To George Washington from Thomas McKean, 20 April 1789
From Thomas McKean
Philadelphia April 20th 1789.
Sir,
Inclosed you will receive Addresses from the Trustees and Faculty of the University of the State of Pennsylvania, The Judges of the Supreme court, and the standing Committee of the State Society of Cincinnati.1
These several Bodies request that you will be pleased to inform me when and where they may have the honor of waiting upon your Excellency with their respective Addresses aforesaid. I am, Sir, with the utmost attachment & regard, Your Excellency’s, Most obedient and most humble servant
Thos McKean
ALS, PHi: Gratz Collection.
After a distinguished legal career before and during the early years of the Revolution, Thomas McKean (1734–1817) became chief justice of Pennsylvania in 1777. It was in this capacity, while riding circuit, that he had handed down a decision in GW’s litigation against the squatters on his Pennsylvania lands in 1784. See Brice McGeehon to GW, 18 Oct. 1788. In 1781 McKean was president of the Continental Congress, and in 1787 he strongly supported ratification of the Constitution in Pennsylvania. In 1799 McKean was elected governor of Pennsylvania.