James Xavier McLanahan (May 17, 1809 – December 16, 1861) was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district from 1849 to 1853.
He studied law under George Chambers who went on to become a Congressman and Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice.
He was the chairman of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary during the Thirty-second Congress.
[citation needed] He resumed the practice of law and died in New York City in 1861, aged 52.
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