Background
Joseph Borden McKean was the son of Thomas, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Mary (Borden) McKean. He was born in New Castle, Delware.
Joseph Borden McKean was the son of Thomas, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Mary (Borden) McKean. He was born in New Castle, Delware.
McKean graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1782, studied law, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1785.
For some years, in addition to his law practice, he was active in the militia. In 1799, he and fellow officers of the 1st City Troop became involved in a suit for assault for administering a sound beating to William Duane, because his Aurora and General Advertiser had printed an article impeaching the conduct of the troop in the Fries Rebellion. The case dragged on until 1809 when the defendants were acquitted. Although the incident disturbed Republican harmony, having occurred when McKean's father was running for governor, Duane nevertheless supported the elder McKean with undiminished enthusiasm. He never forgot the episode, however, and it remained to plague the McKeans. From May 10, 1800, to July 22, 1808, Joseph was attorney-general of Pennsylvania, previously having been register of wills of Philadelphia. The Governor was bitterly assailed for appointing his son, whom many regarded as inferior to other Philadelphia lawyers. Despite the assertions of his enemies to the contrary, he was a lawyer of parts, but his aristocratic bearing and domineering manner did not help party harmony. He scorned the attacks of the Jacobins on the judiciary, and incurred their animosity by refusing legal aid in the impeachment trial of the three supreme-court judges (1805).
After 1808, in which year he resumed his law practice, he had little prospect for political office, for he was out of favor with the state administration. He was likewise persona non grata to President Madison, because in a legal opinion (1803) he had upheld the contention of the Marquis de Casa Yrujo, his brother-in-law, that Spain was not responsible for damages inflicted by the French on American citizens in Spanish waters. On March 27, 1817, however, Gov. Simon Snyder, a former enemy, appointed him associate judge of the district court for the city and county of Philadelphia, of which he was named president judge October 1, 1818. His commission as associate judge was renewed March 17, 1821. Reappointed president judge on March 21, 1825, he held this post until his death. He was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania (1794 - 1826). On his father's death (1817), he came into possession of the family mansion at Third and Pine Streets, where he died.
McKean was an active promoter of the moderate Republican-Federalist coalition which elected his father governor in 1805.
a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the American Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia Law Association, the State Fenciblesa military company organized in 1813
In some quarters McKean's influence over his father's administration was regarded as tantamount to domination. He was ambitious to be chief justice, and his father would have appointed him in 1806, had reasons of expediency not forbidden his doing so.
McKean's marriage, April 13, 1786, to Hannah, daughter of Col. Samuel Miles, increased the opportunities for legal preferment he already enjoyed as son of the chief justice of Pennsylvania.
19 March 1734 - 24 June 1817
24 July 1744 - 12 March 1773
14 April 1783 - 27 December 1819
20 November 1779 - 5 May 1852
9 March 1766 - 3 June 1802
25 February 1773 - 26 May 1804
18 August 1767 - 9 September 1811
12 December 1764 - 2 March 1845
20 February 1787 - 6 May 1831
27 April 1805 - 19 March 1833
14 Aug 1802 - 16 Mar 1863
19 September 1800 - 22 April 1865
14 November 1792 - 26 February 1816
28 November 1789 - 8 February 1868
25 October 1791 - 12 July 1792
