He continued to discharge the important duties of Chief Justice up to 1799 illuminating his judicial path with profound learning, sound discretion and impartial decisions. His Supreme Court opinions, based, as they generally are--upon equal justice, correct law and strict equity--delivered when the form of government was changed, the laws unsettled, the stale constitution just formed, the Federal Government under its Constitution bursting from embryo--are monuments of legal fame enduring as social order--revered, respected--canonized. He was a member of the convention that formed the constitution of Pennsylvania adopted in 1790 and exercised a salutary influence in that body. In 1799 he was elected Governor of the Keystone state and contributed largely in adding new strength and beauty to the arch of our Union. For nine successive years he directed the destinies of the land of Penn--commencing at a period when the mountain waves of party spirit were rolling fearfully over the United States with a fury before not dreamed of. Amidst the foaming and conflicting elements, Governor McKean stood at the helm of his commonwealth calm as a summer morning--firm as a granite rock and guided his noble ship through the whirling storm--unscathed and unharmed. He proved himself a safe and skilful pilot. For elegance and force of language--correct and liberal views of policy--a luminous exposition of law and the principles of government--his annual messages to the legislature stand unrivalled. The clamors of his political enemies he passed by as the idle wind. The suggestions of his friends he scanned with the most rigid scrutiny. Neither flattery or censure could drive him from the strong citadel of his own matured judgment. The fawning sycophant--the designing demagogue he spurned with contempt. By honest means only he desired the advancement of the party that had elevated him to a post of honor. Open and avowed principles--fully proclaimed and strictly carried out were frankly and without prevarication or disguise submitted to the people by him. He was a politician of the old school when each party had plain and distinctive landmarks, significant names and fixed principles. Political chemists had not then opened shop and introduced the modern mode of amalgamation--producing a heterogeneous mass that defies the power of analysis, analyzation or scientific arrangement. No one of the yclepped classes is homogeneous.