Editing Thomas McKean (section)

==Government of Pennsylvania==
McKean started his long tenure as chief justice of Pennsylvania on July 28, 1777, and served in that capacity until 1799. There, he largely set the rules of justice for revolutionary Pennsylvania. According to the biographer John Coleman, "only the historiographical difficulty of reviewing court records and other scattered documents prevents recognition that McKean, rather than [[John Marshall]], did more than anyone else to establish an independent judiciary in the United States. As chief justice under a Pennsylvania constitution he considered flawed, he assumed it the right of the court to strike down legislative acts it deemed unconstitutional, preceding by ten years the [[U.S. Supreme Court]]'s establishment of the doctrine of [[judicial review in the United States|judicial review]]. He augmented the rights of defendants and sought penal reform, but on the other hand was slow to recognize expansion of the legal rights of women and the processes in the state's gradual elimination of slavery."

He was a member of the convention of Pennsylvania that ratified the Constitution of the United States. In the Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention of 1789/90, he argued for a strong executive and was himself a Federalist. Nevertheless, in 1796, dissatisfied with the Federalists' domestic policies and compromises with Great Britain, he became an outspoken Jeffersonian Republican, or Democratic-Republican.
[[File:Thomas Mckean.jpg|thumb|Letter from Thomas McKean to Israel Shreve, 1792]]

While chief justice of Pennsylvania, McKean played a role in the [[Whiskey Rebellion]]. On August 2, 1794, he took part in a conference on the rebellion. In attendance were Washington, his Cabinet, the governor of Pennsylvania, and other officials. Washington interpreted the rebellion to be a grave threat could mean "an end to our Constitution and laws." Washington advocated "the most spirited and firm measure" but held back on what that meant. McKean argued that the matter should be left up to the courts, not the military, to prosecute and punish the rebels. [[Alexander Hamilton]] insisted upon the "propriety of an immediate resort to Military force."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Center for History and New Media, George Mason University|title=Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania: The Whiskey Rebellion|url=http://wardepartmentpapers.org/blog/?p=285|website=Papers of the War Department}}</ref> Some weeks later, Mckean and General William Irvine wrote to Pennsylvania Governor [[Thomas Mifflin]] and discussed the mission of federal committees to negotiate with the Rebels, describing them as "well disposed." However, McKean and Irvine felt the government must suppress the insurrection to prevent it from spreading to nearby counties.<ref>{{cite web|last1=University of Pittsburgh Darlington Autograph Files|title=Thomas McKean and William Irvine to Governor Thomas Mifflin, August 22, 1794|url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=ascead;cc=ascead;q1=joseph%20brant;rgn=main;view=text;didno=US-PPiU-dar192507}}</ref>

McKean was elected governor of Pennsylvania and served three terms from December 17, 1799, to December 20, 1808. In the [[1799 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election|1799 election]], he defeated the Federalist Party nominee [[James Ross (Pennsylvania politician)|James Ross]] and again more easily in the [[1802 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election|1802 election]]. At first, McKean ousted Federalists from state government positions and so he has been called the father of the [[spoils system]]. However, in seeking a third term in [[1805 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election|1805]], McKean was at odds with factions of his own Democratic-Republican Party, and the [[Pennsylvania General Assembly]] instead nominated Speaker [[Simon Snyder]] for governor. McKean then forged an alliance with Federalists, called "the Quids," and defeated Snyder.<ref name="Results">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BVQAAAAYAAJ |title=The Pennsylvania State Register for 1831 |page=54 |date=1831 |access-date=2020-05-15}}</ref> Afterwards, he began removing Jeffersonians from state positions.

The governor's beliefs in stronger executive and judicial powers were bitterly denounced by the influential ''[[Philadelphia Aurora|Aurora]]'' newspaper publisher [[William Duane (journalist)|William P. Duane]] and the Philadelphia populist [[Michael Leib]]. After they led public attacks calling for his [[Impeachment in the United States|impeachment]], McKean filed a partially successful libel suit against Duane in 1805. The [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives]] impeached the governor in 1807, but, for the rest of his term, his friends prevented an [[impeachment trial]] from being held, and the matter was dropped. When the suit was settled after McKean left office, his son Joseph angrily criticized Duane's attorney for alleging out of context that McKean referred to the people of Pennsylvania as "clodpoles" (clodhoppers).<ref>[http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/governors/mckean.asp?secid=31 Pennsylvania Governors] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050923045842/http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/governors/mckean.asp?secid=31 |date=September 23, 2005 }}</ref>

[[File:ThomasMcKean2.jpg|225px|right]]

Some of McKean's other accomplishments included expanding free education for all and, at age eighty, leading a Philadelphia citizens group to organize a strong defense during the [[War of 1812]]. He spent his retirement in Philadelphia in writing, discussing political affairs, and enjoying the considerable wealth that he had earned through investments and real estate.