William Findley
| William Findley | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 11th district |
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In office March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817 |
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| Preceded by | Abner Lacock |
| Succeeded by | David Marchand |
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In office March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1799 |
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| Preceded by | See below |
| Succeeded by | See below |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th district |
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In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1813 |
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| Preceded by | John Stewart |
| Succeeded by | William Piper |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's at-large district |
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In office March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1795 |
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| Preceded by | See below |
| Succeeded by | See below |
| Member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania from Westmoreland County |
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In office November 25, 1789 – December 20, 1790 |
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| Preceded by | John Proctor |
| Succeeded by | Position dissolved |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1741 Ireland |
| Died | April 4, 1821 (aged 80) Greensburg, Pennsylvania |
| Political party |
Anti-Administration Republican |
| Profession | Politician, farmer |
William Findley (c. 1741 – April 4, 1821) was an Irish-born farmer and politician from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He served in both houses of the state legislature and represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House from 1791 until 1799 and from 1803 to 1817. By the end of his career, he was the longest serving member of the House, and was the first to hold the honorary title "Father of the House".
William Findley was born in Ulster, Ireland and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1763. In 1768, he bought a farm in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he married and started a family. Findley also worked for a time as a weaver. In the American Revolution he served on the Cumberland County Committee of Observation, and enlisted as a private in the local militia, and rose to the rank of captain of the Seventh Company of the Eighth Battalion of Cumberland County Associators. In 1783 he moved his family across the Allegheny Mountains to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
Upon arrival in Westmoreland County, Findley was almost immediately elected to the Council of Censors. On this Council, which was to decide whether the radical Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 needed revision, he established himself as an effective supporter of what the "best people" considered the radical position in state politics.
In the following years Findley served in the Ninth through Twelfth General Assemblies and on the Supreme Executive Council. Findley was an early exponent of a political style in which candidates openly expressed their interests and proposals, as opposed to the "disinterested" style of governance many Founding Fathers envisioned. In 1786 he was a critic of the Bank of North America, the nation's first central bank; he accused Robert Morris, the Continental Congress's Superintendent of Finance, of using the bank to enrich himself personally. Findley also publicized the statement of fellow legislator Hugh Henry Brackenridge that "the people are fools" for opposing the bank, contributing to Brackenridge's defeat in the subsequent election.
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Wikipedia