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Impeached and removed

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The Independence National Historical Park has an outstanding collection of portraits in the 2nd National Bank Building on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, next to Independence Hall. Included is the famous Charles Willson Peale portrait of Thomas McKean at the top of this article. Unfortunately, the label of the portrait states that McKean was "impeached and forced out of the office of Governor of Pennsylvania." As this article states correctly, he was impeached, but never forced out of office. It is also unfortunate that the few words written about this outstanding patriot, in the one location where most people will read it, dwells on a peculiar incident at the end of his career and not on his unimaginably long list of accomplishments.

Tenure in Continental Congress

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There are several sources which state that McKean served in Congress continuously from September 3, 1774 until February 1, 1783, and that he was the only person to have done so. While the beginning and end dates may very well be accurate, it is certain that there was a period from late 1776, (probably October 1776) until late 1777 or early 1778 (probably October 1777) when he did not serve. The pro reconciliation 1st Delaware General Assembly, elected in October 1776, refused to appoint him to Congress, although they eventually elected him Speaker of the House of Assembly. A year later, with northern Delaware swarming with British troopers, the 2nd General Assembly, had a different appreciation for the situation and returned him to Congress. This information seems to have originated from an otherwise excellent biography written by the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich in his 1856 work, Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. Its material is copied many times on many websites.

Studied at the Middle Temple

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There are several sources which state McKean studied law at the Middle Temple in London from 1758-1762. This is theoretically possible as he held no other office during those years, but seems unlikely for someone with his limited means and passionate dislike for all things English. It seems more likely that some writer in the past confused McKean with John Dickinson who did study law at the Middle Temple from 1753-1756.

he studied law with his cousin David Finney, and then under the eminent Francis Allison Lila (talk) 19:05, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Images

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This is a great page, so congrats to those who have been dedicated editors! A quick suggestion, though... someone who is knowledgeable should go in and put the "thumb" tag on all the images and add a quick description of what they are - I'm not sure why one portrait applies to one section versus any other, for example. I'd do it myself, but I don't know Thomas McKean... I don't even know how I found myself here, really. =) -Midnightdreary 04:36, 31 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Background colors in tables

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Editors should probably be aware that the background colors in the tables in this article may cause issues for color-blind readers and should not be used in this way. See WP:COLOR. Wildhartlivie (talk) 06:00, 8 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Faith

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It is unfortunate that no mention was made of Thomas McKean's faith. He was a devout Christian and offered those in his court sentenced to death an opportunity to come to Salvation through Jesus Christ after the death sentence. This can be verified through the court records. Jnrbourgeois (talk) 15:21, 30 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

President of the United States in Congress Assembled

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It is specious to label Thomas McKean as a President of the Continental Congress. Although you have changed my edits of Thomas McKean back to the Continental Congress, perhaps you can leave this post on the talk page to help your readers discern which listing - President of the Continental Congress or President of the United States in Congress Assembled is correct. A brief case that the Continental Congress expired with the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and the offices had significant differences is as follows:

Although the Articles of Confederation was passed by the U.S. Continental Congress on November 15th, 1777, this Constitution of 1777 required the unanimous ratification by all the 13 states. Maryland was the last state to adopt the Articles of Confederation, completing its ratification on February 2, 1781. On February 22, 1781, it was unanimously resolved by Congress that:

The delegates of Maryland having taken their seats in Congress with powers to sign the Articles of Confederation: "Ordered, That Thursday next [March 1, 1781] be assigned for compleating the Confederation; and that a committee of three be appointed, to consider and report a mode for announcing the same to the public: the members, [Mr. George] Walton, Mr. [James] Madison, Mr. [John] Mathews."

The March 1st, 1781, enacted Constitution of 1777 provided for a unicameral governing body called the United States in Congress Assembled (USCA) to govern the United States of America. The USCA was charged " .. to appoint one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years."

On March 2nd, 1781, the Delegates, who were duly elected after each State had ratified the Articles of Confederation, convened in Philadelphia as the United States in Congress Assembled with Samuel Huntington presiding as the first USCA President. Additionally, George Washington continued to serve as General and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Continental Army.

The Constitution of 1777 Presidency, although similar to its predecessor, was a different and weaker office then that of the U.S. Continental Congress Presidency.

For instance, the Continental Congress Presidents, who served from September 5, 1774 to February 28, 1781, presided over a government that could enact legislation binding all 13 States with only a seven state quorum as opposed to the nine state minimum required by the Constitution of 1777. Additionally, Continental Congress Presidents, who decided what legislation came before Congress, often found themselves as the sole vote for their state, giving them a 1/7th to 1/13th vote over crucial legislation, appointments, judicial decisions, and even military orders enacted during the Revolutionary War. After March 1, 1781, the Constitution of 1777 mandated that two or more delegates must be present from each state for that delegation to be marked present and be eligible to vote in the new USCA government. Therefore, on March 2nd, 1781, the first act of the USCA was to disqualify both New Hampshire and Rhode Island from voting in the new assembly because they each had only one delegate present.

On May 4, 1781, to further weaken presidential powers, Congress passed the "Rules for conducting business in the United States in Congress assembled." that stripped the President of his power to control the congressional agenda which, was a tactic that the presiding officers (especially Henry Laurens) had expertly wielded as Continental Congress Presidents. These new USCA rules even went so far as to eliminate the President's prerogative to continue the debate, before a second to the motion was brought to the floor.

"Rule 10. When a motion is made and seconded it shall be repeated by the President or If he or any other member desire being in writing it shall be delivered to the President in writing and read aloud at the table before it, shall be debated."

There are numerous other examples on the differences between the two offices that range from the USCA's Committee of the States experiment to govern the USA by a "Board of Directors" without the USCA President at its head to John Hanson's success in championing the congressional resolution that moved the bulk of his presidential correspondence duties to USCA Secretary Charles Thomson. Moreover, USCA Foreign Secretaries Robert R. Livingston and John Jay took over most of the U.S. Presidential duties of entertaining foreign diplomats and dignitaries under the Articles of Confederation government.

Thomas McKean served as the President of the United states in Congress Assembled and not as President of the Continental Congress. To view the primary sources supporting this fact go to http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c_Pu5PAiP_g/UOX0C4AiqhI/AAAAAAAADe0/tvVawnkqk5M/s1600/AA+AC.jpg and for documents signed by Elias Boudinot as President of the United States in Congress Assembled please go here -- www.thomasmckean.com. -- Stas.klos (talk) 14:22, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment

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The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Thomas McKean/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Comment(s)Press [show] to view →
*The framework for this article is COMPLETE and meets the current standard for this series of articles, including:
introductory paragraph, section formatting, and categories
infobox, public offices table and election results table, as applicable
references, links, and places with information
  • suggestions for future improvements:
  1. additional detail about the issues and accomplishments McKean’s terms as governor of Pennsylvania
  2. additional detail about the political situation in Pennsylvania in the early 19th century
  • The best known sources for additional information are: (please add others known to you)
  1. {{cite book}}: Empty citation (help)
  2. {{cite book}}: Empty citation (help)

Last edited at 23:36, 1 February 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 08:38, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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