Samuel McKean was an American congressman and senator.
Background
Samuel McKean son of James and Jane (Scott) McKean. He was born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, of Scotch ancestry, the eighth of ten children. James McKean, a native of Cecil County, Maryland, moved to Pennsylvania about 1774, served with Washington's army in the Revolution, and later settled near Elmira, New York. Finding his land title fraudulent, about 1791 he took up a tract of land on Sugar Creek near Burlington, Pennsylvania.
Education
Samuel's opportunities for education were meager until he was sixteen. At that age, he visited an uncle in Maryland who gave him a thorough education. At his uncle's death, falling heir to part of the estate, he established himself as a merchant in Burlington and did a flourishing business.
Career
In 1814, McKean was elected county commissioner of Bradford County, and, with other Republicans, founded the Bradford Gazette, published at Towanda, to further his political fortunes. From 1815 to 1819, he was in the state legislature. In 1822, he was elected to Congress where (1823 - 29), he was identified with the group favoring high tariff and internal improvements. In 1829, he was a strong contender for the nomination for governor in Pennsylvania. Elected state senator the same year, he resigned almost immediately to become secretary of the commonwealth. While secretary (1829 - 33), he drafted a bill providing for the taxation of all property for free school purposes, which subsequently became a law. He was a presidential elector on the Jackson ticket in 1832. In 1833, assisted by his opposition to constitutional and national conventions, he was elected United States senator after a long and bitter struggle. As senator, although opposed to Van Buren and the "kitchen cabinet" and steering a middle course on the question of the deposits, he was an enemy of the United States Bank and generally supported Jackson. He voted against the resolutions (1834) declaring the Treasurer's reasons for removing the deposits unsatisfactory and censuring the president, because they were "exclusively censorious, " but he denounced the subsequent expunging of the censure as unconstitutional. While sanctioning the removal of the deposits, nevertheless, he voted to restore them because of "sheer expediency" and to satisfy his constituents. He disapproved of anti-slavery agitation and on January 6, 1838, presented two resolutions: that Congress possessed no power to abolish slavery in the states where it existed; and that it was inexpedient to legislate on slavery in the District of Columbia. He was chairman of the committee on contingent expenses and was a member of the committees on militia, public lands, pensions, commerce, roads and canals, and agriculture. In 1839, severe neuralgia in the head caused him to become an opium addict, and in a delirium suffered as a consequence he cut his throat with a razor. He never fully recovered from the wound. He was a major-general of militia. He died at West Burlington, Pennsylvania.
Achievements
Politics
McKean was an adroit politician and a power in local politics for many years.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"McKean is honest, but exceedingly prejudiced man" - Van Buren
Connections
On January 7, 1812, McKean married Julia McDowell.