Robert McClelland (August 1, 1807 – August 30, 1880) was a US

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a ...

, serving as U.S. Representative from

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, the ninth

governor of Michigan The governor of Michigan is the head of state, head of government, and chief executive of the U.S. state of Michigan. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a member of the Democratic Party, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, as the s ...

, and

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natur ...

Early life in Pennsylvania

He was born in

Greencastle, Pennsylvania Greencastle is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin County in south-central Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,996 at the 2010 census. Greencastle lies within the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylv ...

, the son of a prominent Franklin County doctor. He entered

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = Jo ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 census, the borough population was 20,118; ...

, and graduated among the top of his class in 1829. He studied law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania

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in 1831 and practiced law in

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for a short time before moving in 1833 to Monroe in what was then the

Territory of Michigan The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...

Life and politics in Michigan

McClelland became a member of the Michigan bar and established a successful law practice in Monroe, and he was a member of the constitutional convention in 1835. After Michigan became a state, Governor

Stevens T. Mason Stevens Thomson Mason (October 27, 1811 – January 4, 1843) was an American politician who served as the first governor of Michigan from 1835 to 1840. Coming to political prominence at an early age, Mason was appointed his territory's ...

offered the positions of state Bank Commissioner and state

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, both of which he declined in order to develop his private practice, although he maintained an active role in the new state's Democratic Party. In 1836, McClelland married Sarah Elizabeth Sabine, with whom he had six children. McClelland served on the board of regents of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1837 and again in 1850. He represented

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: *Monroe County, Alabama * Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida *Monroe County, Georgia * Monroe County, Illinois * Monroe County, Indi ...

in the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 201 ...

in 1838, 1840 and was speaker of the house in 1843. He served as the mayor of Monroe in 1841. He was elected in 1842 as U.S. Representative from

Michigan's 1st congressional district Michigan's 1st congressional district is a United States congressional district containing the entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan and 16 counties of Northern Michigan in the Lower Peninsula. The district is currently represented by Republican J ...

, serving from 1843 to 1849 in the 28th,

29th 29 (twenty-nine) is the natural number following 28 and preceding 30. Mathematics * 29 is the tenth prime number, and the fourth primorial prime. * 29 forms a twin prime pair with thirty-one, which is also a primorial prime. Twenty-nine is also ...

, and 30th congresses. Going against the general opinion of the Democratic Party, he was a strong advocate of the

Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...

, which would have restricted the spread of slavery to new states. He was active in supporting his friend

Lewis Cass Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He w ...

's unsuccessful run for president in 1848 and did not seek reelection in that year. McClelland played a prominent role in the Michigan's constitutional convention of 1850. Due to changes adopted in that constitution, he was elected to a one-year term as

Governor of Michigan The governor of Michigan is the head of state, head of government, and chief executive of the U.S. state of Michigan. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a member of the Democratic Party, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, as the s ...

in 1851. He was re-elected to a full two-year term in 1852. During his tenure, he softened his support of the Wilmot Proviso and instead urged support for the

Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–Am ...

. He played a prominent role at the national Democratic convention of 1852. He resigned as governor in March 1853 to become the

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also *Interior ministry An ...

under

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

, and was succeeded by his second Lieutenant Governor Andrew Parsons.

Retirement and death

Following the inauguration of

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

in 1857, McClelland retired from public office and began a private law practice in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. In 1867, he briefly returned to public service as a member of the Michigan constitutional convention. McClelland died in Detroit at the age of 73, and is interred at Elmwood Cemetery. His former residence at 47 East Elm Avenue in

Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonom ...

, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1971 as the Governor Robert McClelland House, and is today privately owned.

References

1892 Portrait & Biographical Album of Genesee, Lapeer & Tuscola Counties, Chapman Bros.
* ttp://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mcclelland-mcclory.html#R9M0J5OMU Robert McClelland entryat

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations ...

External links

Robert McClelland entry
at the

National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 states, territories and commonwealths. Members come to the association from across the politica ...

* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McClelland, Robert 1807 births 1880 deaths People from Franklin County, Pennsylvania American people of Scotch-Irish descent United States Secretaries of the Interior Pierce administration cabinet members Buchanan administration cabinet members Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Democratic Party governors of Michigan Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives People from Monroe, Michigan 19th-century American politicians Dickinson College alumni Regents of the University of Michigan Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit) Delegates to the 1835 Michigan Constitutional Convention