Nathaniel Macon | |
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| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office May 20, 1826 – May 15, 1828 | |
| Preceded by | John Gaillard |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Smith |
| 5thSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office December 7, 1801 – March 3, 1807 | |
| Preceded by | Theodore Sedgwick |
| Succeeded by | Joseph B. Varnum |
| Dean of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office March 4, 1807 – December 13, 1815 | |
| Preceded by | George Thatcher |
| Succeeded by | Richard Stanford |
| United States Senator fromNorth Carolina | |
| In office December 5, 1815 – November 14, 1828 | |
| Preceded by | Francis Locke Jr. |
| Succeeded by | James Iredell Jr. |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina | |
| In office March 4, 1791 – December 13, 1815 | |
| Preceded by | Hugh Williamson |
| Succeeded by | Weldon N. Edwards |
| Constituency | 2nd district (1791–1793) 5th district (1793–1803) 6th district (1803–1815) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1757-12-17)December 17, 1757 |
| Died | June 29, 1837(1837-06-29) (aged 79) |
| Political party | Anti-Administration (before 1792) Democratic-Republican (1792–1828) |
| Education | Princeton University |
| Signature | .png) |
Nathaniel Macon (December 17, 1757 – June 29, 1837) was an American politician who representedNorth Carolina in both houses ofCongress. He was the fifthspeaker of the House, serving from 1801 to 1807. He was a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from 1791 to 1815 and a member of theUnited States Senate from 1815 to 1828. He opposed ratification of theUnited States Constitution and theFederalist economic policies ofAlexander Hamilton. From 1826 to 1827, he served asPresident pro tempore of the United States Senate.Thomas Jefferson dubbed him "Ultimus Romanorum"—"the last of the Romans".
During his political career he was spokesman for theOld Republican faction of theDemocratic-Republican Party that wanted to strictly limit the United States federal government. Along with fellow Old RepublicansJohn Randolph andJohn Taylor, Macon frequently opposed various domestic policy proposals, and generally opposed theinternal improvements promoted byHenry Clay andJohn C. Calhoun.
An earnest defender ofslavery, Macon voted against theMissouri Compromise in 1820. In the1824 presidential election, he received severalelectoral votes for vice president, despite declining to run, as the stand-in running-mate forWilliam Harris Crawford. He also served as president of the 1835 North Carolina constitutional convention.
After leaving public office, he served as a trustee for theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and protested PresidentAndrew Jackson's threat to use force during theNullification Crisis.
Nathaniel Macon was born nearWarrenton, North Carolina, the son of Maj. Gideon Macon, a Virginia native, and North Carolina-born Priscilla Jones, and through his great-grandfather, Col.Gideon Macon, an English citizen of allegedlyFrench Huguenot background,[1][2] Nathaniel was second cousin of First LadyMartha Dandridge Washington.[3][4]
Maj. Gideon Macon had built "Macon Manor" and became a prosperoustobacco planter, where Nathaniel was born as the sixth child of Gideon and Priscilla, and he was only two when his father died in 1761. Upon his death, Gideon possessed 3,000 acres (12 km2) of land and 25–30 slaves.[5][6] Nathaniel was bequeathed two parcels of land and all of his father'sblacksmithing tools. Gideon also left his son three slaves: George, Robb, and Lucy.[7]
In 1766, Priscilla (Jones) Macon, now the wife ofJames Ransom,[5] arranged for the education of two of her sons, Nathaniel and John, along with the two sons of her neighborPhilemon Hawkins II. For this purpose, they engaged Mr. Charles Pettigrew, who later became the principal of the Academy of Edenton in 1733. The two brothers and their neighbors, Joseph andBenjamin Hawkins, later a senator and U. S.Indian agent, were instructed by him from 1766 to 1773.[8]
Three of the four boys (Nathaniel and Benjamin among them) continued on to further their education at the "College of New Jersey" atPrinceton as part of the class of 1777.[9][10] Neither Nathaniel or Benjamin would graduate.[11]
Macon performed a short term of military duty during theAmerican Revolution.[12] He returned to North Carolina in the fall of 1776, and studied law for three years. He rejoined the Revolution as a private in 1780, and was likely present at theBattle of Camden.[13]
Macon met Hannah Plummer in 1782 in Warrenton, North Carolina. Her parents William Plummer and Mary Hayes were Virginians like Macon's, and they were "well connected".[14] Macon was a tall man, over 6 feet (1.8 m), and considered attractive, but he was not the only man who was pursuing Miss Plummer. However, after a number of months of courtship, Hannah and Nathaniel decided to marry.
One story often told of her courtship involves Macon challenging an unnamed potential suitor to acard game, with Hannah Plummer as the prize. The offer was accepted, and Macon lost the card game. Upon losing, he turned to Hannah and exclaimed "notwithstanding I have lost you fairly—love is superior to honesty—I cannot give you up." This won her favor, and they were married soon afterwards.[15] Their wedding took place on October 9, 1783, and their marriage was an affectionate one.
Her brother was the lawyerKemp Plummer, the grandfather ofKemp Plummer Battle. Kemp Plummer and Nathaniel Macon were both part of the "WarrenJunto" which also included James Turner,Weldon Edwards, William Hawkins, and William Miller, all of whom dominated North Carolina political life at that time.[16] Kemp Plummer was the second owner of the oldest house in Warrenton. The original owner was Marmaduke Johnson, who married Macon's half-sister Hixie Ransom.[17] Another Plummer brother was William Plummer II, who married Macon's half-sister Betsy Ransom.[18][19]
According to Bible records, the Macons had three children:
Macon's wife, Hannah, died on July 11, 1790, when she was just 29 years old. Although Nathaniel was only 32 at the time of her death, he never remarried.[21] It is said that he was devoted to his wife, and his long unmarried life following her early death would suggest that he was faithful to her memory.
Her remains were buried not far from their home on the borders of their yard. Their only son died just over a year after Hannah and was buried beside her. When Nathaniel died July 29, 1837, at age 79, he was laid to rest next to his wife and son. As he requested, the site of their graves was covered with a great heap of flint stones so that the land would be left uncultivated; Macon believed that no one would go to the trouble of removing all of the flint in order to use the land, thereby preserving the burial site.
Macon and his wife made their home on Hubquarter Creek on their plantation known as "Buck Spring Plantation". Macon's father Gideon's will bequeathed to him lands on Shocco Creek and "Five hundred acres of Land lying and being on both sides of Hubquarter Creek".[7] It was about 12 miles (19 km) north of Warrenton, near Roanoke Rapids.[21] His plantation grew to 1,945 acres, served by 70 slaves, with whom he often worked together in the fields, as well as serving asjustice of the peace and a trustee of the Warrenton Academy. He raised thoroughbred race horses and had a pack of fox hounds, in 1819 hostingPresident Monroe for a hunt.
He served in theNorth Carolina Senate for Warren County in 1781, 1782, and 1784.[22]
Macon opposed the Constitution and spent his four decades in Congress making sure the national government would remain weak. He was for 37 years the most prominent nay-sayer in Congress—a "negative radical".[23] It was said of him that during the entire term of his service no other members cast so many negative votes. "Negation was his word and arm."
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He was rural and local-minded, and economy was the passion of his public career. "His economy of the public money was the severest, sharpest, most stringent and constant refusal of almost any grant that could be proposed." With him, "not only was ... parsimony the best subsidy—but ... the only one".[24]
He supported all of theforeign policies of Jefferson andMadison from 1801 to 1817. Macon detestedAlexander Hamilton and theFederalist program.
He was especially hostile to a navy, fearing the expense would create a financial interest. He bitterly opposed theJay Treaty in 1795, theAlien and Sedition Acts of 1798, and the movement forwar with France in 1798–99. Macon supported theKentucky and Virginia Resolutions.[25]
Macon served asSpeaker of the House from 1801 to 1807. He was the fifth person, and first Southerner to serve in the office.[26] He supported theLouisiana Purchase in 1803, and tried to get Jefferson to purchaseFlorida as well. Jefferson offered the post ofpostmaster general to Macon at least twice, but he declined.[27]
During his second term as speaker, Macon broke with Jefferson, believing that the president had strayed from the fundamental principles ofRepublicanism – strict constitutional construction andstate sovereignty, and began collaborating more withJohn Randolph andJohn Taylor as part of the splinterQuids faction of theDemocratic-Republican Party.[28] Even so, he still narrowly won a third term.
He did not seek a fourth term as speaker when the10th Congress convened in 1807. Instead he chaired theForeign Relations Committee.[27]
Macon Bill No. 1 attackedBritish shipping, but was defeated. In May 1810,Macon's Bill No. 2 was passed, giving the president power to suspend trade with either Great Britain orFrance if the other should cease to interfere with United States commerce. Macon neither wrote nor approved of Bill No. 2.[29] Macon supported Madison in declaring theWar of 1812; he opposed conscription to build the army and opposed higher taxes.
He did favor some road construction by the federal government, but generally opposed the policy ofinternal improvements promoted byHenry Clay andJohn C. Calhoun. He opposed the recharter of theUnited States Bank in 1811 and in 1816, uniformly voted against any form of protectivetariff.
He was always an earnest defender ofslavery. In the Missouri debate of 1820 he voted against thecompromise brokered by Clay. Macon was also considered a potential candidate for the presidency in 1824 but declined. Macon won 24 electoral votes for vice president as the stand-in running-mate forWilliam Harris Crawford. Macon was asked to run for the vice presidency again in 1828 but declined.
Among his other public acts in retirement were writing a letter in 1832 to President Jackson protesting the threatened use of military action to quell the South Carolinanullifiers. He wrote to Samuel P. Carson that he believed in the right of secession: "A government of opinion established by sovereign States for special purposes can not be maintained by force."[30]
He served as President of the 1835 convention to amend and reform theConstitution of North Carolina. The resulting amendments to the state constitution mostly related to political reform and greater democracy. He was largely opposed to the amendments that were adopted.[31] He also served as a trustee of theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and supportedMartin Van Buren in theelection of 1836.[32]
(TheUSSMacon aircraft carrier dirigible was, in turn, named after this city, amongother US Navy craft.)
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