Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania to :Category:Whig Party United States representatives from Pennsylvania per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

2025-12-20T22:33:25Z

Moving Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania to Category:Whig Party United States representatives from Pennsylvania per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

← Previous revision		Revision as of 22:33, 20 December 2025
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	{{short description\|American politician}}		{{short description\|American politician}}

	{{Infobox officeholder		{{Infobox officeholder
	\|name = Thomas McKennan		\|name = Thomas McKennan
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	\|death_date = {{death date and age\|1852\|7\|9\|1794\|7\|9}}		\|death_date = {{death date and age\|1852\|7\|9\|1794\|7\|9}}
	\|death_place = [[Reading, Pennsylvania]], U.S.		\|death_place = [[Reading, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
	\|party = [[Anti-Masonic Party\|Anti-Masonic]] ~~{{small\|~~(~~Before~~ 1842)}}<br>[[Whig Party (United States)\|Whig]] ~~{{small\|~~(1842–1852)}}		\|party = [[Anti-Masonic Party\|Anti-Masonic]] (before 1842)<br>[[Whig Party (United States)\|Whig]] (1842–1852)
	\|spouse = Matilda Bowman		\|spouse = Matilda Bowman
	\|children = 8		\|children = 8
	\|education = [[~~Washington & Jefferson College\|~~Washington and Jefferson College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts\|BA]])		\|education = [[Washington and Jefferson College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts\|BA]])
	}}		}}
	'''Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan''' (March 31, 1794 – July 9, 1852) was a 19th-century [[politician]] and [[lawyer]] who served briefly as [[United States Secretary of the Interior]] under President [[Millard Fillmore]].		'''Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan''' (March 31, 1794 – July 9, 1852) was a 19th-century [[politician]] and [[lawyer]] who served briefly as [[United States Secretary of the Interior]] under President [[Millard Fillmore]].
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	==Career==		==Career==
	===Early career===		===Early career===
	He was a member of the [[Literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College#Union Literary Society\|Union Literary Society]] at [[Washington & Jefferson College\|Washington College]].<ref name="McClelland1903">{{Cite book\| last = McClelland\| first = W.C.\|chapter= A History of Literary Societies at Washington & Jefferson College\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1QyAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111 \| publisher = George H. Buchanan and Company\|title=The Centennial Celebration of the Chartering of Jefferson College in 1802\| year= 1903 \| location = Philadelphia\| pages = 111–132\| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=t1QyAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> In a [~~http~~://munger2.blogspot.com/2012/09/address-of-thomas-m-t-mckennan-to-union.html 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 was a member of the [[Literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College#Union Literary Society\|Union Literary Society]] at [[Washington & Jefferson College\|Washington College]].<ref name="McClelland1903">{{Cite book\| last = McClelland\| first = W.C.\|chapter= A History of Literary Societies at Washington & Jefferson College\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1QyAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111 \| publisher = George H. Buchanan and Company\|title=The Centennial Celebration of the Chartering of Jefferson College in 1802\| year= 1903 \| location = Philadelphia\| pages = 111–132\| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=t1QyAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> In a [https://munger2.blogspot.com/2012/09/address-of-thomas-m-t-mckennan-to-union.html 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.<ref name=banners>{{cite book\| last =Coleman \| first =Helen Turnbull Waite\| title = Banners in the Wilderness: The Early Years of Washington and Jefferson College\| publisher = [[University of Pittsburgh Press]]\| year= 1956\| url = https://archive.org/details/bannersinthewild012852mbp\| oclc = 2191890\|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bannersinthewild012852mbp/page/n144 103]–104}}</ref> Later, he was a Trustee of the College and was often asked to be [[List of Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College\|President]] of Washington College, but he refused every time.<ref name=banners />		He worked as a tutor at Washington College in 1813, as he was studying law.<ref name=banners>{{cite book\| last =Coleman \| first =Helen Turnbull Waite\| title = Banners in the Wilderness: The Early Years of Washington and Jefferson College\| publisher = [[University of Pittsburgh Press]]\| year= 1956\| url = https://archive.org/details/bannersinthewild012852mbp\| oclc = 2191890\|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bannersinthewild012852mbp/page/n144 103]–104}}</ref> Later, he was a Trustee of the College and was often asked to be [[List of Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College\|President]] of Washington College, but he refused every time.<ref name=banners />
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	{{~~US House succession box~~		{{s-bef\|before=[[William McCreery (Pennsylvania politician)\|William McCreery]]}}
	~~\| state=Pennsylvania~~		{{s-ttl\|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Pennsylvania\|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district]]\|years=1831–1833}}
	~~\| district=15~~		{{s-aft\|after=[[Andrew Beaumont]]}}
	\| before=[[William McCreery (Pennsylvania politician)\|William McCreery]]		\|-
	\| ~~after~~=[[~~Andrew Beaumont~~]]		{{s-new\|constituency}}
	\| years=1831–1833		{{s-ttl\|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Pennsylvania\|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Pennsylvania's 21st congressional district]]\|years=1833–1839}}
	}}		{{s-aft\|after=[[Isaac Leet]]}}
	{{~~US House succession box~~		\|-
	\| ~~state~~=~~Pennsylvania~~		{{s-bef\|before=[[Joseph Lawrence (Pennsylvania politician)\|Joseph Lawrence]]}}
	\| ~~district=21~~		{{s-ttl\|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Pennsylvania\|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Pennsylvania's 21st congressional district]]\|years=1842–1843}}
	\| ~~before=''(none)''~~		{{s-aft\|after=[[William Wilkins (United States Senator)\|William Wilkins]]}}
	\| ~~after~~=[[~~Isaac Leet~~]]		\|-
	\| years=1833–1839
	}}
	{{~~US House succession box~~
	\| ~~state~~=~~Pennsylvania~~
	\| ~~district=21~~
	\| before=[[Joseph Lawrence (Pennsylvania politician)\|Joseph Lawrence]]
	\| after=[[William Wilkins (United States Senator)\|William Wilkins]]
	\| ~~years=1842–1843~~
	}}
	{{s-off}}		{{s-off}}
	{{~~U.S. Cabinet official box~~		{{s-bef\|before=[[Thomas Ewing]]}}
	\|before= [[Thomas Ewing]]		{{s-ttl\|title=[[United States Secretary of the Interior]]\|years=1850}}
	\|~~after~~= [[~~Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart\|Alexander H. H. Stuart~~]]		{{s-aft\|after=[[Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart\|Alexander Stuart]]}}
	\|years= 1850
	\|~~president~~= [[~~Millard Fillmore~~]]
	~~\|department= Secretary of the Interior~~}}
	{{s-end}}		{{s-end}}

	~~{{Whig Party (United States)}}~~
	{{USSecInterior}}		{{USSecInterior}}
	{{Fillmore cabinet}}		{{Fillmore cabinet}}

	{{Authority control}}		{{Authority control}}

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	[[Category:United States secretaries of the interior]]		[[Category:United States secretaries of the interior]]
	[[Category:Fillmore administration cabinet members]]		[[Category:Fillmore administration cabinet members]]
	[[Category:Anti-Masonic Party ~~members of the~~ United States ~~House of Representatives~~ from Pennsylvania]]		[[Category:Anti-Masonic Party United States representatives from Pennsylvania]]
	[[Category:Whig Party ~~members of the~~ United States ~~House of Representatives~~ from Pennsylvania]]		[[Category:Whig Party United States representatives from Pennsylvania]]
	[[Category:19th-century people from Pennsylvania]]		[[Category:19th-century people from Pennsylvania]]
	[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College alumni]]		[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College alumni]]
	[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College faculty]]		[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College faculty]]
	[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College trustees]]		[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College trustees]]
	[[Category:19th-century ~~members of the~~ United States ~~House of Representatives~~]]		[[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]

imported>Jessicapierce: Reverted edits by 102.214.88.208 (talk) to last version by Jevansen

2025-02-25T13:41:27Z

Reverted edits by 102.214.88.208 (talk) to last version by Jevansen

New page

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Thomas McKennan
|image = TMTMcK.jpg
|office = 2nd [[United States Secretary of the Interior]]
|president = [[Millard Fillmore]]
|term_start = August 15, 1850
|term_end = August 26, 1850
|predecessor = [[Thomas Ewing]]
|successor = [[Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart|Alexander Stuart]]
|state1 = [[Pennsylvania]]
|district1 = {{ushr|PA|21|21st}}
|term_start1 = May 30, 1842
|term_end1 = March 3, 1843
|predecessor1 = [[Joseph Lawrence (Pennsylvania politician)|Joseph Lawrence]]
|successor1 = [[William Wilkins (American politician)|William Wilkins]]
|term_start2 = March 4, 1833
|term_end2 = March 3, 1839
|predecessor2 = Constituency established
|successor2 = [[Isaac Leet]]
|state3 = [[Pennsylvania]]
|district3 = {{ushr|PA|15|15th}}
|term_start3 = March 4, 1831
|term_end3 = March 3, 1833
|predecessor3 = [[William McCreery (Pennsylvania politician)|William McCreery]]
|successor3 = [[Andrew Beaumont]]
|birth_name = Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan
|birth_date = {{birth date|1794|3|31}}
|birth_place = [[New Castle, Delaware]], U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1852|7|9|1794|7|9}}
|death_place = [[Reading, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|party = [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]] {{small|(Before 1842)}}<br>[[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] {{small|(1842–1852)}}
|spouse = Matilda Bowman
|children = 8
|education = [[Washington & Jefferson College|Washington and Jefferson College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
}}
'''Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan''' (March 31, 1794 – July 9, 1852) was a 19th-century [[politician]] and [[lawyer]] who served briefly as [[United States Secretary of the Interior]] under President [[Millard Fillmore]].

== Early life ==
McKennan was born in [[New Castle, Delaware]] on March 31, 1794, the son of Col. William and Elizabeth Thompson McKennan. He later moved with his family to [[Washington, Pennsylvania]]. He graduated from [[Washington and Jefferson College|Washington College]] in 1810 and was admitted to the bar in 1814, commencing practice in Washington.

==Career==
===Early career===
He was a member of the [[Literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College#Union Literary Society|Union Literary Society]] at [[Washington & Jefferson College|Washington College]].<ref name="McClelland1903">{{Cite book| last = McClelland| first = W.C.|chapter= A History of Literary Societies at Washington & Jefferson College|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1QyAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111 | publisher = George H. Buchanan and Company|title=The Centennial Celebration of the Chartering of Jefferson College in 1802| year= 1903 | location = Philadelphia| pages = 111–132| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=t1QyAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> In a [http://munger2.blogspot.com/2012/09/address-of-thomas-m-t-mckennan-to-union.html 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.<ref name=banners>{{cite book| last =Coleman | first =Helen Turnbull Waite| title = Banners in the Wilderness: The Early Years of Washington and Jefferson College| publisher = [[University of Pittsburgh Press]]| year= 1956| url = https://archive.org/details/bannersinthewild012852mbp| oclc = 2191890|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bannersinthewild012852mbp/page/n144 103]–104}}</ref> Later, he was a Trustee of the College and was often asked to be [[List of Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College|President]] of Washington College, but he refused every time.<ref name=banners />

===Pennsylvania politics===
He was deputy [[Pennsylvania Attorney General|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 [[22nd United States Congress|twenty-second congress]] in 1830. He served in the [[United States House of Representatives]] 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 Party|Anti-Masonic]] and [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] to complete the term of his late successor [[Joseph Lawrence (Pennsylvania politician)|Joseph Lawrence]]. (The special election was set for May 20, 1842.<ref>{{Cite news
| title=Special Election
| newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer
| page=2
| date=April 28, 1842 }}</ref>) He was the chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Roads and Canals|Committee on Roads and Canals]] in the [[27th United States Congress|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 [[United States electoral college|electoral college]].

===Secretary of the Interior===
Upon [[Millard Fillmore]] becoming the [[President of the United States]], McKennan was offered the position of the [[United States Secretary of the Interior]], 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.<ref>Eugene P. Trani, ''The Secretaries of the Department of the Interior 1849-1969'' (National Anthropological Archives, 1975), p. 68</ref> 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.<ref>"By Last Night's Mails" (28 August 1850) ''Daily Atlas'', Boston, p. 2</ref> 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:

<blockquote>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.<ref>Thomas. M.T. McKennan, ''Circular to the United States Marshals and Assistants'', cited in "[https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/conmono2.pdf Census Confidentiality and Privacy: 1790-2002]."</ref></blockquote>

===Later career===
Following his resignation, McKennan took on a less stressful job as the president of the [[Hempfield Railroad]], 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]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{CongBio|M000501}}
*{{Find a Grave|9000216}}

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{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Pennsylvania
| district=15
| before=[[William McCreery (Pennsylvania politician)|William McCreery]]
| after=[[Andrew Beaumont]]
| years=1831–1833
}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Pennsylvania
| district=21
| before=''(none)''
| after=[[Isaac Leet]]
| years=1833–1839
}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Pennsylvania
| district=21
| before=[[Joseph Lawrence (Pennsylvania politician)|Joseph Lawrence]]
| after=[[William Wilkins (United States Senator)|William Wilkins]]
| years=1842–1843
}}
{{s-off}}
{{U.S. Cabinet official box
|before= [[Thomas Ewing]]
|after= [[Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart|Alexander H. H. Stuart]]
|years= 1850
|president= [[Millard Fillmore]]
|department= Secretary of the Interior}}
{{s-end}}

{{Whig Party (United States)}}
{{USSecInterior}}
{{Fillmore cabinet}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKennan, Thomas M. T.}}
[[Category:1794 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:People from New Castle, Delaware]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of the interior]]
[[Category:Fillmore administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Anti-Masonic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:19th-century people from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College alumni]]
[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College faculty]]
[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College trustees]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]