John McLean

John McLean was born on January 10, 1939 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England as john Talbert McLean. He was married to Jan Norman.

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

McLean's sense of nationalism could be seen again in his concurring opinion on the Passenger Cases (1849). The most senior member of the Court at the time, McLean began his opinion by weighing in on the debate concerning the nature of the Commerce Clause. McLean asserted the Commerce Clause "is exclusively vested in Congress." Under this view, if the federal government does not regulate a particular area of foreign or interstate commerce, it means that federal policy maintains that such an area should remain unregulated, not that states should have the right to impose individual regulations. To McLean, only one authority could exercise any given power, and the judicial task was to determine whether a particular subject fell within a power delegated to the federal government or within a power reserved to the States. McLean denied that the States could exercise a power unless the federal government chose to exercise the same power, at which point state regulation would be trumped by federal action. Although McLean recognized that both Congress and the States could impose a tax on the same object, he insisted these respective taxes result from the exercise of distinct powers, and did not represent any concurrent exercise of the same power.

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

In Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842), McLean dissented. By his reasoning, it was necessary for Prigg to take Morgan to court to demonstrate that she was, in fact, a slave. As such Prigg did not have the legal pretext to remove Morgan from the state of Pennsylvania, without first gaining judicial approval. A court had to decide that Morgan was technically a slave for Prigg to have the authority to transport her across state lines. McLean suggests that this process was the only way to be fair to the slave, the owner, the free state, and the slaveholding state from which the slave came, stating that "[his] opinion, therefore, does not rest so much upon the particular law of Pennsylvania, as upon the inherent and sovereign power of a state, to protect its jurisdiction and the peace of its citizens, in any and every mode which its discretion shall dictate, which shall not conflict with a defined power of the federal government."

McLean's tendency toward economic nationalism can be seen in cases such as Groves v. Slaughter, 40 U.S. 449 (1841). In this case, McLean upheld the right of Mississippi to restrict the introduction of slaves from other states. Though it was "not necessary" to the decision, McLean restated his nationalism by holding that the power to regulate commerce rested exclusively with Congress. "The necessity of a uniform commercial regulation, more than any other consideration, led to the adoption of the federal Constitution... and unless the power be not only paramount, but exclusive, the Constitution must fail to attain one of the principle objects of its formation," McLean wrote.

Known as "The Politician on the Supreme Court," he associated himself with every party on the political spectrum, moving from a Jackson Democrat, to the Anti-Jackson Democrats, the Anti-Masonic Party, the Whigs, the Free Soilers, and finally the Republicans. McLean was touted as a potential Whig presidential candidate throughout the 1830s-40s. President John Tyler offered him the post of Secretary of War, but he declined. Because of his anti-slavery-extension positions, he was considered by the new Republican party as a presidential candidate in 1856, but the nomination went to John C. Frémont. McLean sought the presidency again in 1860 despite turning 75 that March. He won twelve votes on the first ballot at the Republican convention; Abraham Lincoln ultimately was nominated.

While Postmaster General, McLean supported Andrew Jackson, who offered him the posts of Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy. McLean declined both and was instead appointed to the Supreme Court by Jackson on March 6, 1829, to a seat vacated by Robert Trimble. McLean was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 7, 1829, receiving his commission the same day.

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

During the 1820s, McLean was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.

His son (and Cincinnati native), Nathaniel C. McLean (b. 1815), was a Union general in the American Civil War. His daughter Evelyn McLean married Joseph Pannell Taylor, brother of U.S. President Zachary Taylor.

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

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

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