James McLene (October 11, 1730 – March 18, 1806) was an American farmer and political leader from Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate for

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

in 1779 and 1780.

Biography

At the state level, McLene served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention in 1776 and again in 1789, a number of terms in the state legislature, and briefly as Speaker, during the

British occupation of Philadelphia The Philadelphia campaign (1777–1778) was a British effort in the American Revolutionary War to gain control of Philadelphia, which was then the seat of the Second Continental Congress. British General William Howe, after failing to draw ...

. Following his terms in the Continental Congress, he served on Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council until the conclusion of the war. His early efforts at the Carpenter's Hall Council (Philadelphia, 1776), shortly before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, were instrumental in marshaling Pennsylvania's resolve to support the

Flying Camp A Flying Camp was a military formation employed by the Continental Army in the second half of 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. History After the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776, General George Washington met with members o ...

of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

Death and interment

McLene died in Antrim Township in Franklin County on March 18, 1806 and was buried in the ''Brown's Mill Graveyard'' there.

References

biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLene, James 1730 births 1806 deaths Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania 18th-century American politicians