John Kintzing Kane (May 16, 1795 – February 21, 1858) was an American lawyer who served as the 21st

Attorney General of Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current Attorney General is Democrat Josh Shapiro. On August 15, 2016, then-Attorney General K ...

from 1845 to 1846 and a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Phil ...

from 1846 to 1858.

Education and career

Born on May 16, 1795, in Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

, Kane graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

in 1814 and

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in 1817. He entered private practice in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

from 1817 to 1824. He was a member of the

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. It ...

from 1824 to 1825. He was an attorney and board member of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Company starting in 1825. That same year, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

and served as president of the organization. In 1828, he became active in national democratic party politics and supported

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

. He wrote a pamphlet titled ''A Candid View of the Presidential Election'' supporting Jackson and is credited with writing many of his statements as President on national policy. He was city solicitor for Philadelphia from 1828 to 1830, and in 1832. Jackson nominated Kane as one of the three United States Commissioners to settle claims with France from 1832 to 1836. He resumed private practice in Philadelphia from 1836 to 1845. He led the Pennsylvania Democrats versus the Whigs in the Buckshot War contesting the 1838 state elections which became so contentious the state militia was called up to protect the legislature. He was the 21st

from 1845 to 1846. As Attorney General, he led the prosecution of those arrested during anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia during the 1840s.

Federal judicial service

Kane was nominated by President

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (18 ...

on June 11, 1846, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Archibald Randall. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on June 17, 1846, and received his commission the same day. He was the Federal Judge who sentenced Passmore Williamson for contempt of court due to his violation of the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most con ...

in the case of the slave Jane Johnson. Kane's son, Thomas, resigned his position as clerk of the court in protest of the ruling and was also charged with contempt. His service terminated on February 21, 1858, due to his death in Philadelphia. He is interred in the family mausoleum at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery i ...

in Philadelphia.

Family

Kane was descended from John O'Kane, a Latin scholar who emigrated from Ireland to America in 1750. Kane was the son of Elisha Kane and Alida (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Van Rensselaer), daughter of Brigadier General

Robert Van Rensselaer Robert Van Rensselaer (December 16, 1740 – September 11, 1802) was Brigadier General during the American Revolutionary War, a member of the New York Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1777 and later a member of the New York State Assembly in th ...

and Cornelia Rutsen. When his mother Alida died in 1799, Elisha married Elizabeth Kintzing, and it was she who raised John and his siblings. In 1819, Kane was married to Jane Duval Leiper (1796–1866), the daughter of Thomas Leiper (1745–1825). Together, they had seven children, including one that died in infancy. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Charles Woodruff Shields in 1861. Two sons became notable as adults: * Elisha Kent Kane (1820–1857), who was a United States naval officer, physician and explorer. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions that tried to rescue the explorer Sir

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through ...

and his team. * Thomas Leiper Kane (1822–1883), who was an attorney,

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and military officer, who was influential in the western migration of the

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

s movement and served as a Union colonel and general of volunteers in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Citations

Sources

External links