William Maclay
Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Lived in the house opposite, 1773-86, and then moved to Harrisburg. Member of first U.S. Senate; wrote a famous Journal of its debates. A critic of Washington and Hamilton; pioneer leader of Jeffersonian democracy. He helped survey Sunbury, 1772.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
William Maclay lived in a house on this street from 1773 to 1786 and helped survey Sunbury in 1772 before moving to Harrisburg. Chosen as one of the first United States senators, he kept a candid journal of the Senate's earliest debates—an invaluable record—and emerged as an outspoken critic of Washington and Hamilton and an early champion of Jeffersonian democracy.
Why it matters
Maclay's journal gives us our clearest eyewitness view of the first federal Congress, and his politics helped seed the democratic opposition that shaped the young republic.
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