Nathaniel Macon

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U.S. Senator from North Carolina
Nathaniel Macon

U.S. Representative from North Carolina
In office October 24, 1791 – December 13, 1815
In office December 5, 1815 – November 14, 1828
Preceded by	Francis Locke
Succeeded by	Montfort Stokes
United States Speaker of the House
In office December 7, 1801 – March 4, 1807
Preceded by	Theodore Sedgwick
Succeeded by	Joseph Bradley Varnum
President pro tempore of the Senate
In office May 20, 1826 – December 2, 1827
Preceded by	John Gaillard
Succeeded by	Samuel Smith

Born	December 17, 1758 Warrenton, North Carolina
Died	June 29, 1837 Warrenton, North Carolina
Political party	Democratic-Republican Anti-Administration

Nathaniel Macon (December 17, 1758 – June 29, 1837) was a spokesman for the Old Republican faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that wanted to strictly limit the federal government. Macon was born near Warrenton, North Carolina and attended the College of New Jersey and served briefly in the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1791 to 1815; from 1801 to 1807 he was Speaker of the House. He served in the Senate from December, 1815, until his resignation in 1828. He was president of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1835.

Macon opposed the Constitution and spent his four decades in Congress making sure the national government would remain weak. He was especially hostile to a navy. Macon detested Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist program. He bitterly opposed the Jay Treaty in 1795, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, and the movement for war with France in 1798-99. He supported Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana in 1803 and tried to get Jefferson to purchase Florida as well. He strenuously opposed building a navy, fearing the expense would create a financial interest. He supported all of the foreign policies of Jefferson and Madison from 1801 to 1817. In 1809 he chaired the foreign relations committee and reported successively the two bills that bear his name, although he was the author of neither and was definitely opposed to the second.

Macon Bill #1 attacked British 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 or France if the other should cease to interfere with United States commerce. Macon supported Madison in declaring the War of 1812; he opposed conscription to build the army and opposed higher taxes. He opposed the recharter of the United States Bank in 1811 and in 1816, uniformly voted against any form of protective tariff; he did favor some road construction by the federal government but generally opposed the policy of internal improvements promoted by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. In the Missouri debate of 1820 he voted against the compromise brokered by Clay. He was always an earnest defender of slavery.

Nathaniel Macon's home known as "Buck Spring" in Warrenton, North Carolina, 1839

Macon was for 37 years the most prominent nay-sayer in Congress--a "negative radical." ^[1] It was said of him that during the entire term of his service no ten other members cast so many negative votes. "Negation was his ward and arm." 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" ^[2]

Collaborated with John Randolph and John Taylor as part of the Quids or Old Republicans, a faction of the Jeffersonian Republican Party that rejected the Tariff Bill, growth in power of the United States Supreme Court, and other aspects of Neo-Federalism.

Macon died in Warren County, N.C. on June 29, 1837. He was buried in a private cemetery in Warren County, N.C.

Macon County, Alabama, Macon County, Illinois, Macon County, Missouri, Macon County, North Carolina, Macon, Georgia and Macon, North Carolina are named in his honor. Randolph-Macon College in Virginia also bears his name.

William E. Dodd, "The Place of Nathaniel Macon in Southern History," American Historical Review, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Jul., 1902), pp. 663-675 online at JSTOR
Hamilton, J. G. de Roulhac. "Macon, Nathaniel" in Dictionary of American Biography, Volume 6 (1933)

^ Hamilton 1933
^ C. J. Ingersoll, quoted Hamilton 1933

Preceded by Theodore Sedgwick	Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives December 7, 1801 – March 4, 1803; October 17, 1803 – March 4, 1805; December 2, 1805 – March 4, 1807	Succeeded by Joseph B. Varnum
Preceded by Francis Locke	United States Senator (Class 1) from North Carolina 1815 – 1828 Served alongside: James Turner, Montfort Stokes, John Branch	Succeeded by James Iredell, Jr.
Preceded by John Gaillard	*President pro tempore* of the United States Senate** May 20, 1826–December 2, 1827	Succeeded by Samuel Smith