Born on his father William McLean's farm in Carroll's Tract, near
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 1804, McClean studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1825, and commenced practice in Gettysburg. McClean was elected as a Democrat to the
Twenty-ninth Congress and supported the declaration of war against
Mexico during the
Mexican–American War. During the
Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, his brick home on Baltimore Street was struck by an errant
Union artillery shell, but McClean and his family were unharmed. After his term expired, he resumed the practice of law in Gettysburg. He returned to politics briefly as a conservative member of the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1855, representing the
Know Nothing political movement. ==Death==