John McLean

Former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
From: March 7, 1829 – April 4, 1861
Nominator | Andrew Jackson
Predecessor | Robert Trimble
Successor | Noah Haynes Swayne
6th United States Postmaster General
From: June 26, 1823 – March 4, 1829
Predecessor | Return J. Meigs, Jr.
Successor | William T. Barry
Information

Party  | Jeffersonian Republican, Jacksonian, National Republican, Anti-Masonic, Republican

Spouse(s)  | Rebecca E. Edwards McLean
Sarah Bella Ludlow Garrard McLean

Religion  | Methodist

John McLean was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. McLean notably dissented from Dred Scott v. Sanford. McLean wrote an important majority opinion concerning public domain in Wheaton v. Peters.[1] He served on the Court for 32 years.

## Quotes[edit]

* “In the [Dred Scott v. Sanford] argument, it was said that a colored citizen would not be an agreeable member of society. This is more a matter of taste than law ... [for] under the late treaty with Mexico we made citizens of all grades, combinations and colors.”
* "For many years, my hope for the perpetuity of our institutions has rested upon Bible morality and the general dissemination of Christian principles. This is an element which did not exist in the ancient republics. It is a basis on which free governments may be maintained through all time. . . . Free government is not a self-moving machine. . . . Our mission of freedom is not carried out by brute force, by canon law, or any other law except the moral law and those Christian principles which are found in the Scriptures."[2]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ John McLean (English). law.jrank.
2. ↑ B. F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, Developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), p. 639.

The U.S. Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Marshall's Court (1801–1835)
| 1801–1804  |  William Cushing | William Paterson | Samuel Chase | Bushrod Washington | Alfred Moore

|

1804–1806  |  William Cushing | William Paterson | Samuel Chase | Bushrod Washington | William Johnson
1807–1810  |  William Cushing | Samuel Chase | Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Henry B. Livingston | Thomas Todd
1810–1811  |  Samuel Chase | Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Henry B. Livingston | Thomas Todd
1811–1812  |  Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Henry B. Livingston | Thomas Todd | Gabriel Duvall
1812–1823  |  Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Henry B. Livingston | Thomas Todd | Gabriel Duvall | Joseph Story
1823–1826  |  Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Thomas Todd | Gabriel Duvall | Joseph Story | Smith Thompson
1826–1828  |  Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Gabriel Duvall | Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | Robert Trimble
1828–1829  |  Bushrod Washington | William Johnson | Gabriel Duvall | Joseph Story | Smith Thompson
1830–1834  |  William Johnson | Gabriel Duvall | Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | John McLean | Henry Baldwin
1835  |  Gabriel Duvall | Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | John McLean | Henry Baldwin | James M. Wayne

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's Court (1836–1864)
| 1836–1837  |  Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | John McLean | Henry Baldwin | James M. Wayne | Philip P. Barbour

|

1837–1838  |  Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | John McLean | Henry Baldwin | James M. Wayne | Philip P. Barbour | John Catron
1838–1841  |  Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | John McLean | Henry Baldwin | James M. Wayne | Philip P. Barbour | John Catron | John McKinley
1842–1843  |  Joseph Story | Smith Thompson | John McLean | Henry Baldwin | James M. Wayne | John Catron | John McKinley | Peter V. Daniel
1843–1844  |  Joseph Story | John McLean | Henry Baldwin | James M. Wayne | John Catron | John McKinley | Peter V. Daniel
1845–1846  |  John McLean | James M. Wayne | John Catron | John McKinley | Peter V. Daniel | Samuel Nelson | Levi Woodbury
1846–1851  |  John McLean | James M. Wayne | John Catron | John McKinley | Peter V. Daniel | Samuel Nelson | Levi Woodbury | Robert C. Grier
1851–1852  |  John McLean | James M. Wayne | John Catron | John McKinley | Peter V. Daniel | Samuel Nelson | Robert C. Grier | Benjamin R. Curtis
1853–1857  |  John McLean | James M. Wayne | John Catron | Peter V. Daniel | Samuel Nelson | Robert C. Grier | Benjamin R. Curtis | John A. Campbell
1858–1860  |  John McLean | James M. Wayne | John Catron | Peter V. Daniel | Samuel Nelson | Robert C. Grier | John A. Campbell | Nathan Clifford
1860–1861  |  John McLean | James M. Wayne | John Catron | Samuel Nelson | Robert C. Grier | John A. Campbell | Nathan Clifford
1862–1863  |  James M. Wayne | John Catron | Samuel Nelson | Robert C. Grier | Nathan Clifford | Noah H. Swayne | Samuel F. Miller | David Davis
1863–1864  |  James M. Wayne | John Catron | Samuel Nelson | Robert C. Grier | Nathan Clifford | Noah H. Swayne | Samuel F. Miller | David Davis | Stephen Johnson Field