Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/176

144 used by Jesus Christ in instituting the sacrament of the supper, as affirmed in two prize essays that were widely circulated by the temperance societies of England and the United States, ilfter retiring from the presidency he prepared a " History of the College of New Jersey" (Philadelphia, 1877).

McLEAN, John, jurist, b. in Morris county, N". J., 11 March, 1785; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio. 4 April. 1861. In 1789 his father, a poor man with a large family, removed to the west and settled, first at Morganstown. Va., subsequently at Nieholasville. Ky..and finally, in 1799, on a farm in Warren county, Ohio. Young McLean worked on the farm that his father had cleared till he was sixteen years old, then received pri- vate instruction in the classics for two years, and at the age of eighteen went to Cin- cinnati to study law, and, while acquiring his profession, sup- ported himself by writing in the office of the clerk of the county. In the autumn of 1807 he was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Lebanon. In October, 1812, he was elected to congress from his district, which then included Cincinnati, by the Democratic party, de- feating two competitors in an exciting contest, and was re-elected by the unanimous vote of the dis- trict in 1814. He supported the Madison adminis- tration, originated the law to indemnify individ- uals for the loss of property in the public service, and introduced an inquiry as to pensioning the widows of fallen officers and soldiers. He declined a nomination to the U. S. senate in 1815, and in 1816 was elected judge of the supreme court of the state, which office he held till 1822, when Presi- dent Monroe appointed him commissioner of the general land-office. In July, 1823, he was ap- pointed postmaster-general, and by his energetic administration introduced order, efficiency, and economy into that department. The salary of the office was raised from $4,000 to $6,000" by an almost xinanimous vote of both houses of congress during his administration. He was continued in the office by President John Q. Adams, and was asked to rejnain by G-en. Jackson in 1829, but declined, be- cause he differed with the president on the question of official appointments and removals. President Jackson then tendered him in succession the war and the navy departments, and, on his declining both, appointed him an associate justice of the U. S. su- preme court. He entered upon his duties in Janu- ary, 1830. His charges to grand juries while on circuit were distinguished for ability and eloquence. In December, 1838, he delivered a charge in regard to aiding or favoring " tinlawful military combina- tions by our citizens against any foreign govern- ment with whom we are at peace," with special reference to the Canadian insurrection and its American abettors. The most celebrated of his opinions was that in the Dred Scott case, dissent- ing from the decision of the court as given by Chief-Justice Taney, and enunciating the doctrine that slavery was contrary to right and had its ori- gin in power, and that in this country it was sus- tained only by local law. He was long identiiied with the party that opposed the extension of sla- very, and his name was before the Free-soil conven- tion at Buffalo in 1848 as a candidate for nomina- tion as president. In the Republican national con- vention at Philadelphia in 1856 he received 196 votes for the same office to 359 for John C. Fre- mont. In the Republican convention at Chicago in 1860 he also received several votes. He pub- lished " Reports of the LTnited States Circuit Court " (6 vols., 1829-'55) ; a " Eulogy on James Monroe " (1831) ; and several addresses. — His brother, Will- iam, member of congress, b. in Morris county, N. J. : d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 Oct., 1839, was educated in the public schools, removed to Ohio, and, after holding for some time the office of re- ceiver of public moneys at Piqua, was elected a representative in congress, and twice re-elected, serving from 1 Dec, 1823, till 3 March. 1829. He was instrumental in procuring a land subsidy of 500,000 acres for the extension of the Ohio canal from Cincinnati to Cleveland. After returning to private life he engaged in mercantile business in Cincinnati. — John's son, Nathaniel Collins, sol- dier, b. in Warren county. Ohio, 2 Feb., 1815, was graduated at Augusta college. Ky., in 1832. studied for a year or two longer at Harvard, and took his degree at the law-school there in 1838. He married a daughter of Judge Jacob Burnet the same year, and began practice in Cincinnati, where he attained success at the bar. He entered the National army on 11 Jan., 1862, as colonel of the 75th Ohio vol- unteers, being commissioned brigadier-general on 29 Nov., 1862, and resigned on 20 April, 1865. • McLEAN, John, senator, b. in North Carolina in 1791 ; d. in Shawneetown, III, 4 Oct., 1830. He was taken by his father to Logan county, Ky., in 1795, and, after a limited education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Shawneetown in 1815. He was the first congress- man that was elected from Illinois, taking his seat on 4 Dec, 1818, and serving till the following March. In 1820 he was elected to the state house of representatives and chosen speaker. On the resignation of Ninian Edwards he was appointed to the LT. S. senate, and served from 20 Dec, 1824, till 3 March, 1825. The year before his death he was elected LTnited States senator for a full term bv the unanimous vote of the legislature, and took his seat on 7 Dec, 1829.

McLEAN, John, Canadian Anglican bishop, b. in Portsoy, Banffshire, Scotland, 17 Nov., 1828 ; d. 12 Nov., 1886. He was graduated at Aberdeen uni- versity in 1851, came to Canada soon afterward, and in 1858 was ordained a priest by the bishop of Huron. He was appointed curate of St. Paul's cathedral, London, Ont., in that year. In 1866 he removed to the northwest, and was appointed rec- tor of St. John's cathedral, and professor of di- vinity and warden in St. John's college. Winnipeg. A few years later he became archdeacon of Assini- boia, and in 1871 received the degree of D. C. L. from the universities of Trinity college, Toronto, and Bishop's college, Lennoxville, and that of D. D. from Kenyon college, Ohio. When the diocese of Saskatchewan was constituted in 1874, Dr. McLean was nominated bishop of the new see. and was con- secrated at Lambeth the same year by the arch- bishop of Canterbury. In 1880 Bishop McLean founded Emmanuel college, whieli under his wise management soon became a university.

'''McLEAN. Sarah Pratt''', author, b. in Simsbury, Conn., 3 July, 1858. She was educated at South Hadley seminary, took charge for a season of a village school on the Massachusetts coast between Plymouth and Sandwich, and while thus occupied closely observed the local type of character and