Description:

McLean John

Supreme Court Justice John McLean purchases a slave, whom he would soon free


Autograph Endorsement by John McLean, "J. Reeve / 16 Aug 1836" on the integral address leaf of an Autograph Letter Signed “John Reeve”, 2p, 8" x 12", with integral address leaf, Cincinnati, August 16, 1836 to Justice John McLean, concerning his purchase of a slave named Lucinda from Mr. A. Stephens of Kentucky, as well as a good description of the burgeoning commerce and resulting prosperity in early Cincinnati. Folds, minor marginal loss from seal tear, else fine condition.



Although McLean was a longtime critic of slavery and one of two dissenting justices in the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, he did own slaves from time to time. John Reeve, an agent in Cincinnati, arranges for the purchase of a girl by the name of Lucinda. Reeve writes to McLean, "Mr. A Stephens the Gentleman from whom you purchased your Girl Lucinda, started from home on the day appointed, last week, per this City in order to Comply with his Contract, with you to execute the Bill of Sale, & Receive his money, but was taken Sick on the way Stop[p]ed at his Brotherinlaw, where he is Still confined & said to be dangerously ill his father, was here, took out the article after signing it himself & stated that his son would return it in a few days with the clothes of the Girl & Sign the release and Receive the funds. Today, his Brotherinlaw, writes me that he will not be able to come for some time, and wishes to know if he signs the paper in presence of some one or two Subscribing Witnesses in NY it will answer the same purpose..." Interestingly, McLean had purchased other slaves, but with the express intention of freeing them in the future. For example, in 1823 McLean purchased a man by the name of Thomas Hawkins with the provision he would be freed ten years hence. McLean freed Hawkins in 1831, two years before the contract was set to expire.



During his first year sitting on the Supreme Court in 1817, he ruled in Ohio v. Thomas D. Carneal that a slave from Kentucky, brought into Ohio, a state where slavery was constitutionally prohibited, was free - a decision that foreshadowed his dissent in Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857. In his 1817 opinion, McLean described slavery as "an infringement on the sacred rights of man". His strong dissenting opinion in Dred Scott is said to have provoked Chief Justice John Taney to take a more extreme position in the decision. Not only did Taney rule that Dred Scott had to be returned to his owner, he held that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, could not be American citizens and enjoyed no standing to sue in federal court.


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