John K. Kane
Encyclopedia
John Kintzing Kane was an American politician, attorney and jurist. Kane was noted for his political affiliation with President Andrew Jackson
and for an 1855 pro-slavery legal decision dealing with the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
.
Kane was born in Albany, New York
, the son of Elisha Kane and Alida Van Rensselaer. He graduated from Yale University
in 1814, studied law with Joseph Hopkinson
, and was admitted to the bar on April 18, 1817. He established a legal practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
Kane married Jane Duval Leiper in 1819. The couple had six children, included two well-known sons. Elisha Kent Kane was a naval officer, physician and explorer. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions which attempted to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin
. Thomas L. Kane
was an attorney, abolitionist and military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saint movement and served as a Union colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War
.
Kane was active in founding Girard College
and was involved in the appointment of the institution's first board of trustees. Kane was one of the trustees and legal advisers of the Presbyterian church in the United States. He also took a prominent role in the controversy which eventually divided the Presbyterian church into the "new" and "old" schools. From 1856 until his death, he was President of the American Philosophical Society
.
Kane died in Philadelphia on February 21, 1858, and was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery
in Philadelphia.
party as a young man and served in the Pennsylvania legislature
in 1823. Shortly afterward, he moved his allegiance to the Democratic
party. He filled the office of solicitor of Philadelphia in 1828-1830.
Kane supported Andrew Jackson in 1828, and received a number of appointments and honors during Jackson's administration. In 1832, Kane was appointed as one of three commissioners under the "Convention of Indemnity with France of 4 July of 1831." This commission was charged with collecting reparations paid by France to the United States for damages the country had received to its shipping and trade during recent European wars. He was a primary author of the commission's report, and prepared the record of "Notes" on questions decided by the board. This material was published after the conclusion of the board's activities in 1836.
Kane drafted the first printed attack on the United States Bank
, and is credited with preparing written materials and speeches on the topic which were used by President Jackson. His friendship with the President led to a period of social difficulty in Philadelphia, which was a stronghold of the "bank" party. A memorable letter addressed by Jackson to James K. Polk
during the campaign of 1844 was written by Kane, and he was an effective manager of the Democratic party during what is known as the Buckshot War
in Pennsylvania.
judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
, a position he held for the rest of his life. He was distinguished both for his knowledge of the law and his judicial decisions. Many of his rulings impacted admiralty and patent law.
His pro-slavery decision in the case of the slave Jane Johnson and the abolitionist Passmore Williamson
, who was committed for contempt of court under the Fugitive Slave Law, came immediately under fire. This case, a year and a half earlier than the better-known Dred Scott decision, denied the escaped slave all legal rights and placed legal penalties on the actions of abolitionists. Kane was violently attacked by the Abolition party and the liberal press. Angry stories were found in major papers, including Horace Greeley
’s influential New York Tribune
, the National Anti-Slavery Standard
of New York, and William Lloyd Garrison
’s The Liberator out of Boston. The Hartford Religious Herald wrote: "A tyrannical judge is one of the vilest and most dangerous of despots. We refer to Judge Kane of Philadelphia. Fellow citizens of the North, let us unite to free our country from this degrading bondage of the Slave Power."
The Judge's son, Thomas L, Kane, held a position as a Clerk of the District Court in eastern Pennsylvania. An abolitionist, Thomas Kane was distressed at the passage of the Compromise of 1850
, and the associated Fugitive Slave Act, which increased his legal responsibility to return fleeing slaves to southern territories. He tendered his resignation to his father, who had the younger Kane jailed for contempt of court. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled this arrest.
Although the public breach between father and son was well known, Thomas and his wife Elizabeth DW Kane continued to live at the home of Judge Kane. Actually, the Judge politely ignored the unidentified Negroes whom Thomas brought to their home, only to take them to other stations on the Underground Railway, later in the night. Although Judge Kane felt himself required to enforce Federal Slavery Laws, he colluded with the anti-slavery acts of his son.
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
and for an 1855 pro-slavery legal decision dealing with the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened...
.
Kane was born in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, the son of Elisha Kane and Alida Van Rensselaer. He graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1814, studied law with Joseph Hopkinson
Joseph Hopkinson
Joseph Hopkinson was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, and later a United States federal judge.-Early life, education, and career:...
, and was admitted to the bar on April 18, 1817. He established a legal practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
Kane married Jane Duval Leiper in 1819. The couple had six children, included two well-known sons. Elisha Kent Kane was a naval officer, physician and explorer. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions which attempted to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
. Thomas L. Kane
Thomas L. Kane
Thomas Leiper Kane was an American attorney, abolitionist, and military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saint movement and served as a Union Army colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War...
was an attorney, abolitionist and military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saint movement and served as a Union colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Kane was active in founding Girard College
Girard College
Girard College is an independent boarding school on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States.Girard is for academically capable students, grades one through 12, and awards a full scholarship with a yearly value of approximately $42,000 to every child admitted to the...
and was involved in the appointment of the institution's first board of trustees. Kane was one of the trustees and legal advisers of the Presbyterian church in the United States. He also took a prominent role in the controversy which eventually divided the Presbyterian church into the "new" and "old" schools. From 1856 until his death, he was President of the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
.
Kane died in Philadelphia on February 21, 1858, and was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery
Laurel Hill Cemetery
Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the second major garden or rural cemetery in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998, one of only a few cemeteries to receive the distinction....
in Philadelphia.
Political career
Intensely interested in politics and public affairs, Kane was a member of the FederalistFederalist Party (United States)
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801...
party as a young man and served in the Pennsylvania legislature
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two year terms from single member districts....
in 1823. Shortly afterward, he moved his allegiance to the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
party. He filled the office of solicitor of Philadelphia in 1828-1830.
Kane supported Andrew Jackson in 1828, and received a number of appointments and honors during Jackson's administration. In 1832, Kane was appointed as one of three commissioners under the "Convention of Indemnity with France of 4 July of 1831." This commission was charged with collecting reparations paid by France to the United States for damages the country had received to its shipping and trade during recent European wars. He was a primary author of the commission's report, and prepared the record of "Notes" on questions decided by the board. This material was published after the conclusion of the board's activities in 1836.
Kane drafted the first printed attack on the United States Bank
Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816, five years after the First Bank of the United States lost its own charter. The Second Bank of the United States was initially headquartered in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, the same as the First Bank, and had branches throughout the...
, and is credited with preparing written materials and speeches on the topic which were used by President Jackson. His friendship with the President led to a period of social difficulty in Philadelphia, which was a stronghold of the "bank" party. A memorable letter addressed by Jackson to James K. Polk
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...
during the campaign of 1844 was written by Kane, and he was an effective manager of the Democratic party during what is known as the Buckshot War
Buckshot War
After the Pennsylvania state election of 1838, both the Whig and the Democratic parties claimed control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Two speakers were elected. A mob, largely from Philadelphia, assembled in Harrisburg and threatened violence. Thaddeus Stevens, Charles B. Penrose...
in Pennsylvania.
Legal actions
Kane became attorney-general of Pennsylvania in 1845, but resigned in 1846 on being appointed United States District CourtUnited States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
, a position he held for the rest of his life. He was distinguished both for his knowledge of the law and his judicial decisions. Many of his rulings impacted admiralty and patent law.
His pro-slavery decision in the case of the slave Jane Johnson and the abolitionist Passmore Williamson
Passmore Williamson
Passmore Williamson was an abolitionist in Pennsylvania who is best known for a legal episode challenging the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850....
, who was committed for contempt of court under the Fugitive Slave Law, came immediately under fire. This case, a year and a half earlier than the better-known Dred Scott decision, denied the escaped slave all legal rights and placed legal penalties on the actions of abolitionists. Kane was violently attacked by the Abolition party and the liberal press. Angry stories were found in major papers, including Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
’s influential New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, the National Anti-Slavery Standard
National Anti-Slavery Standard
The National Anti-Slavery Standard was the official weekly newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society, established in 1840 under the editorship of Lydia Maria Child and David Lee Child. The paper published continuously until the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States...
of New York, and William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
’s The Liberator out of Boston. The Hartford Religious Herald wrote: "A tyrannical judge is one of the vilest and most dangerous of despots. We refer to Judge Kane of Philadelphia. Fellow citizens of the North, let us unite to free our country from this degrading bondage of the Slave Power."
The Judge's son, Thomas L, Kane, held a position as a Clerk of the District Court in eastern Pennsylvania. An abolitionist, Thomas Kane was distressed at the passage of the Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War...
, and the associated Fugitive Slave Act, which increased his legal responsibility to return fleeing slaves to southern territories. He tendered his resignation to his father, who had the younger Kane jailed for contempt of court. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled this arrest.
Although the public breach between father and son was well known, Thomas and his wife Elizabeth DW Kane continued to live at the home of Judge Kane. Actually, the Judge politely ignored the unidentified Negroes whom Thomas brought to their home, only to take them to other stations on the Underground Railway, later in the night. Although Judge Kane felt himself required to enforce Federal Slavery Laws, he colluded with the anti-slavery acts of his son.