John K. Kane

John Kintzing Kane
Portrait, 1824, by Thomas Sully
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
In office June 17, 1846 – February 21, 1858
Appointed by	James K. Polk
Preceded by	Archibald Randall
Succeeded by	John Cadwalader
21st Attorney General of Pennsylvania
In office January 21, 1845 – June 17, 1846
Preceded by	Ovid F. Johnson
Succeeded by	John M. Read
Personal details
Born	May 16, 1795 Albany, New York
Died	February 21, 1858(1858-02-21) (aged 62) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Spouse(s)	Jane Duval Leiper
Children	6
Alma mater	Yale College
Profession	Attorney, Judge
Religion	Presbyterian

John Kintzing Kane (May 16, 1795 – February 21, 1858) was an American politician, attorney and jurist. Kane was noted for his political affiliation with President Andrew Jackson and for an 1855 pro-slavery legal decision related to the freeing of Jane Johnson and application of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Kane was born in Albany, New York in 1795, the son of Elisha Kane and Alida, daughter of Brigadier General Robert Van Rensselaer. When Alida died, Elisha married Elizabeth Kintzing, and it was she who raised John and his siblings. He graduated from Yale College in 1814, studied law with Joseph Hopkinson, and was admitted to the bar on April 18, 1817. He established a legal practice in Philadelphia.

Kane married Jane Duval Leiper in 1819. The couple had six children, including two sons who would become well known as adults. Elisha Kent Kane was a United States naval officer, physician and explorer. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions that tried to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin and his team. Thomas L. Kane was an attorney, abolitionist and military officer, who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saints movement and served as a Union colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War.

Kane was active in founding Girard College and was involved in the appointment of the institution's first board of trustees. Kane was one of the trustees and legal advisers of the Presbyterian church in the United States. He also took a prominent role in the controversy which eventually divided the Presbyterian church into the "new" and "old" schools. From 1856 until his death, he was President of the American Philosophical Society.