William Paca
Born: October 31, 1740
Died: October 13, 1799
Colony/State: Maryland
Occupation / Public Role: Lawyer, planter, legislator, judge, governor
Contribution to the Founding Era: Delegate to the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Maryland, and later a federal judge appointed by George Washington.
William Paca was born near Abingdon, Maryland, and received a strong education before entering law and politics. He studied at the College of Philadelphia and later read law in Annapolis and at the Middle Temple in London. After returning to Maryland, he began practicing law in Annapolis in the 1760s and rose steadily in public life.
Before independence, Paca served in the Maryland Proprietary Assembly and became involved in the colonial resistance movement. He was elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and then to the Second Continental Congress in 1775. He signed the Declaration of Independence as one of Maryland’s four signers. The National Archives signer factsheet lists him as 35 years old in 1776 and identifies his occupation as lawyer, plantation owner.
Paca’s public career continued after the Declaration. The U.S. House and Federal Judicial Center both note that he served in the Maryland Senate, became chief judge of the superior court of Maryland, and later sat on the court of appeals in prize and admiralty cases. He then served as Governor of Maryland from 1782 to 1785, placing him in one of the state’s highest offices during the early years of the republic.
He also played a role in the federal period. Paca was a delegate to the Maryland convention that ratified the Constitution in 1788, and in 1789 President George Washington appointed him judge of the United States District Court for Maryland, where he served until his death.
William Paca died in 1799. He is not one of the loudest names among the signers, but he was one of Maryland’s important working founders: lawyer, Continental delegate, signer, governor, and federal judge. Not flashy, but definitely not ornamental either.
Related Links
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence
- Declaration of Independence
- Charles Carroll of Carrollton
- Samuel Chase
- Thomas Stone