Page:Journal of William Maclay, United States senator from Pennsylvania, 1789-1791 (IA cu31924030423796).pdf/11

Rh proprietaries, relative to the surveys in the middle and northern parts of the province, In 1772 he laid out the town of Sunbury, and erected for himself a stone house, which was standing a few years since. He acted as the representative of the Penn family, and took a prominent part in the so-called Pennamite war. At the outset of the Revolution, although an officer of the proprietary Government, he took an active part in favor of independence, during which struggle he held the position of assistant commissary. In 1781 he was elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and from that time filled the offices of member of, the Supreme Executive Council, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, deputy surveyor, and was one of the commissioners for carrying into effect the laws respecting the navigation of the Susquehanna. In January, 1789, he was elected to the United States Senate. The question as to who should hold the long term of office was decided by lot—William Maclay drawing the short term, while Robert Morris, his colleague, drew the long term.

William Maclay began to differ with the Federalists very early in the session. He did not approve of the state ceremony attendant upon the intercourse of the President with Congress; he flatly objected to the presence of the President in the Senate while business was being transacted; and boldly spoke against his policy in the immediate presence of President Washington. He was one of the foremost in opposing the chartering of the United States Bank, even at the sacrifice of personal popularity, for the stfong Democratic position he took and the stubbornness with which he maintained it in the face of overwhelming pressure cost him his re-election, he being succeeded by an ardent Federalist.

So pronomeed were the Demoeratic views of William Maclay, and so boldly and ably did he maintain his position in the face of the opposition, that the question