Scope and Content Note
The correspondence of Louis McLane (1786-1857) spans the years 1795-1894, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1817-1855. The collection consists principally of correspondence of McLane with members of his family, particularly with his wife, Catherine Mary Milligan McLane, and his oldest son, Robert M. McLane. Louis McLane had thirteen children as well as other relatives. The letters written to his wife and son Robert are the most significant. In these he discusses in rich detail national politics and social affairs of the administrations of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, as well as diplomatic questions of the James K. Polk administration. The collection is arranged chronologically and includes a considerable amount of undated material.
McLane was diligent in keeping his wife informed concerning the unofficial side of life in Washington. Although there are few letters for the period when McLane served in Andrew Jackson's administrations as a diplomat and cabinet member (his wife and most of the family were with him during the greater part of those years), Jackson is a "vivid presence" in many of McLane's earlier letters. He writes of the 1819 debate in the House of Representatives over a resolution of censure against Jackson for his conduct in Florida during the Seminole War and of Henry Clay's speech in support of the censure. He also records his own initial reaction to Jackson when Jackson appeared on the floor of the House after the resolution's defeat. Another prominent contemporary about whom he wrote was Daniel Webster, a figure opposed by McLane throughout his career. In later years, 1845, when McLane, as minister to Great Britain, was engaged in negotiating the settlement of the Oregon question he learned that the "Ministerial Circle" in England had adopted Webster as their advocate," McLane later modified his views somewhat toward Webster, at least with regard to a settlement of northwestern boundary. The boundary question is the principal subject of discussion in more than thirty-five letters to Robert, some of unusual length and detail. McLane conveyed to Robert that he believed that when England and the United States discovered the differences that really divided them, neither would assume the responsibility of going to war rather than consenting to some further concession.
There are other segments of the Louis McLane family papers that will be of interest to students of nineteenth-century political, military, and diplomatic history. Robert M. McLane, first son and second child of Louis and Catherine, had careers in all of these fields. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he served briefly in the second Seminole War, but left military service not long thereafter. He served in Congress as a United States Representative from Maryland, 1847-1851 and 1879-1883. He was appointed United States Commissioner to China and Japan, 1853-1854, by President James K. Polk and was President James Buchanan's choice as minister to Mexico, 1859-1860. After one term as governor of Maryland, he served as minister to France, 1885-1889. Robert's papers number approximately seventy items. The more significant of his letters, addressed chiefly to his father and mother, relate to his military experiences in Florida and his diplomatic mission to China.
Joseph E. Johnston, who later became one of the leading generals in the Confederate Army, married McLane's daughter, Lydia. He is represented in the collection by letters to Robert M. McLane, chiefly from the period of the war with Mexico and during a tour of duty in the Southwest following that war.
The greater part of the remainder of the collection is made up of letters exchanged by various other members of the family. There are nearly fifty letters of Catherine, addressed to her husband and children, and forty letters and other papers of McLane's son, Allan McLane (born 1823), several of which concern naval activities at Vera Cruz during the Mexican War. Also included in these papers is a thirty two-page autobiographical memorandum prepared by Louis McLane in which he sets forth the highlights of his career from the War of 1812 to 1833. Several items relating to McLane's father, Allen McLane, who fought in the Revolutionary War, are also in the papers.
Principal correspondents include George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860), George Bancroft, William Chase Barney, McHenry Boyd, James Buchanan, Edward Richard Sprigg Canby, Philip Hamilton, Charles Eugene McLane, George McLane, Georgine Urquhart McLane, James Latimer McLane, Juliette McLane, Mary E. McLane, Rebecca Wells McLane, John Y. Mason, George Baldwin Milligan, Henry M. Ridgely, Adele Sigoigne, Mary H. Sims, Henry Tiffany, Sally Jones McLane Tiffany, John Tyler, A. P. Upshur, David Urquhart, and S. Teackle Wallis.