Changes

A few days after signing the Declaration of Independence, he left Congress to serve as colonel in command of the Fourth Battalion of the ''Pennsylvania Associators'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bjpeYo0WY3wC&pg=PA98 Register of Members and Miscellaneous Statistical Information Concerning the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution]</ref> to assist [[George Washington]] at Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  The ''Associators'' were militia troops assembled by [[Benjamin Franklin]] in 1747. McKean served as President of Congress beginning in 1781, after [[Samuel Huntington (signer)|Samuel Huntington]] resigned for health reasons.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iXNkR7v0pigC&pg=PA7269 Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the Congress]</ref>  After the Surrender of Cornwallis at the [[Battle of Yorktown]], McKean worked to pass resolutions thanking the Continental Army for their service and bravery.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WcsABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA264 Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rWwFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA158 The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781]</ref>

A few days after signing the Declaration of Independence, he left Congress to serve as colonel in command of the Fourth Battalion of the ''Pennsylvania Associators'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bjpeYo0WY3wC&pg=PA98 Register of Members and Miscellaneous Statistical Information Concerning the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution]</ref> to assist [[George Washington]] at Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  The ''Associators'' were militia troops assembled by [[Benjamin Franklin]] in 1747. McKean served as President of Congress beginning in 1781, after [[Samuel Huntington (signer)|Samuel Huntington]] resigned for health reasons.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iXNkR7v0pigC&pg=PA7269 Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the Congress]</ref>  After the Surrender of Cornwallis at the [[Battle of Yorktown]], McKean worked to pass resolutions thanking the Continental Army for their service and bravery.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WcsABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA264 Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rWwFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA158 The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781]</ref>

While acting in the double capacity as President of Delaware and Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, he wrote [[John Adams]],

While acting in the double capacity as President of Delaware and Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, he wrote [[John Adams]] that he was "hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to remove my family five times in three months, and at last fixed them in a little log-house on the banks of the Susquehanna, but they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians."<ref>[https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-08-02-0172 To John Adams from Thomas McKean, 8 November 1779]</ref>

 

{{cquote|hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to remove my family five times in three months, and at last fixed them in a little log-house on the banks of the Susquehanna, but they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians.}}

In 1799, McKean (formerly a [[Federalist]])<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6ZL0-hg2owC&pg=PA201 Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia]</ref> ran for Governor of Pennsylvania on the [[Democratic-Republican]] ticket.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IDojBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT274 Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech]</ref> Being both Governor and Chief Justice came with political pitfalls, and in 1808 he was the subject of an impeachment from the governorship.  However, his friends and close associates were able to indefinitely postpone final proceedings.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DiJCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA343 Life and Correspondence of George Read: A Signer of the Declaration of Independence; with Notices of Some of His Contemporaries]</ref>

In 1799, McKean (formerly a [[Federalist]])<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6ZL0-hg2owC&pg=PA201 Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia]</ref> ran for Governor of Pennsylvania on the [[Democratic-Republican]] ticket.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IDojBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT274 Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech]</ref> Being both Governor and Chief Justice came with political pitfalls, and in 1808 he was the subject of an impeachment from the governorship.  However, his friends and close associates were able to indefinitely postpone final proceedings.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DiJCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA343 Life and Correspondence of George Read: A Signer of the Declaration of Independence; with Notices of Some of His Contemporaries]</ref>