William Paca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Maryland | |
| In office December 22, 1789 – October 13, 1799 | |
| Appointed by | George Washington |
| Preceded by | Seat established by 1 Stat. 73 |
| Succeeded by | James Winchester |
| 3rdGovernor of Maryland | |
| In office November 22, 1782 – November 26, 1785 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Sim Lee |
| Succeeded by | William Smallwood |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1740-10-31)October 31, 1740 |
| Died | October 13, 1799(1799-10-13) (aged 58) |
| Resting place | Wye Plantation Queen Anne's County, Maryland |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (B.A.,M.A.) Inner Temple read law |
| Signature |  |
William Paca (/ˈpeɪ.kə/PAY-kə or/ˈpæk.ə/PAK-ə; October 31, 1740 – October 13, 1799)[1] was aFounding Father of the United States who was a signatory to theContinental Association and theUnited States Declaration of Independence. He was aMaryland delegate to theFirst Continental Congress and theSecond Continental Congress,governor of Maryland, and adistrict judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Maryland.
Born on October 31, 1740, inAbingdon,Province of Maryland,British America,[2] Paca entered school at thePhiladelphia Academy and Charity School in 1752, and went on to attend theCollege of Philadelphia (now theUniversity of Pennsylvania), graduating in 1759 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[3] He was also to receive a Master of Arts degree from the same institution in 1762, though this required no further study, only that Paca request it and be in good standing.[4] He also attended theInner Temple inLondon andread law in 1761[2] with Stephen Bordley and was admitted to the bar that year.[3] Paca entered private practice in Annapolis starting in 1763.[3]
Paca was the child of John Paca (c. 1712–1785), awealthy planter in the area of English heritage, and his wife Elizabeth Smith (d. c. 1766).[3] He was the second son of the family, after his elder brother Aquila, and had five sisters.[4] He courted Mary Chew,[5] the daughter of a prominent Maryland planter, and they were married on May 26, 1763. They had three children, though only their son John Philemon survived into adulthood.[4]
Paca was a member of the lower house of the Maryland Proprietary Assembly from 1767 to 1774.[2] He was a delegate to the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress from Maryland from 1774 to 1779.[2] He was asigner of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.[2] He was a member of theMaryland Senate from 1776 to 1777, and from 1778 to 1780.[2] He was a judge of the Maryland General Court in 1778.[2] He was a judge of theCourt of Appeals in Cases of Capture from 1780 to 1782.[6] He was governor of Maryland from 1782 to 1785.[2] He was a member of theMaryland House of Delegates in 1786.[2] He was influential in establishingWashington College inChestertown, Maryland, in 1786.[7] He was a delegate to theMaryland State Convention of 1788, to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposedConstitution of the United States.[8][7]
Among the other young lawyers in Annapolis at the time wasSamuel Chase, who became a close friend and political colleague of Paca.[3] Paca and Chase led local opposition to the BritishStamp Act of 1765 and established theAnne Arundel County chapter of theSons of Liberty.[3]
Paca received arecess appointment from PresidentGeorge Washington on December 22, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, to a new seat authorized by 1 Stat. 73.[2] He was nominated to the same position by President Washington on February 8, 1790.[2] He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on February 10, 1790, and received his commission the same day.[2]
Paca's career on the federal bench had a significant impact on the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal courts and what was to become the principal business of theSupreme Court over the subsequent four decades. As the first federal judge for the District Court of Maryland, he rendered an opinion on the case of Betsey that had far reaching consequences when it was overturned by the Supreme Court. In that case, Paca argued on solid precedents of international and British law that the District Court did not have jurisdiction over the awarding of prizes brought into American ports by foreign privateers. The Supreme Court asserted otherwise inseriatim opinions and established an exclusive jurisdiction over prize cases vested in the Federal District Courts that took that privilege away from what had been the responsibility of foreign consulates. Paca's opinion was the first District Court opinion to be published, and although ultimately reversed, it provides insight into the extensive legal training of a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an author/compiler of several provisions of what became theBill of Rights.[9]
Paca's judicial service terminated on October 13, 1799, due to his death at his estate ofWye River, inQueen Anne's County, Maryland and was interred in a family cemetery on the estate.[2][7][Note 1] He bequeathed to his heirs more than a hundredslaves.[10][11]
Paca was admitted as an honorary member of TheSociety of the Cincinnati in the state of Maryland in 1783.[12][13] "The resolution conferring the honor, adopted November 22, 1783, reads in part: ... In consideration of the abilities, merit, patriotism of His Excellency, Governor Paca, this society direct that Secretary-General Williams wait on His Excellency and inform him that this society do themselves the honor to consider him as an honorary member."[14] He later served as the vice president of the Maryland Society from 1784-1787.[15] Unlike hereditary members, honorary members are not eligible to be represented by a living descendant.[16]
His Annapolis home, thePaca House and Garden, was added to theNational Register of Historic Places and designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1971.[17] The William Paca Club inNew Providence,New Jersey, is named in his honor. The club cites the fact that Paca was the only Italian-American besides Caesar Rodney to sign the Declaration of Independence as the reason for bestowing him this honor.[18] Paca-Carroll House atSt. John's College is named for Paca and fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence,Charles Carroll.[19]
At least four schools are named in honor of Paca:William Paca Elementary School inBaltimore City, Maryland,William Paca Elementary School inLandover, Maryland,William Paca Elementary School inNew York City, andWilliam Paca Middle School inMastic Beach, New York. InAbingdon, in 2022,Harford County renamed the school that bears his name, due to William Paca's slave-owning past.[10][20]
Paca has been described as being ofItalian ancestry fromAbruzzo.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] According to Stanley South, "[t]he rumor that the name was Italian came from a remark made in 1911 byJames Cardinal Gibbonsof Baltimore, who commented that he thought a relationship existed between Paca and the Italian family Pecci".[29] In a July 18, 1937, letter to theNew York Times, a self-described descendant of Paca claimed:
The ancestors of William Paca were ofItalian andEnglish origin. The name is said to have originally been spelled Pacci [sic].
However, in an interview with Giovanni Schiavo, the letter writer apparently attributed the suggestion that the name was Pecci to Cardinal Gibbons.[30] Schiavo also reported that Paca mentionedPope Leo XIII, whose surname was Pecci, during the interview.[30] Stiverson and Jacobsen reported that spellings of the surname of William Paca's immigrant ancestor Robert include Peaker, Pecker, Peaca, Peca, and Paka.[31] Neither "Pecci" nor "Pacci" (nor "Pacca") are attested, but that could be attributed to the fact that the Italian spelling of the name would have simply been difficult or unfamiliar to the English-speaking clerks of the time.
If the Paca family did haveAnglo-Italian origins, they were distant. William Paca's father John Paca was born inColonial Maryland, as was his grandfather Aquila Paca (c. 1675–1721). His great-grandfather Robert Paca was born inEngland in 1632, arrived in Maryland by 1651 and may also have gone by the surname "Peaker."[32][33]
wye hall.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of Maryland 1782–1785 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Seat established by 1 Stat. 73 | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Maryland 1789–1799 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
