Thomas McKean (; March 19, 1734June 24, 1817) was an American lawyer, politician, and Founding Father. During the American Revolution he was a Delaware delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where he signed the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation. He served as President of Congress for four months in 1781. McKean was at various times a member of the Federalist and the Democratic-Republican parties and served as president of Delaware, chief justice of Pennsylvania, and the second governor of Pennsylvania."The Governors of Pennsylvania." Mount Union, Pennsylvania: The Mount Union Times, January 27, 1911, p. 1 (subscription required). He also held numerous other public offices.
Early life and education
McKean was born on March 19, 1734, in New London Township in the Province of Pennsylvania, then one of the Thirteen Colonies of British America, to William McKean and Letitia Finney. His father, William, immigrated from Ireland to the Colony of Pennsylvania in 1720, and was later listed as a tavern keeper.
When his mother, Letitia, died in the fall of 1742, it took a strain on Thomas's, father, William. He quickly became an alcoholic, and because of that, was incapable of raising his family. Thomas's younger sister, went to go live with their aunt and uncle, while eight-year-old Thomas, and ten-year-old, Robert began their education under Reverend Francis Alison at his school in New Castle, Delaware.
During his education, McKean took on a boyhood attitude, beyond his studies. By the time he reached his adolescence, he had learned how to ride a horse and shoot a gun. Though the school was simply for boys, McKean did interact with some females, which included Reverend Alison's wife, Hannah Armitage, and her toddler half-sister, Sarah Armitage, though McKean gave her little attention, preferring to be with his friends, Charles Thomson and George Read. After a decade studying at Dr. Alison's academy, McKean's brother, Robert, left for London to study medicine, which was the first time the two were separated.
In 1750, McKean finally finished his studies with Dr. Alison, and shortly thereafter moved in with his uncle, John Finney, who was a wealthy lawyer at the time. During this, McKean studied with his cousin, David Finney, and after four years, in 1754, he was finally admitted to the Bar (law).
At some point, McKean met Mary Borden, the daughter of Colonel Joseph Borden of New Jersey. They would marry on July 21, 1763 in Mary's hometown of Bordentown. Together, they had six children, two boys, and four girls, one of whom died in childhood. Mary Borden would die on March 12, 1773, in Delaware of an unknown cause.
After the death of Mary Borden, McKean reconnected with Sarah Armitage, who he married on September 16, 1774. They lived at the northeast corner of Third and Pine Street in Philadelphia. They had four children, one of whom married the Spanish diplomat, Carlos Martínez de Irujo, who was appointed to his position in 1796.
Career In 1755, he was admitted to the bar of the Lower Counties, as Delaware was then known, and likewise in the Province of Pennsylvania the following year. In 1756, he was appointed deputy attorney general for Sussex County. From the 1762–1763 session to the 1775–1776 session, he was a member of the General Assembly of the Lower Counties, serving as its speaker in 1772–1773. From July 1765, he also served as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and began service as the customs collector at New Castle in 1771. In November 1765, his Court of Common Pleas became the first such court in the colonies to establish a rule for all the proceedings of the court to be recorded on unstamped paper. In 1768, McKean was elected to the revived American Philosophical Society.Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, I:26, 32, 150–51, 218, 386, II: 343, 360, III: 65, 397–409, 398.
Delaware was politically divided in the 18th century into loose political factions known as the "Court Party" and the "Country Party". The majority Court Party was generally Anglican, was strongest in Kent and Sussex counties, worked well with the colonial Proprietary government, and supported reconciliation with the British government. The minority Country Party was largely Irish Presbyterian, also referred to as "Scotch-Irish", was centered in New Castle County, Delaware, and quickly advocated independence from the British. The revolutionary slogan "no taxation without representation" had originated in the north of Ireland under the British Penal Laws, which denied Presbyterians and Catholics the right to vote for members of the parliament. McKean was the epitome of the Country Party politician and was, as much as anyone else, its leader. As such, he generally worked in partnership with Caesar Rodney from Kent County and in opposition to his friend and neighbor, George Read.
At the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, McKean and Caesar Rodney represented Delaware. McKean proposed the voting procedure that the Continental Congress later adopted: each colony, regardless of size or population, would have one vote. That decision set the precedent, the Congress of the Articles of Confederation adopted the practice, and the principle of state equality has continued in the composition of the United States Senate.
McKean quickly became one of the most influential members of the Stamp Act Congress. He was on the committee that drew the memorial to parliament and, with John Rutledge and Philip Livingston, revised its proceedings. On the last day of its session, when the business session ended, Timothy Ruggles, the president of the body, and a few other more cautious members refused to sign the memorial of rights and grievances. McKean arose and addressing the chair insisted that the president give his reasons for his refusal. After refusing at first, Ruggles remarked that "it was against his conscience." McKean then disputed his use of the word "conscience" so loudly and so long that a challenge was given by Ruggles and accepted in the presence of the Congress. However, Ruggles left the next morning at daybreak, and so the duel did not take place.
American Revolution
In spite of his primary residence in Philadelphia, McKean remained the effective leader for American independence in Delaware. Along with Read and Caesar Rodney, he was one of Delaware's delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776.
Being an outspoken advocate of independence, McKean was a key voice in persuading others to vote for a split with Great Britain. When Congress began debating a resolution of independence in June 1776, Rodney was absent. Read was against independence, which meant that the Delaware delegation was split between McKean and Read and therefore could not vote in favor of independence. McKean requested that the absent Rodney ride all night from Dover to break the tie. After the vote in favor of independence on July 2, McKean participated in the debate over the wording of the official Declaration of Independence, which was approved on July 4.
A few days after McKean cast his vote, he left Congress to serve as colonel in command of the Fourth Battalion of the Pennsylvania Associators, a militia unit created by Benjamin Franklin in 1747. They joined General George Washington's defense of New York City at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Being away, McKean was not available when most of the signers placed their signatures on the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. Since his signature did not appear on the printed copy that was authenticated on January 17, 1777, it is assumed that he signed after that date, possibly as late as 1781.G. S. Rowe, "McKean, Thomas". American National Biography Online, February 2000.
In a conservative reaction against the advocates of American independence, the 1776-1777 Delaware General Assembly did not reelect either McKean or Rodney to the Continental Congress in October 1776. However, the British occupation after the Battle of Brandywine swung opinions enough that McKean was returned to Congress in October 1777 by the 1777–1778 Delaware General Assembly. During that time, he was constantly pursued by British forces. Over the course of the following years, he was forced to relocate his family five times.
He served continuously in the Congress until February 1, 1783. McKean helped draft the Articles of Confederation and voted for their adoption on March 1, 1781. When poor health caused Samuel Huntington to resign as president of Congress in July 1781, McKean was elected as his successor. He served from July 10 to November 4, 1781. The position was mostly ceremonial with no real authority, but the office required McKean to handle a good deal of correspondence and sign official documents.Rick K. Wilson, Congressional Dynamics: ...in the First American Congress, 1774–1789 (Stanford University Press, 1994), 76–80. During his time in office, Lord Cornwallis's British army surrendered at Yorktown, which effectively ended the war.
Government of Delaware
Meanwhile, McKean led the effort in the General Assembly of Delaware to declare its separation from the British government, which it did on June 15, 1776. In August, he was elected to the special convention to draft a new state constitution. Upon hearing of it, McKean made the long ride to Dover, Delaware, from Philadelphia in a single day, went to a room in an inn, and that night, virtually by himself, drafted the document. It was adopted September 20, 1776. The Delaware Constitution of 1776 became the first state constitution to be produced after the Declaration of Independence.
McKean was elected to Delaware's first House of Assembly for both the 1776–1777 and the 1778–1779 sessions, succeeding John McKinly as speaker on February 12, 1777, when McKinly became president of Delaware. Shortly after President McKinly's capture and imprisonment, McKean served as the president of Delaware for a month, from September 22 to October 20, 1777. That was the time needed for the successor George Read to return from the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and to assume the duties.
Immediately after the Battle of Brandywine, the British Army occupied Wilmington and much of northern New Castle County. Its navy also controlled the lower Delaware River and Delaware Bay. As a result, the state capital, New Castle, was unsafe as a meeting place, and the Sussex County seat, Lewes, was sufficiently disrupted by Loyalists that it was unable to hold a valid general election that autumn. As president, McKean was primarily occupied with recruitment of the militia and with keeping some semblance of civic order in the portions of the state still under his control.
Delaware General Assembly YearAssemblySenate MajoritySpeakerHouse MajoritySpeaker1776/771stnon-partisanGeorge Readnon-partisanvacant
Government of Pennsylvania