John McLEAN, Congress, OH (1785-1861)

McLEAN, John, (brother of William McLean), a Representative from Ohio; born in Morris County, N.J., March 11, 1785; moved with his parents to Morgantown, Va., in 1789, to Nicholasville, Ky., in 1790, to Maysville, Ky., in 1793, and to Lebanon, Ohio, in 1797; attended the common schools and studied under private tutors; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1807 and commenced practice in Lebanon, Ohio; founded the Western Star, a weekly newspaper; elected as a Republican to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses and served from March 4, 1813, until his resignation in 1816; chairman, Committee on Accounts (Fourteenth Congress); associate judge of the State supreme court 1816-1822; appointed by President Monroe as Commissioner of the United States General Land Office in 1822; appointed Postmaster General in the administration of President Monroe; reappointed by President John Quincy Adams and served from December 9, 1823, until March 7, 1829, when he resigned; declined Cabinet portfolios as Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Jackson; engaged in literary pursuits; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from March 7, 1829, until his death in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 4, 1861; interment in Spring Grove Cemetery.

Bibliography

Weisenburger, Francis Phelps. The Life of John McLean. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1937. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present