The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Maclay, William

MACLAY, William, American soldier and politician: b. New Garden, Chester County, Pa., 1737: d. 1804. He was educated in his native place; was a lieutenant in the French and Indian War, taking part in the expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758 and afterward serving under General Bouquet. He studied taw, was admitted to the bar, went to England on behalf of militia officers serving in the French and Indian War, to confer upon their claims for land-grants with the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and on his return became attorney to the Penn family. In the Revolution he raised troops and equipped them, was assistant commissary of purchase and performed some field service. In 1781 he was elected to the Pennsylvania assembly, afterward held other offices in the State, and with Robert Morris (q.v.) was elected to the United States Senate, Pennsylvania's first representatives in that body. His service there ended in 1791, but in the Senate he had shown deep-seated hostility to Washington and his administration, which was the chief distinction of Maclay's senatorial career. In his later years he was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature and his last public office was that of a county judge. Consult his ‘Journal,’ edited by Edgar Stanton Maclay (q.v.).