[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 141 (Monday, October 20, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S10861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SHELBY:
  S. 1298. A bill to designate a Federal building located in Florence, 
Alabama, as the ``Justice John McKinley Federal Building''; to the 
Committee on Environment and Public Works.


               the justice john mckinley federal building

  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I am pleased to rise today to introduce 
legislation to honor John McKinley. John McKinley was a statesman, an 
influential State legislator, one of the founding trustees of the 
University of Alabama, U.S. Senator, and the first U.S. Supreme Court 
Justice from the State of Alabama.
  Born on May 1, 1780, in Culpepper County, VA, John McKinley began his 
career in Kentucky after learning the law on his own. In 1818, he moved 
to Alabama and shortly after his arrival, McKinley, along with Andrew 
Jackson and John Coffee, became a member of the Cypress Land Co. This 
company was the largest single purchaser of land in north Alabama in 
the land boom of 1818. In addition to pursuing his fortune, John 
McKinley almost immediately entered Alabama politics. In 1820, he was 
elected to the State legislature.
  In 1826, McKinley was elected by the State legislature to the U.S. 
Senate where he served until 1831. In the Old Senate Chamber, just down 
the hall, he espoused a political theory that to many in Washington may 
seem quaint. He believed that the national government's sovereignty was 
limited solely to the powers granted by the Constitution unless 
expressly relinquished by the States. As chairman of the Committee on 
Public Lands, he promoted transferring Federal lands to the States for 
economic development. Defeated for a second term in the Senate, 
McKinley returned to the Alabama legislature.
  In the legislature, McKinley gained considerable influence by 
denouncing the national bank and endorsing President Jackson s efforts 
to dismantle it. He also supported Martin Van Buren, Jackson's 
candidate for President in 1836. When the Jacksonian Democrats regained 
control of the State legislature, the new majority re-elected McKinley 
to the Senate. Shortly thereafter, as a reward for his loyalty to 
Jackson and endorsement of Van Buren, the newly elected President 
nominated McKinley for a seat on the Supreme Court. The Senate 
confirmed his nomination 1 week later on September 25, 1837, by voice 
vote.
  Justice John McKinley was assigned to the ninth circuit, which 
encompassed Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. While riding 
circuit in Mobile, AL, Justice McKinley heard the first of three cases 
collectively known as Bank of Augusta versus Earle. In this 
controversial decision, McKinley upheld an Alabama statute prohibiting 
out-of-State banks from making loans in Alabama. The case which was 
appealed to the Supreme Court was heard in 1839.
  The Court overturned the McKinley decision, and only McKinley 
dissented. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the majority opinion which 
declared that there was a law of comity that applied among the States. 
Therefore, a bank had as much a legal right to offer interstate loans 
as they do in the charter State. In the lone dissent, however, McKinley 
made the interesting point that the Court's majority had applied the 
State sovereignty doctrine in the extreme and that the States ceased to 
be nations when they ratified the Constitution.
  His most significant contribution to the Court was writing the 
majority opinion in Pollard's Lesse versus Hagan (1845). This opinion 
declared that the Federal Government held public lands in trust until a 
territory became a State. At the time a territory entered the Union, 
the public land was rightfully State property. This decision provided a 
legal basis for opening public lands and for furthering economic 
development.
  In addition to Pollard, Justice McKinley wrote nine other opinions in 
1845, his most prolific year on the Court. After 1845, his work became 
sporadic due to general poor health. He attended, however, the Court's 
sessions as regularly as possible and contributed as best he could. 
John McKinley remained a member of the Court until his death in the 
spring of 1852.
  There is no Federal building to honor Justice McKinley, and the 
legislation that I am introducing will correct this oversight. The bill 
designates the Federal courthouse and U.S. Post Office complex in 
Florence, AL as the ``Justice John McKinley Federal Building.'' The 
legislation has received the endorsement of the following: Mayor Frost 
and the Florence City Council, the Lauderdale County Commission, 
Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Florence Historical Board, 
Heritage Preservation, Inc., the Alabama State Bar Association, the 
Lauderdale County Bar Association, and the McKinley Young Lawyers of 
the Shoals.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and pay tribute to 
this Alabama statesman.

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