William Paca

Biography

William Paca was the third child and second son of John and Elizabeth Smith Paca. His father was wealthy, and, by the time William was four years old, John Paca had become a justice of the Baltimore County Court. Although William’s older brother would be heir to the family estate, their father saw to it that he received a good education. At the age of 12, William entered the Philadelphia Academy and Charity School before attending the College of Philadelphia [now the University of Pennsylvania]. He went on to study law with a Maryland lawyer, and in 1761, he was admitted to the bar. In 1763, he set up a private practice in Annapolis.

In the same year that Paca began to practice law, he married. His wife, Ann Mary Chew, was related to many of the most prominent families in the colony. She had been raised in the home of her stepfather, Daniel Delaney, one of the colony’s richest and most politically connected men. Through his marriage, Paca gained entrée into the elite political circle of men like Delaney and Samuel Chase.

As the tensions between Britain and the colonies grew, Paca became a vocal critic of British policies, writing newspaper articles and letters urging that British policies should be resisted. He opposed the Stamp Act and was one of the founders of a chapter of the Sons of Liberty. His reputation as a defender of colonial rights grew, and by 1767, Paca had won a seat in the lower house of the assembly. He was also chosen a delegate to both the First and Second Continental Congress.

During the First Continental Congress, Paca was befriended by John Adams who praised Paca for acting “generously and nobly” during the debates. Benjamin Rush also spoke admiringly of Paca, describing him as “beloved and respected by all who knew him.” Maryland returned Paca to Congress when it met for the second time, and, when Richard Henry Lee’s resolution came to the floor, Paca voted in favor of independence. Along with his good friend Samuel Chase, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and Thomas Stone, William Paca signed the Declaration of Independence.

During the war years, Paca served in the Maryland Senate and became a judge of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture. In 1782, he was elected governor of Maryland, a position he held until 1785. Although he had favored independence, Paca did not support the creation of what 18th-century men called an “energetic government” for the United States. He preferred power to remain with the state governments. Thus, at the Maryland ratifying convention, he was an Anti-Federalist, opposing the acceptance of the Constitution. At the convention, he advocated 28 amendments to the document, including many such as the protection of freedom of religion and freedom of the press that would be codified in the Bill of Rights.

Paca proved willing to accept a role in the new federal government once it was established. In 1790, President Washington appointed him to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He served until his death in October of 1799, a few weeks shy of his 59th birthday.

Paca fared less well in his private life than in his political career. His first wife, Molly, died in 1774, leaving him with three children; his second wife, Ann Harrison, the daughter of a wealthy, prominent Philadelphia merchant, died in 1780, after a long illness, leaving him with one additional child. But Paca was the father of two additional children, both illegitimate. One was the daughter born to a “mulatto” woman named Levina, born in 1775; the other born to Sarah Joyce of Annapolis around 1777. Paca saw to the welfare and education of both of these children.