Short sketch 
 and etching from an old print by Tiebout. 
 
 Scharf's History of Delaware, 2 vols. Phila., 1888, i. 567. 
 
 Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution, L. CarrollJud- 
 son, 2 vols., 1851. 
 
 Harper's Magazine, iii. 145, vii., 429, etseq.,& short sketch and 
 likeness; xlvii., 429 et seq., fac-simile of handwriting of various 
 signers; Iii. 871, anecdotes and a good wood-cut likeness. 
 
 Historical Mag. of Notes and Q. iv., 2d Ser., Nov. 1868, p. 209, 
 short sketches of the signers and others, with copies of letters from 
 an autograph collection. 
 
 History of Independence Hall, D. W. Belisle, Phila., 1859. 
 short sketch. 
 
 Continental Sketches of Distinguished Pennsylvanians, David 
 R. B. Nevin. Phila., 1875. 8. A good biography. 
 
 Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Henry Simpson, Phila., 
 1859. 
 
 Field Book of the Revolution, Benson J. Lossing, New York, 
 1852 (and various editions). 2 vols. Various references and 
 short biography, ii., 871; likenesses of the signers, etc. 
 
 Pennsylvania Maga/ine, xi., 249, etseq. "The Federal Con 
 stitution," by William H. Egle. Sketches of members of the 
 Convention. A good biography. 
 
 Life and Corresp. of George Read. William T. Read, Phila., 
 1870. A full biography of Thomas McKean, p. 332, et seq. 
 
 Nota3 Cestrienses. From the Village Record, West Chester, 
 Pa., 1860. No. 12 of a series of historical articles. A short 
 biography. 
 
 Bordentown and its Environs. In the Bordentown Register, 
 1876. Historical articles by E. M. Woodward, chap. xii. The 
 Borden Family, and a sketch of Thomas McKean. 
 
 Catalogue of Independence Hall, 1878. (For the use of visi 
 tors.) List of portraits and brief sketches of the Signers. 
 
 Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, date unknown, 
 probably quoted from Sanderson, about 1827. 
 
 Biographical Dictionaries, etc. 
 
 Appleton's New Cyclopaedia of Biography, 6 vols., 1887, a 
 good sketch and likeness. 
 
 Biographical Encyclopaedia of Pennsylvania, 1874. 
 
 New American Cyclopaedia, 16 vols. New York, 1875. 
 
 Allibone's Dictionary of Authors. 3 vols. A brief sketch. 
 
 Dictionary of Congress, Charles Lanman. (Published by 
 Congress.) 5th Ed., 1868. 
 
128 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Biographical Annals of the U. S. Government, Charles Lan- 
 man, 2d Ed., 1887. 
 
 Drake's Dictionary of American Biography, Boston, 1872. 
 
 Allen's American Biographical Dictionary. 
 
 Political Register and Congressional Directory, B. P. Poore, 
 Boston, 1878. 
 
 Appleton's Cyclop, of Biog., 1 vol., 1868, p. 5f)8, brief sketch, 
 improperly indexed. 
 
 Harper's Popular Cyclop, of U. S. History, N. Y., 1881, 
 2 vols. 
 
 Johnson's New Illust. Cyclop., N. Y., 1878, 4 vols. 4. 
 
 Official Publications. 
 
 Journals of Congress, 13 vols. Pub. by authority, Phila., 
 1777, and subsequent ed. 
 
 Secret Journals of Congress, 4 vols. Pub. by Congress, 1821. 
 
 Debates on the Federal Constitution, Jonathan Elliot, 4 vols., 
 published with the sanction of Congress, Washington, 1854. 
 
 Reports of Cases in Pennsylvania, A. J. Dallas, 4 vols., 1790- 
 1807. Dedicated to Chief Justice McKean. 
 
 Pennsylvania Colonial Records, 16 vols. Pub. by the State, 
 1852-3. 
 
 Pennsylvania Archives, 12 vols., Hazard, 1853. 
 
 Works by Governor McKean. 
 
 Laws of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware, 1753-62, 
 By authority of the General Assembly, by Thomas McKean and 
 Caesar Rodney. And laws down to 1777. Wilmington, 1763- 
 77. Catalogued at the library of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, with a note, "believed to be the first book printed 
 in Delaware." See page 14 ante. 
 
 Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Penn 
 sylvania, etc., by Thomas McKean, 1782, known briefly as Mc 
 Kean 's Laws. See page 73 ante. 
 
 Charge of Thomas McKean, Chief Justice, to Grand Jury at 
 Court of Oyer and Terminer, and General Gaol Delivery, held 
 at York in 1788. (Hildeburn's Issues Phil. Press 1886, No. 
 3738.) See page 61 ante. 
 
 Commentary on the Constitution of the United States by 
 Thomas McKean and James Wilson, London, 1792. See page 
 81 ante. 
 
 Speech [to the Legislature, Dec. 8, 1808], no title page, 8. 
 (Boston Ath. Cat.) 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 MISTAKES AND DISCREPANCIES IN PRINTED 
 
 BOOKS REGARDING GOVERNOR 
 
 THOMAS McKEAN. 
 
 Sanderson's Lives. Adm. bar Chester co., 1755, not 1756; and 
 Sup. Ct., 1758, not 1757 Meeting at Carpenter's Hall in 1776, 
 Franklin was not on the committee with Mr. McKean. Vote on 
 
 Res. of Independence taken July 2d, not 1st Mr. McKean 
 
 signed Dec. Ind. in Jan. 1779, or later, not Oct. 1776 Mr. Mc 
 Kean was not president of Delaware when appointed Ch. Justice, 
 the office devolved upon him afterwards. Const, of Delaware 
 written at Newcastle, not Dover. Mr. McKean moved to ratify 
 
 Const, of U. S. on 24th, not 26th (See Elliot's Debates} Mr. 
 
 McKean m. 1st, July 21, 1763, not July, 1762 wife died March 
 
 12, 1773, not Feb. 1773 He m. 2d, Sept. 3, 1774, which was 
 Saturday, not Thursday. Age at death, 83 y., 2 m., 25 days, not 
 16 days. 
 
 Goodrich' s Lives. Continental Cong, met Sept. 5th, not 3rd, 
 1775. 
 
 Journals of Congress and Articles of Confederation, discrepancy 
 in date of ratification mentioned in the text (p. 65). 
 
 Declaration of Independence. Arguments to show that John 
 Hancock and Charles Thomson did not sign it on July 4th, 1776, 
 as generally stated by historians (p. 31, el seq.) 
 
 National Portraits, 1839. Mr. McKean served in Del. Assem 
 bly till 1779, not 1777 Stamp Act Cong, met 1765, not 1768 
 Com. to prepare Art. Confed., 1776, not 1775 Loan Comms. till 
 
 1776, not 1772 Justice of Peace, 1765, not 1768 Art. Confed. 
 
 agreed to 1777, not 1776 Also Sanderson's mistakes in dates of 
 m., d. and age are here copied. 
 
 Etting's Old State House, Lossing's Field Book of Rev., Scharf 
 and Westcott's Hist. Phila., and Schart's Hist. Md., give but 
 twelve names on committee to prepare Art. Confed.; there were 
 thirteen, one from each State (see text, p. 65). 
 
 Armor's Lives of Govs. of Pa., and Scharf and Westcott's 
 Phila. Mr. McKean b. New London, not Londonderry. 
 
 (129) 
 
130 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Scharf and Westcott's Phila., p. 446. Conv. to ratify Const, of 
 U. S. met Nov. 20th, not 21st. 
 
 Elliot's Debates on Fed. Const., ii, 417. Mr. McKean moved to 
 ratify Const. U. S. on Saturday, 24th, not 26th ; Bancroft points 
 out this mistake. 
 
 Appleton's Gycl. of Biog. McKean and Wilson's Commentary 
 on Const. U. S., published 1792, not 1790. 
 
 Bancroft's Hist. U. S., 1876, v. 355, and 1885, v. 16, states 
 that Mr. McKean signed the Declaration in 1781. I think it un 
 doubtedly a mistake, although Mr. Bancroft in reply to my inqui 
 ries kindly informs me that he believes it to be correct that it is 
 not a misprint. This date is copied in Winsor's History and in 
 Judge Chamberlain's Authentication. 
 
 Life of George Read. William T. Read, 1870, several mis 
 takes in dates, etc. (p. 53 note.) Claim that George Read wrote 
 Const, of Del. not substantiated (p. 52-4). 
 
 Watson's Annals (Hazard's Ed.), and Potter's Am. Monthly, 
 mistakes as to Dec. Ind. corrected (p. 33, note). 
 
 Poetical Addresses. G. A. Townsend, Caesar Rodney's 4th of 
 July. For John McKean read Thomas McKean; the latter name, 
 it will be noticed, does not suit the metre of the poem. The 
 author kindly informs me that the character Sarah Rowland in 
 the poem is a fiction an invention for detaining Mr. Rodney. 
 
 Histor. Mag. iv, 2d Ser., 209, et seq. A sketch of Mr. McKean 
 contains several inaccuracies. 
 
 Lincoln's Lives Pres. U. S. and Signers, states wrongly that 
 Mr. McKean was present in Congress, Aug. 2d, and signed Dec. 
 Ind. on that day. 
 
 Hildrith's Hist. U. S., v. 328, vote for governor in 1799, the 
 votes for McKean and for Ross are each 10,000 too small. 
 
 The vote for governor at McKean's first election is thus stated 
 by Mr. Herman P. Miller, in the office of the Pa. Senate, in a 
 letter of Dec. 4, 1889. A mistake of 792 in the return of Chester 
 co. made McKean's vote 37,244; corrected the next day in the 
 Senate to be 38,036. Ross's vote was 32,643, not 32,641, as in 
 Cochran's Handbook. 
 
 Cochran's Handbook of Pa., 1889, gives the three votes thus: 
 
 1799. 1802. 
 
 Thomas McKean, Dem., 38,036 Thomas McKean, Dem., 47,879 
 
 James Ross, Federal, 32,643 James Ross of Pittsburgh, Fed., 9,499 
 
 [The mistake in Ross's vote is James Ross, Federal, 7,538 
 
 here corrected.] Scattering, 94 
 
 1805. 
 
 Thomas McKean, Independent Democrat, 43,644 
 
 Simon Snyder, Democrat, 38,483 
 
 Simon Snyder, 395 
 
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. 131 
 
 Burlington and Mercer Co., and in Bordentown Register, 1876, 
 E. M. Woodward. The progenitor of Borden family is Richard, 
 not Benjamin Joseph Borden m. Elizabeth Rogers, not a dau. 
 of Marmaduke Watson. Mr. McKean d. June 24th, not 4th. 
 
 Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family, p. 137. Borden pedigree, 
 the date of 1163-5 belongs to the previous generation Mary 
 Borden m. 1763, not 1762. Lastitia McKean b. 1769, not 1770; 
 
 in. June llth, not 10th Gen. A. Buchanan b. 1734, not 1732, 
 
 and d. 1786, not 1785. 
 
 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. 
 
 16, 1. 2, I find that Savage gives the date of baptism; his date 
 of birth may therefore be more reliable than that deduced from the 
 Borden record. 
 
 16, 1. 3, 1614 should be 1610. 
 
 18-19, From the Address of the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, 
 published in the Proceedings on Unveiling the Monumemt to Ccesar 
 Rodney, at Dover, Oct. 30, 1889, p. 24, I find that the incident 
 liere related is from a letter of Thomas McKean to John Adams, 
 Aug. 20, 1815. 
 
 19, note 3, for Adam's read Adams'. 
 
 22, 1. 25, et seq., Compare a letter of Caesar Rodney to his 
 brother Thomas, Aug. 28, 1776, Force's Am. Archives, V. i. 1192. 
 
 28, note 4, for Scharf and Westcott, p. 321, read p. 312. 
 
 39, Plate and in Preface. The clauses in the Domestic Jour 
 nal which are omitted in the published copies, may be found in 
 Force's American Archives, IV. vi, 1731 ; in which is given what 
 is more properly the Proceedings in Congress than a Journal, for 
 it is compiled from various sources. When writing pages 41 et 
 seq. of the text, I did not know the high authority attaching to 
 these clauses ; or I should have made use of another argument 
 which they furnish, to prove that John Hancock had nothing to 
 do with the preparation or authentication of the printed broadside. 
 The resolutions are not addressed to him either personally or as 
 President of Congress, and moreover it will be remarked that the 
 expression here made use of is not that the declaration be signed 
 but authenticated. 
 
 46. The letter of Ca3gar Rodney above referred to, Am. 
 Archives, V. i, 1192, gives the exact dates when Thomas McKean 
 returned to Philadelphia from the army, and when he left for 
 
132 McKEAX FAMILY. 
 
 Newcastle. The letter is dated Phila., Aug. 28, 1776, and states 
 that Mr. McKean arrived on Sunday night last, and left yesterday 
 morning. This date, T have computed, fell upon Wednesday; he 
 therefore arrived on the 25th and left on Tuesday the 27th. 
 
 48-9. Stone's fac-simile of the Declaration. In the Annals 
 of Congress, Gales and Seaton, (18 Cong. 1st ses. 1823-4, vol. i. 
 82, 431, 779, 915 ; ii. 2711) it is stated that under date of Jan. l r 
 1824, John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, informs the 
 Senate and House that an exact fac-simile of the Declaration has 
 been made on copper, arid 200 copies struck off, which are at the 
 disposal of Congress. By resolution, these were distributed 
 two copies each to the surviving Signers, to the Marquis de 
 Lafayette, to the President, to the late President Mr. Madison, 
 etc., etc. But three signers were alive at this time ; and Sander 
 son in his life of Charles Carroll mentions the copy sent to that 
 gentleman. The copy in possession of Commodore McKean's 
 family, can now be identified as one of these, and I am informed 
 that there is a tradition in the family that it is one of a number 
 distributed to the Signers^ Inquiry at the State Department 
 elicits the fact that the copper plate is not now in the possession 
 of the Department and its whereabouts is unknown. 
 
 65, note 1, Add to the list of works containing but twelve 
 names, Scharf J s Hist. Maryland, 1879, ii. 465. 
 
 81, note 2, for vol. iii, read ii. 
 
 82, 1. 2, for Ingersol, read Ingersoll. 
 117, 1. 11, for two, read too. 
 
INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 Adams, John, statements regarding the Declaration, 35 ; Publishes let 
 ters of McKean, 113 ; High opinion of McKean, 114. 
 
 American Philosophical Society, 109. 
 
 Andre's dream, 62. 
 
 Anecdotes and incidents : Unique defense of a client, 1 9 ; Express for Caesar 
 Rodney, 29, 33 ; " Rodney's Ride," 30 ; Remarks at signing Declaration 
 Independence. 45 ; McKean's appearance on the bench, 61 ; Is summoned 
 by the sheriff, Gl ; Andre's dream, 62; McKean hunted like a fox, 64 ; 
 His letter to Col. Hooper, 60; Ridicules his opponents. 75; Reviews the 
 French and American armies, 71 ; Anecdote of Col. Tilghman, 71 ; Cele 
 bration of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 76 ; Cobbett, 84-87 ; 
 William Tilghman, 90; Judge Brackenridge, 93; McKean's story of his 
 watch, 94 ; Cobbett's grammar, 84; McKean hung in effigy, 76. 80 ; 
 An appointment, 90; A sarcastic toast, 98; McKean's dignity, 107. 
 
 Articles of Confederation, 64 ; McKean one of the Committee, 65 ; A 
 historical discrepancy, 65. 
 
 Associators of Pennsylvania, 24, 25, 49, 50, 73 ; McKean a colonel, 26, 
 27. 
 
 Attorney-at-law, 13 ; McKean's skill, 19, 56. 
 
 Bayard, Hon. Thomas F., Dedication of the present work to, Hi.; Intro 
 ductory letter from v. : Oration on Caesar Rodney, 122, note, 131; Col. 
 John, 27, 28, 50. 
 
 Bibliography of Thomas McKean, 123 ; See App. I. 
 
 Borden family, 15 ; Bordentown, N. J., 16. 
 
 Boston Port Bill, 20. 
 
 Carpenter's Hall, 22, 28; First prater in ; 119. 
 
 Chief Justice McKean, 54 ; Noted cases, 57, 77; On contempts, 78 ; 
 impeachable offences, 105. 
 
 Cincinnati, Society of, 79, 109. 
 
 Coat of arms, either none or spurious, 116 ; Americanized arms, 117. 
 
 Cobbett, William, 83 ; His force as a writer, 84, note ; Law-suits, 84 ; 
 Works quoted, 84-5-6-7, 91; Opposes McKean's election, 85; Leaves 
 the country in consequence of his election, 87. 
 
 Committee of Inspection and Observation, 24, 26, 27, 49, 73 ; Of Cor 
 respondence, 24 ; Of Safety, 25, 49 ; Of Defence 1812, 107, 108. See Con 
 ventions. 
 
 Congress, Stamp Act, 18; Continental, 21; McKean a member from 
 Delaware, 22 ; Delegates from Delaware, 22 ; Resolution of May 15th, 
 26 ; Declaration of Independence, history, 29 to 50 ; Not the custom to 
 sign resolutions, 41 : Fac-simile of two pages of the Journals, 39, 45 
 Articles of Confederation, 24, 64, 65 ; McKean elected President of Con 
 gress, 70 ; Is succeeded by Mr. Hanson, 72. 
 
 Constitution of Delaware written by Mr. McKean. 51 ; Claim of George 
 
 (133) 
 
134 McKEAN FAMILY. 
 
 Read refuted, 52 ; Of the United States, McKean moves to ratify, 75 ; Com 
 mentary on by McKean and Wilson, 81. 
 
 Controversies between Governor McKean and the Assembly, 89, 93, 94, 
 98, et seq. 
 
 Convention of Deputies at Carpenter's Hall, 28 ; Constitutional Con 
 vention of Delaware, 1776, 46, 51 ; Of Pennsylvania, 1789, 79; To ratify 
 Constitution of United States, 74. 
 
 Cornwallis' surrender, anecdote, 71. 
 
 Dallas, Alexander J., 95 note ; Reports, 57 ; Laws, 47, 66 ; See Index 
 of Names. 
 
 Declaration of Independence, 29 et seq.] Preliminaries, 26, 28 ; McKean 
 votes for it, 29 ; Sends express for Mr. Rodney and secures a unanimous 
 vote, 29, 30 ; McKean's services in favor of, 30 ; How signed, 31 ; Con 
 flicting statements of McKean, Jetferson and Adams, 32-35 ; Historians 
 generally consider McKean's statements to be correct, 36 ; Statements of 
 later writers, Force, Bancroft, Winsor, Webster, Winthrop, Greene, Froth- 
 ingham, Lossing, Hildrith, Stone, Read, Watson, Mrs. Morris, and Judge 
 Chamberlain, 36, 37 ; Popular but erroneous opinion that the Declaration 
 was signed on parchment July 4, 1776,44; Fac-simile of two pages of MS. 
 Journals of Congress, 39, 45 ; The printed journals inaccurate, Preface, 
 viii, 37, 38 ; Declaration probably not signed by any one on July 4, 1776, 
 41-45 ; The engrossed Declaration, 45 ; Printed Journals, 45 ; Fac-simile 
 of one page of MS. Journal, 45 ; Anecdotes of signing, 45 ; McKean the 
 last to sign, 46, 47 ; Early copies, 48 ; Fac-similes of the engrossed parch 
 ment, 48, 132 ; Names now nearly illigible, 49. 
 
 Delaware, McKean in the Assembly, 15; Speaker, 20; A delegate in 
 Congress, 22 ; Resigns his seat, not accepted, 69 ; List of Delaware dele 
 gates in Congress, 22 ; Ratifies resolution of May 15, 1776, 28; McKean 
 compiles the laws relating to real estate, 20 ; Writes constitution for, 51 ; 
 Claim of Mr. Read not substantiated, 52 ; President McKinley taken 
 prisoner, 63 ; McKean becomes President, 63. 
 
 Democratic party, originally called Republican, 85 ; Its origin, 85, 87, 
 95 ; McKean's election its first triumph, 87 ; Campaign songs, 88, 93. 
 
 Duane, William, attack on, 83, 100, 105 ; Opposes McKean, 83, 96; 
 His toast to McKean, 98 ; His eulogy, 111, 114. 
 
 Duche, Rev. Mr., his house purchased by McKean. 69. 
 
 Engravings of Gov. McKean, 120. 
 
 Fears of a British invasion, 107. 
 
 Federalists oppose McKean's election, 85, 93, 96. 
 
 Franklin's funeral, 79. 
 
 Georgia, dispute with South Carolina, 79. 
 
 Governor of Pennsylvania, McKean's administration, 85 to 106-7. 
 
 " Hail Columbia," its author a nephew of Gov. McKean, 86, 90. 
 
 Handbill, fac-simile of theatre, 92. 
 
 Hibernian Society, McKean a founder, 80, 109. 
 
 High Court of Errors and Appeals, 68. 
 
 Historical paintings, McKean figures in four, 118. 
 
 Impeachment, attempted of Gov. McKean, 99-106 ; Charges, 99; 
 Attempt fails, 101 ; Virulence of Dr. Leib, 103, 105 ; The Governor's 
 replication, 102 ; Refutes the charges, 102, 103 ; A standard opinion on 
 impeachable offences, 105 ; Attempt to impeach the Supreme Court, 77 ; 
 McKean on contempts, 78 ; Another attempt in 1804, 93 ; John Anderson 
 in H. R. United States, 78 note. 
 
 Inspection and Observation, see Committee. 
 
 Incidents, three remarkable, 72. 
 
 Jay's Treaty, 81. 
 
INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS. 135 
 
 Jefferson, Writes on Declaration Independence, 35 ; Is mistaken on 
 some points, 35, 36 ; McKean contributes to his election, 95. 
 
 Journals of Congress, Printed journals inaccurate, 3*7, viii ; There are 
 three MS. journals, 39 ; Fac-similes of two pages, 39, 45 ; Discrepancy 
 with the Articles of Confederation, 65. See also 131. 
 
 Lazaretto physician. 97, 99, 100, 102, 104. 
 
 Lee's resolution, 29. 
 
 Leib, Dr. Michael, opposes McKean, 96, 98, 99 ; His virulence, 103, 105 ; 
 Challenged by Thomas McKean, Jr., 98. 
 
 Letters and writings of Thomas McKean, 121 ; Referred to, 29, 30, 32, 
 'l21 ; Quoted, 32, 33, 47, 51, 60, 63, 64, 69, 88, 90, 109; On contempts, 
 78; On impeachments, 105; Remarks on Constitution of United States, 
 76; His replication, 102; His works, 128. 
 
 Little, Capt. John's company, 25. 
 
 Loan office of Delaware, 17. 
 
 McKean, Thomas, 13 et seq.; Delaware Assembly, 15; Speaker, 20; 
 His marriage, 15, 21 ; Stamp Act Congress, 18 ; Continental Congress, 21 
 et seq.; Convention of Deputies at Carpenter's Hall, 28; Votes for and 
 signs Declaration of Independence, 29, 31 ; Writes Constitution for Dela 
 ware, 51 ; Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, 54 ; President of Delaware, 63 ; 
 Signs Articles Confederation, 65 ; High Court Errors and Appeals, 
 68 ; His residence, 69 ; President of Congress, 70 ; Attends conventions, 
 28, 50. 74, 79 ; Thrice Governor of Pennsylvania, 85, 93, 96-106 ; A suc 
 cessful man and leader, 114 ; His will, 115; Works by him, 14, 61, 73, 
 81, 128 ; See Appendix I., 125. His votes for Governor, 130. 
 
 McKean's Laws, 47, 66, 73. 116, 128. 
 
 McKean County, 109 ; Street, 109. 
 
 Meetings, public, May 20, 1776, 26; Oct. 11, 1776, 50 ; May 25, 1779, 
 67, 68 ; On Jay's treaty, 81 ; To repel British invasion, 1814, 107. 
 
 Middle Temple, 14. 
 
 Mistakes and Discrepancies, Printed Journals of Congress, viii, 37 ; 
 Articles of Confederation, 65 ; See Appendix II. 
 
 Observation and Inspection, see Committee. 
 
 Pennsylvania, McKean Chief Justice, 54 ; Dallas' Laws, 47 ; McKean's 
 Laws, 73 ; McKean Governor, 85, 93, 96 ; Succeeded by Simon Snyder, 
 106 ; Conflicts between the Governor and Assembly, 93, 99 ; Constitu 
 tional Convention of 1789, 79 ; Convention to ratify Constitution of United 
 States, 74. 
 
 Poetry, " Rodney's Ride," 30 ; American Times, 63; Cobbett's verses, 
 85 ; Meeting of May 24-25, 1779, 67, 68 ; Campaign songs, 85, 93. 
 
 Porcupine, Peter, 83 ; See Cobbett. 
 
 Portraits and historical paintings, 118. 
 
 Presidential elector, 80, 82. 
 
 Read, George, delegate from Delaware, 22 ; Votes against Declaration 
 of Independence, 29 ; Claim to have written Constitution of Delaware not 
 proved, 52, 53, 54 ; "Gath " says he skulked, 30. 
 
 Removals, Gov. McKean's, 88, 91; 98; Justification thereof, 91, 92. 
 
 Republican, early name for Democratic, which see, 85. 
 
 Residence, McKean's. 69, 71, 93. 
 
 Resolution of 15th of May, 26, 28, 29. 
 
 Review of French and American armies, 71. 
 
 Roberdeau, Gen. Daniel, 25, 26, 27, 42, 50, 67, 68. 
 
 Rodney, Caesar, Delegate from Delaware, 22, 23; Publishes Laws of 
 Delaware, 14 ; Rides express to Philadelphia to vote on the Declara 
 tion, 29, 31, 33 ; " Rodney's Ride," 30, 130 ; Monument to, and address 
 by Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, 122 note, 131. 
 
136 McKEAN FAMILY 
 
 Safety, See Committee of. 
 
 Sanderson's Lives of Signers, 13; See Appendix I, 125, 120. 
 
 Signers of the Declaration, bibliography, 125-6. 
 
 South Carolina, boundary dispute with Georgia, 70. 
 
 Stamp Act Congress, 18 ; McKean the last survivor, 19. 
 
 Supreme Court Pa., see Chief Justice. 
 
 Tea Act, 20. 
 
 Thompson. Gen. William, difficulty with Mr. McKean, 67. 
 
 University of Pennsylvania, trustee, 108. 
 
 Vice President of the United States, Mr. McKean declines to become, 95, 
 
 Wain, Robert, Jr.. Biographer of Thomas McKean, 13. 
 
 War Measures, July, 1776, 49. 
 
 Whiskey Insurrection, 80. 
 
 Williams' company, Capt. Richard, 14. 
 
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