Thomas McKean: DE Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Thomas McKean was born on March 19, 1734, in New London Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, to William and Leticia (Finney) McKean. He was the second of four children, and his family can be traced back to Ireland and Scotland. His paternal Great-Great-Great Grandfather, William McKean, moved from Scotland to Ireland because of religious and political persecution in the late 1600s. His Great-Great- Grandfather John McKean was a defender of Londonderry from 1668 to 1669, and his Grandfather, William McKean, came to Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1725 with his grandmother and their children. His maternal grandparents, Robert and Dorothea Finney, moved to America before 1720 and settled in New London Township. His maternal grandfather owned a plantation called Thunder Hill in New London Township.
McKean would receive a basic education at home until he was nine years old, when he was sent to the New London Academy. He attends the academy for approximately seven years and then moves on to study law under his cousin, David Finney, in New Castle, Delaware. While studying law with his cousin, he was appointed a clerk to the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. He was 18 years old at the time of his appointment, and would hold this position until he turned twenty, when he would be admitted to the bar.
By 1757, he was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and joined the Richard Williams Company, which was a militia. He would rise to the rank of Colonel in the militia. Then, in 1758, he traveled to London to continue his studies in law at the Middle Temple. Several other signers of the Declaration would attend this school as well.
McKean returned to America in 1762 and was elected to the House of Assembly from New Castle. He would serve in this position until 1780, with a speakership term that lasted from 1772 to 1779. During the last six years of his term, he would reside in Pennsylvania. He declined re-election in 1780 because he no longer lived in Delaware and submitted the names of several men who could take his place. The legislature would unanimously elect all the men.[1]
On July 21, 1763, McKean married Mary Borden, who was the sister of Francis Hopkinson’s wife and the eldest daughter of Joseph Borden, Esq. They would have six children together. Their first son, Joseph, was born on July 28, 1764, in New Castle, and he attended the Academy of Philadelphia and the University of the State of Pennsylvania. He served with his father as trustee of the school for more than twenty years. He married Hannah Miles, and they had twelve children, but most of them would die in infancy. He passed away on September 3, 1826, in Philadelphia. Their next child, also a boy, Robert, was born on March 9, 1766. He marries Anne Smith, and together they have two children, with one dying in childhood. He would pass away on June 3, 1802, in Philadelphia. Their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born on August 18, 1767, and she died on September 9, 1811. She married Andrew Petit and had eight children. Letitia was born on January 6, 1769, and passed away on February 9, 1845. She married George Bachman and possibly had eleven children, but the records are unclear about the exact number. Mary was born on February 18, 1771, but passed away when she was ten years old, on December 27, 1781, and was buried at the First Presbyterian Church. Their last child, Ann, was born on February 25, 1773, and passed away on May 20, 1804. She marries a man by the name of Bachanan and has at least four children before her death. Mary Borden McKean would pass in 1773 and was buried at Immanuel Episcopal Church in New Castle.
During the Stamp Act Crisis, as a judge, he ruled that all court proceedings would be conducted on unstamped paper. He was appointed to the Stamp Act Congress, along with Cesar Rodney. They are members from Delaware representing New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. During this time, he proposes changing how voting is done, suggesting one vote per colony, regardless of size. The Continental Congress would adopt this, and it would eventually be utilized in the US Senate. McKean would disagree with President Timothy Ruggles over Ruggles’ refusal to sign a memorial of rights and grievances. Ruggles notes that it was against his conscience, and the ensuing debates led to a duel challenge from McKean. Ruggles never shows up for the duel, which he had accepted in front of the entire Stamp Act Congress. He returns to Massachusetts, disgraced, and eventually becomes a leading Tory figure before fleeing to Nova Scotia. In 1813, McKean wrote to John Adams and states, “In the Congress of 1765 there were several conspicuous characters: James Otis appeared to me to be the boldest and best speaker – I voted for him as our president, but Brigadier Ruggles succeeded by one votes…”[2] Though he speaks highly of Otis, Otis would later succumb to some mental disorder, after being beat over the head with a cane, and would not play a prominent role in the Continental Congress. He would die after being struck by lightning in May 1783.
He continues to work on Stamp Act issues and to organize opposition to the Townshend Acts. However, there would be other memorable events in his life during the latter half of the 1760s. He received an honorary MA degree from the College of Philadelphia. Then he practiced law in New Jersey courts, as approved by Governor Franklin on the recommendation of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society and, in 1769, became a trustee of the Academy of Newark. This academy was the successor to the London Academy, which he had attended as a child. In 1774, he moved his family and law practice to Philadelphia for two major reasons, one of which was to increase his legal practice. The other was a result of his increased involvement in the independence movement as a representative to Congress.
On September 3, 1774, McKean married Sarah Armitage. They would have two children who would live, and several who would pass away as infants. An unnamed son was born on November 1, 1775, and died that same day. Their next child was a daughter, Sarah, who was born on July 8, 1777. She marries the Marquis de Casa-Irujo and has three children, with one dying in infancy. Sarah passed away on January 4, 1841. Another child, Thomas, was born on November 20, 1779, and passed away on May 5, 1852. He would marry Sarah Clementina Pratt in 1809 and have at least four children. The couple’s last two children are Sophia, who was born on April 14, 1783, and died young, and Maria Louisa, who was born on September 28, 1785, and died on October 21, 1788. Maria Louisa was buried at First Presbyterian Church. Sarah would pass away in 1820.
As a newlywed, he was appointed to the First Continental Congress and took his seat in September of 1775. He would serve in Congress on and off until 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed. He would be out of office for only one year, between December 1776 and January 1778, when he was unseated due to opposition to the independence movement. He was a member of the Articles of Confederation committee and a variety of other committees. He signed both the Articles of Association in 1774 and the Olive Branch Petition in 1775, as well as the Articles of Confederation. On July 1, when the test vote for independence was held, Read opposed the Declaration, and McKean sent word to Rodney that he was needed back in Philadelphia immediately. Rodney arrives in time to break the Delaware tie. McKean meets Rodney at the door, and together they vote for independence, then for the Declaration.
He immediately left on July 5, as he was a Colonel in the militia, to go with his men to Perth Amboy, to assist in the defense of New York. He was not in Congress on August 2 to sign the Declaration, and the exact date of his signature is unknown. There are conflicting opinions, with some saying he did not sign until 1781 and others stating he signed in January 1777. McKean himself indicates he signed on August 2, but it was just an error that his name did not show up.
His work in Congress during this period was not his only activity; he also helped write the Delaware and Pennsylvania Constitutions. In Delaware, McKean wanted to suspend the proprietary government and argued extensively for this. Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, he would be very critical of the end product, similar to Wilson. In addition, during 1777, he was commissioned Chief Justice of Pennsylvania and held this position until 1799. He would deem the Pennsylvania Constitution flawed and implement the idea of judicial review, years before Marshall did at the Federal Level. He would also seek penal reforms and recognize women’s legal rights. From September to November of 1777, he served as the temporary President of Delaware following President McKinley’s capture by the British. He holds the office long enough for George Read to return and take over. He had to move his family several times, as the British were after him, and wrote to John Adams saying he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy - compelled to move my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna…. And they were soon obliged to move again on the account of the incursion of the Indians.”[3]
By July of 1781, he was elected President of the Continental Congress. At the time, Pennsylvania law forbade holding two offices simultaneously, but since McKean was a representative from Delaware, he was allowed to keep his position as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Constitution did not apply to offices held outside of its jurisdiction at this time. McKean resigned from Congress in 1783 and returned to his family and law practice.
In 1787, he was appointed to the Pennsylvania Ratification Convention and asked that it be read in its entirety to the members of the convention on two different occasions. He argues for the Constitution and says:
“The objections of this constitution have been answered, and all done away, it remains pure and unhurt; and alone as a forcible argument of its goodness…The law, sire, has been my study from infancy, and my only profession. I have gone through the circles of offices, in the legislative, executive and judicial departments of government; and from all my study, observation and experience I must declare that from a full examination and due consideration of this system, it appears to the best the world has yet seen.”[4]
Along with James Wilson, he would be burned in effigy during this time by those who opposed the Constitution, and, like Wilson, he would be an enthusiastic Federalist.
His enthusiasm as a Federalist would not last long. By 1790, he had helped frame a new Pennsylvania constitution and had turned away from the Federalist Party. He embraced the Republican Party, which was beginning to form, and was a foe of Alexander Hamilton’s fiscal policies. Then, in 1799, he stepped down as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania after being elected Governor of Delaware. During his time as Governor, he would remove political enemies from office, regardless of party. He also created a spoils like system, but it did not stop him from being re-elected to office in 1802 and 1805. He was a strong leader who advanced education and improvement, but it did not stop some from attempting to impeach him. Even though the legislature set aside the impeachment consideration and Governor McKean was vindicated, he did send a reply to the charges:
“That I may have erred in judgement; 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 proof and without belief; but the firm and fearless position which I take, invites the strictest scrutiny, upon a fair exposition of our constitution 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.”[5]
As Governor, he also refused to call a convention to revise the state Constitution, even though the people wanted it. He was also encouraged to be a Vice Presidential candidate in 1803, but declined the honor, as he was more focused on being Governor. He served as the governor of Delaware until 1808, when he retired from public office.
During his retirement from public office, he wrote to John Adams on several occasions. On June 13, 1812, he wrote:
“I remain the only surviving member of the first American Congress, held in the city of New York in October 1765; and but three more, of whom you are one, remain alive of the second, held in this city in September 1774….Since my exemption from official and professional duties, I have enjoyed a tranquility never (during a long protected life) heretofore experienced, and my health and comforts are sufficient for a reasonable man…our system of government, in peace, is the best in the world, but how it will operate in war is doubtful; this, however, is likely to be soon put to the test, and I sincerely regret it.”[6]
And again in January of 1814, McKean speaks of his revolutionary service:
“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 completed. When the associators were discharged, I returned to Philadelphia, too my seat in Congress and signed my name to the declaration on parchment.”[7]
This letter would indicate that he signed the Declaration sometime between late 1776 and 1777, which contradicts some historians, who say he signed as late as 1781.
McKean passed away on July 24, 1817, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was survived by his wife and four children. Upon his death, there were only five living signers of the Declaration left. His will disposed of a large estate that included large tracts of land in Pennsylvania as well as stocks and bonds. He is buried in the family plot at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, after first being laid to rest at First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Tidbits Described as being over 6 feet tall with good posture. He had a thin face with a large, pointed nose. He would wear a large cocked hat, always had a gold cane with him, was quick tempered and had an energetic personality. Founder of the Hibernian Society and member of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and the Order of the Cincinnati. |
[1] “Thomas M’kean.” Atkinson’s Casket (1831‑1839) (03, 1839): 97.
[2] McKean, Thomas. “Letters of Thomas McKean” Niles’ Weekly Register (1814‑1837) 12, no. 306 (Jul 12, 1817): 305
[3] Kiernan, Denise, and Joseph D’Agnese. Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of The Men Who Signed The Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2009) 147
[5] Goodrich, Charles A., Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence (New York: William Reed & Co., 1856) 336
[6] McKean, Thomas, “Letters of Thomas McKean” Niles’ Weekly Register (1814‑1837) 12, no. 306 (Jul 12, 1817): 305.
[7] McKean, Thomas, “Letters of Thomas McKean” 305.
Comments