Nathaniel Macon

Early life

Nathaniel Macon was the son of Maj. Gideon Macon (1715–1761) and Priscilla Jones (1718 – March 1802). Gideon Macon was born in Virginia, but moved to North Carolina in the early 1740s. He and Priscilla were married in North Carolina in 1744.

Gideon Macon built "Macon Manor" and became a prosperous tobacco planter. Nathaniel, born at Macon Manor, was 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. http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncwarren/afro/macon_slaves.htmNathaniel was bequeathed two parcels of land and all of his father’s blacksmithing tools. Gideon also left his son three slaves: George, Robb, and Lucy.

In 1766, Priscilla (Jones) Macon, now the wife of Col. James Ransom, arranged for the education of two of her sons, Nathaniel and John, along with the two sons of her neighbor Philemon Hawkins. 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 and Benjamin Hawkins, were instructed by him from 1766–1773. Three of the four boys (Nathaniel among them) continued on to further their education at the "College of New Jersey" at Princeton.

Ancestors

Nathaniel’s father’s parents were John Macon (December 17, 1695 – March 31, 1752) and Ann Hunt (1697 – February 15, 1725), both of Virginia. Nathaniel’s paternal great-grandparents were Col. Gideon Macon (c. 1648 – February 1701 or 1702) and Martha Woodward (1665–1723). Gideon and Martha Woodward Macon were also the great-grandparents of Martha Dandridge who married George Washington and became First Lady of the United States of America. Therefore, Nathaniel Macon was the second cousin of Martha Dandridge Washington.

Marriage and family

Nathaniel met Hannah Plummer in 1782 in Warrenton, North Carolina. Her parents were Virginians, as were Nathaniel's, and they were "well connected". Nathaniel 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 Hannah's courtship involves Nathaniel challenging an unnamed potential suitor to a card game, with Hannah as the prize. The offer was accepted, and Nathaniel 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, with he and Hannah marrying soon afterwards.

Their wedding took place on October 9, 1783, and their marriage was an affectionate one. They made their home on Hubquarter Creek on their plantation known as "Buck Spring Plantation". It was about 12 miles (19 km) north of Warrenton, near Roanoke, on land which Nathaniel had inherited from his father. His plantation grew to 2,000 acres, served by 70 slaves, with whom he often worked together in the fields, as well as serving as justice of the peace and a trustee of the Warrenton Academy. He raised thoroughbred race horses and had a pack of fox hounds, in 1819 hosting President Monroe for a hunt.

According to Bible records, the Macons had three children:

Nathaniel'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. 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 78, 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; Nathaniel 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.

Nathaniel Macon is the great-grandfather of Congressman Charles Martin, the uncle of Willis Alston and Micajah Thomas Hawkins, great-uncle of Matt Whitaker Ransom, Robert Ransom and Thomas Jefferson Green, great-great-uncle of Wharton Jackson Green, John Pegram, William Ransom Johnson Pegram, and David Harrison Macon, great-great-great-great-uncle of Claude Kitchin and William Walton Kitchin, and the great-great-great-great-great-uncle of Alvin Paul Kitchin.

Political life

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, fearing the expense would create a financial interest. 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 supported all of the foreign policies of Jefferson and Madison from 1801 to 1817, including the Louisiana Purchase. During the Jefferson administration, Macon was offered the post of postmaster general at least twice, but he declined. In 1808, Macon was considered a potential candidate for the vice presidency but did not run. 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 No. 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. 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 for William Harris Crawford. Macon was asked to run for the vice presidency again in 1828 but declined.

Macon was for 37 years the most prominent nay-sayer in Congress—a "negative radical". 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." 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".

Macon 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.

After retiring from the Senate, he served as President of the 1835 convention to amend and reform the North Carolina Constitution. The resulting amendments to the state constitution mostly related to political reform and greater democracy (although free African-Americans were disfranchised). He was largely opposed to the amendments that were adopted.

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 Carolina nullifiers, and his service as a trustee of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Places named after Nathaniel Macon