John McLean

John McLean lived from March 11, 1785 to April 4, 1861 and was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as United States Postmaster General, and as a justice of both the Ohio and United States Supreme Courts, one of few people to serve in all three branches of government. Born in New Jersey, he settled in Ridgeville, Ohio, founded the newspaper The Western Star, and established a law practice before winning election to the House of Representatives in 1813 and then the Ohio Supreme Court in 1816. He resigned to serve in the administration of President James Monroe, becoming Postmaster General in 1823 and presiding over a major expansion of the postal service under Monroe and John Quincy Adams. President Andrew Jackson appointed him an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1829. On the Court McLean became known as an opponent of slavery and was frequently mentioned as a presidential candidate, receiving delegate support at the 1848 Whig, 1856 Republican and 1860 Republican national conventions. He was the sole dissenter in the fugitive slave case Prigg v. Pennsylvania and one of two dissenters in Dred Scott v. Sandford, serving on the Court until his death in 1861.