McLean, John (məklānˈ) [key], 1785–1861, American political
figure and jurist, b. Morris co., N.J. His family moved to Ohio,
where he studied law, was admitted (1807) to the bar, and
practiced in Lebanon. He served in the House of Representatives
(1813–16), was an associate justice of the Ohio supreme court
(1816–22), and commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office
(1822–23). President Monroe appointed him Postmaster General in
1823, and he was reappointed by John Quincy Adams. McLean
resigned in 1829 because of disagreement with Andrew Jackson on
the question of patronage. Jackson, however, appointed (1829)
him to the U.S. Supreme Court where he served as an associate
justice until his death; he is perhaps best remembered for his
dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott Case. See biography by F.
P. Weisenburger (1937, repr. 1971). The Columbia Electronic
Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University
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