# John McLean *American jurist and politician (1785–1861); U.S. Congressman, Postmaster General, and justice of the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts* John McLean (March 11, 1785 – April 4, 1861) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. He won election to the [[United States House of Representatives]], sat on the Ohio Supreme Court, served as U.S. Postmaster General, and was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He is among the few people to have held office in all three branches of government.[^1] President James Monroe made McLean Postmaster General in 1823, and he directed a major expansion of the Post Office Department under Monroe and John Quincy Adams. President Andrew Jackson appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1829.[^1] He was repeatedly put forward for the presidency. Delegates supported him at the 1848 Whig National Convention and at the Republican National Conventions of 1856 and 1860.[^1] On the Court McLean was identified as an opponent of slavery. He was the only dissenter in the fugitive slave case *Prigg v. Pennsylvania*. He was also one of the two dissenting justices in *Dred Scott v. Sandford*. He remained on the Court until his death in 1861.[^1] ## Early years McLean was born in Morris County, New Jersey, to Fergus McLean and Sophia Blackford.[^2] The family lived in Morgantown, Virginia, and then in Nicholasville and Maysville, Kentucky. In 1797 they settled at Ridgeville in Warren County, Ohio, where he was schooled and took up an interest in law. He graduated from Harvard in 1806.[^2] His brother William also became an Ohio politician.[^2] After reading law, McLean was admitted to the bar in 1807. In the same year he started *The Western Star*, a weekly paper published at Lebanon, the seat of Warren County.[^2] In 1810 he handed ownership of the *Star* to his brother Nathaniel and opened a law practice on his own.[^2] Voters sent him to the U.S. House for the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, and he served from March 4, 1813.[^2] He resigned in 1816 to join the Ohio Supreme Court. He had been elected to that court on February 17, 1816, as the successor to William W. Irvin.[^2] ## *The State of Ohio v. Thomas D. Carneal* *State v. Carneal* came before the Ohio Supreme Court while McLean was a member of it. Richard Lunsford, held as a slave in Kentucky by Thomas D. Carneal, sought his freedom through a [[writ of habeas corpus]].[^3] The Ohio Constitution of 1802 prohibited slavery in the state. Lunsford had regularly been sent to work in Cincinnati for periods longer than a week. The case asked whether a person enslaved in Kentucky who was sent to work in Ohio became free, and whether the owner thereby lost his property claim.[^3] McLean delivered the court's opinion. It held that Carneal had forfeited his right to be Lunsford's owner, because Carneal had sold Lunsford to James Riddle, the man who sent Lunsford to Cincinnati.[^3] The opinion stated: "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".[^3] The cached Wikipedia account describes the case as anticipating McLean's later dissent in *Dred Scott v. Sandford* (1857).[^3] ## Executive branch service In 1822 McLean left the Ohio bench when President James Monroe named him Commissioner of the United States General Land Office.[^4] He held that post until 1823, when Monroe made him United States Postmaster General.[^4] McLean served as Postmaster General from December 9, 1823, to March 7, 1829, first under Monroe and then under John Quincy Adams. In that time the Post Office extended into the new western states and territories, and the office of Postmaster General was raised to cabinet rank.[^4] Under Adams, McLean backed Vice President John C. Calhoun, who had broken with the president. Secretary of State Henry Clay asked Adams to remove McLean, and Adams declined to do so.[^4] ## Supreme Court appointment and tenure While Postmaster General, McLean supported Andrew Jackson. Jackson offered him the War and Navy secretaryships, and McLean turned down both.[^5] Jackson instead appointed him on March 6, 1829, to the Supreme Court seat left vacant by [[Robert Trimble]].[^5] The [[United States Senate]] confirmed him on March 7, 1829, and he received his [[Commission]] that day. He took the oath of office on March 12.[^5] McLean was called "The Politician on the Supreme Court." Over time his party affiliation moved from Jacksonian Democrat to the Anti-Jackson Democrats, the Anti-Masonic Party, the Whigs, the Free Soilers, and finally the Republicans. On that basis he has been described as a "political opportunist".[^5] Through the 1830s and 1840s he was promoted as a possible Whig presidential nominee.[^5] He also declined an offer from President John Tyler to serve as Secretary of War.[^5] The new [[Republican Party (United States)]] considered him for its 1856 presidential nomination because of his opposition to the extension of slavery, but John C. Frémont was nominated.[^5] He sought the nomination again in 1860, the year he turned 75. He received twelve votes on the first ballot at the Republican convention, which went on to nominate [[Abraham Lincoln]].[^5] ### *Groves v. Slaughter* The cached Wikipedia account treats *Groves v. Slaughter*, 40 U.S. 449 (1841), as an instance of McLean's economic nationalism.[^6] In that case he upheld Mississippi's authority to restrict the bringing of slaves into the state from other states.[^6] He also held that the power to regulate commerce belonged to Congress alone, although the point was "not necessary" to the decision.[^6] ## Societies In the 1820s McLean belonged to the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences. Its members included Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, along with figures from the military, government service, medicine and other professions.[^7] ## Death and legacy McLean outlived every other member of the Monroe and John Quincy Adams cabinets.[^8] He died in Cincinnati on April 4, 1861.[^1] He was buried in the city's Spring Grove Cemetery. Associate Justice [[Stanley Matthews (judge)]] and Chief Justice [[Salmon P. Chase]] are also buried there.[^8] During the American Civil War, a Union Army training camp in Cincinnati was named Camp John McLean in his honor.[^8] His daughter Evelyn married Joseph Pannell Taylor, a brother of President Zachary Taylor.[^8] His son, Nathaniel C. McLean (1815–1905), was born in Cincinnati and served as a Union general in the war.[^8] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean* (lead section, revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — life dates; service in Congress, as Postmaster General, and on the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts; the Monroe and Jackson appointments; convention support in 1848, 1856 and 1860; the *Prigg* and *Dred Scott* dissents; death in 1861. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, section "Early years" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — birth, family, education, bar admission, *The Western Star*, House service 1813–1816, and election to the Ohio Supreme Court. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, section "The State of Ohio v. Thomas D. Carneal" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — facts and holding of *State v. Carneal* and the quoted passage from McLean's opinion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, section "Executive branch service" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — General Land Office and Postmaster General service dates, and the Calhoun and Clay episode. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, section "Supreme Court appointment and tenure" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — appointment, confirmation, commission and oath dates; party affiliations; and the 1856 and 1860 candidacies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, subsection "Groves v. Slaughter" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — description of *Groves v. Slaughter*, 40 U.S. 449 (1841). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, section "Societies" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — membership in the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *John McLean*, section "Death and legacy" (revid 1373654578, retrieved 2026-10-26) — last surviving cabinet member, burial, Camp John McLean, and family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean