Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (March 31, 1794 – July 9, 1852) was a 19th-century
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and
lawyer who served briefly as
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natur ...
under President
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...
.
Early life
McKennan was born in
New Castle, Delaware
New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 5,285.
History
New Castl ...
on March 31, 1794, the son of Col. William and Elizabeth Thompson McKennan. He later moved with his family to
Washington, Pennsylvania
Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The populat ...
. He graduated from
Washington College
Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...
in 1810 and was admitted to the bar in 1814, commencing practice in Washington.
Career
Early career
He was a member of the
Union Literary Society at
Washington College
Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...
.
In
January 1811 speech to the Union Society McKennan outlined the seven areas of study (Latin and Greek; Mathematics; Rhetoric; Logic; Geography and History; Natural Philosophy; and Moral Philosophy) that comprised the college's curriculum at the time.
He worked as a tutor at Washington College in 1813, as he was studying law.
Later, he was a Trustee of the College and was often asked to be
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of Washington College, but he refused every time.
Pennsylvania politics
He was deputy
attorney general of Pennsylvania from 1815 to 1816, and served on the Town Council in Washington, Pennsylvania, from 1818 to 1830, and was elected to the
twenty-second congress in 1830. He served in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from 1831 to 1839, where he made a protective tariff his top priority. McKennan refused to stand as a candidate again in the 1838 elections, and retired from Congress. He served again from 1842 to 1843 as both an
Anti-Masonic and
Whig to complete the term of his late successor
Joseph Lawrence. (The special election was set for May 20, 1842.) He was the chairman of the
Committee on Roads and Canals in the
twenty-seventh congress.
Despite immense pressure from associates, friends, and the Washington County Whig Party, McKennan again refused to run for another term in Congress, declaring that he had done his duty by serving in public office, and it was time to return to Washington, Pennsylvania, and focus on his law practice. In 1844, his supporters in his hometown of Washington, Pennsylvania, unsuccessfully tried to stir up interest in McKennan as a running mate for Henry Clay, and there is no indication that McKennan himself approved of the idea. McKennan also resisted efforts to entice him to run for governor of Pennsylvania in the 1840s, but in 1848, he served as president of the Pennsylvania
electoral college.
Secretary of the Interior
Upon
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...
becoming the
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
, McKennan was offered the position of the
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natur ...
, but was reluctant to accept; only after intense pressure from friends and associates did he relent. Almost immediately, he regretted his decision, and resigned after a tenure of only 11 days. McKennan cited his "peculiar nervous temperament" which responded to excitement and depression for his reason to resign. Contemporary accounts also cite disagreements with President Fillmore and Secretary of State Daniel Webster regarding the appointment and removal of attorneys, marshals, clerks, and heads of bureaus. During his brief time as Secretary, McKennan was the head of the 1850 Census, which was being conducted that summer, and he issued a remarkably foresighted statement on the importance of protecting individual privacy:
Information has been received at this office that in some cases unnecessary exposure has been made by the assistant marshals with reference to the business and pursuits, and other facts relating to individuals, merely to gratify curiosity, or the facts applied to the private use or pecuniary advantage of the assistant, to the injury of others. Such a use of the returns was neither contemplated by the act itself nor justified by the intentions and designs of those who enacted the law. No individual employed under sanction of the Government to obtain these facts has a right to promulgate or expose them without authority.
...all marshals and assistants are expected to consider the facts intrusted to them as if obtained exclusively for the use of the Government, and not to be used in any way to the gratification of curiosity, the exposure of any man's business or pursuits, or for the private emolument of the marshals or assistants, who, while employed in this service, act as the agents of the Government in the most confidential capacity.[Thomas. M.T. McKennan, ''Circular to the United States Marshals and Assistants'', cited in]
Census Confidentiality and Privacy: 1790-2002
"
Later career
Following his resignation, McKennan took on a less stressful job as the president of the
Hempfield Railroad
The Hempfield Railroad was chartered May 15, 1850''Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States 1877-1878'' page 316 and was a line that originally was to run from Wheeling, West Virginia to Greensburg, Pennsylvania for a distance of 76 mil ...
, which was then under construction between Wheeling, Virginia, and Greensburg, Pennsylvania, through his own town of Washington (in 1871, the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad purchased the financially hobbled Hempfield).
Personal life
On December 6, 1815, McKennan married Matilda Lourie Bowman. They had eight children together:
*William McKennan
*Thomas McKennan
*Isabella McKennan
*Jacob Bowman McKennan
*Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, Jr.
*Anne Elizabeth McKennan
*John Thompson McKennan
*Matilda Bowman McKennan
McKennan died on July 9, 1852, in
Reading, Pennsylvania, while on Hempfield Railroad business, and was interred at the Washington Cemetery in his long-time home of
Washington, Pennsylvania
Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The populat ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKennan, Thomas M. T.
1794 births
1852 deaths
People from New Castle, Delaware
United States Secretaries of the Interior
Fillmore administration cabinet members
Anti-Masonic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
19th-century American politicians
Washington & Jefferson College alumni
Washington & Jefferson College faculty
Washington & Jefferson College trustees